Bryan McCook began his account of his search for the missing C206
of Father Joe Walachy thus -
Very early one lousy, cloudy morning, in a Baron laden to the hilt with freshly killed beef, I was in a circling climb on the Ramu side of the Bena Gap looking for a hole in the cloud, big enough to duck through into the Goroka valley. There was a lot of cloud about on the mountains, though the Ramu valley was completely clear. One morning every week we’d fly into Dumpu cattle station, owned and pioneered by Bruce and Barbara Jephcott, for a load of beef, slaughtered the night before. In the cool of the morning, with the climb to 10,000 feet, refrigeration was taken care of.
There were few aircraft about at that time. All was quiet on the air waves till Madang called to advise me that a Cessna 206 was unreported on arrival at Kegl Sugl, a Catholic mission station at 8000 feet on the eastern slopes of Mount Wilhelm (14,783 ft). That mountain, the tallest in the Territory of New Guinea, was about 50 kilometres from where I was making my circling climb. Madang requested that I overfly the mission station at Kegl Sugl and advise whether or not the Cessna was on the airstrip. Early morning radio blackouts were common. ‘Safe landing’ reports from pilots were sometimes lost in the ether.
Happy to send the full extract to anyone who sends me a PM requesting same.