Fair enough, if the jury's still out on the cause of the structural failure at Efogi then there might be long life in the old airframes yet. If there was any serious thought about acquiring revamped airframes then obviously we'd need to be as sure as possible that they wouldn't run into fatigue problems a few years down the track.
Even if the argument seems pretty much academic now, I still think it'd be a great platform for developing good operators while fulfulling our obligations in the region. PNG trainers are, of course, training, but they provide some of the best aircrew development I can think of.
I keep coming back to the idea that for a robust flexible aircrew pool, boggies should be flying their bums off learning their trade under conditions that require them to plan carefully, exercise their skills and make important decisions, all of which are encompassed in things like PNG flying.
I haven't been involved in the airlift game for some time, so I don't know - how is it for boggies in the transport world these days? Do they get the flying and development they need?