Was anyone else " King Of The Jungles " ??
Back in '73/74 I was working for Aerial Tours ( Malarial Spewers ) out of POM
in the loved/hated Broom Broom. We had about 12 of the species at the time.
Fate dictated that I was route endorsed by " Captain Trembles " on five ****ty wee strips on the southern side of the Owen Stanleys, known with no affection as " The Jungles " Kagi, Efogi, Manumu, Menari, Naoro.
Trade-store goods in - Mandarins, Natives, and all associated paraphenalia out.
Pilot turn-over was soooo high at the time I got stuck doing these places, mostly every Saturday, for eight months without relief. ( Well that's a lie ... a slab of Carlton Draught for $6 every Friday night after the Dero, set me up quite nicely thanks nurse ).
Taught me a hell of a lot about everything really. Flying, W/X, strips, surviving, fear ( and how to deal with it ), drinking ( yeah man ... still doing that.)
Anyway, at the heart of it all, the ( 260 HP ) Bongo. We did things with that sucker that would have made messrs Britten and Norman send for more drycleaning.
Love it or hate it, The Broom Broom was at least a safe twin to fly in some extremely ****ty situations. VMCA below the stall speed. Very good ( loaded) STOL. Very forgiving for a 400 hour CPL.
Noisy, uncomfortable, heavy on the controls ... yeah, all those things.
Would I still be alive in another type of machine ? Yeah well maybe a Tin Otter.
Thanks Biscuit Ears ( No thanks Trevor )
Regards Tpad
This post was chardonnay assisted .... I'll deny everything.