I enjoy reading these posts on TPNG as it brings back fond memories of my own early aviation career. Like many, I started my commercial flying back in 1963 in the Territory, flying tail draggers, C180/185 for STOL Air Services, a company owned and operated by the late Ron Firns.
Ron didn’t believe in wasting any time getting his new hires operational. Having just arrived sleep deprived and bleary eyed off the TAA DC-6 night flight from [/FONT]
Sydney[FONT=Arial] I found myself in the right seat of a C-185 and heading across The Gap to Ioma and back.
First route endorsement under the belt………………
There were many such more to come.
This was just the start of a long career, which took me to many different parts of the globe, flying a variety of aircraft in different situations, and culminating as a check pilot on the B-747.
But if I learned only one thing from those early years flying in TPNG it was survival, always to keep a back door open – to have an alternative plan of action – a lesson which stayed with me throughout my career and got me out of a tough situation on more than one occasion.
