Did only 6 months with Country Dare in 1979 working out that little building for the charming DM and the inscrutable Ken C who made sure we kept our time sheets to the second decimal place from the tacho's.
Had a fantastic time filled with many memories that have stayed with me to this day starting with Chief Pilot, Pete Badgery (ex BAC 111's with Air Pacific, and long before that, ex RAAF P40's). First endorsement he gave me was on the Islander, VH-SYU (single engine max rate turns at 65kts into the live engine) and how not "to get wrecked" landing at Great Keppel - despite what the TAA advertising slogan for Great Keppel said at the time.
It was also an eye opener for a 20 something year old country guy to see the transformation of some properly dressed and behaved young ladies who came to Great Keppel and departed after seven or so days with, shall we say, fewer inhibitions and even fewer clothes on. Of course it didn't take long to learn how to ensure the "right" passenger was selected to sit in the front right seat of the Islander. We also used to take particular care that the manifold gauge glass was kept particularly clean for those occasions and then used to flash the landing lights on the taxy into the tarmac at Rocky so the guys in the tower could get some "binocular practice". Remember this was 70's and political correctness was "light years" away then.
PB's briefing for a single engine failure on the PA-30 -MCO (destroyed in a CFT in 1991), while obviously an exaggeration, basically went along the lines that an engine failure at 7, 70 or 7000 ft would mean you ending up back in the dirt. Talking of dirt, one day a little later on, I was in MCO approaching over the open cut coal mine into the strip at Saraji just beyond the mine when suddenly the world went dark and there was a great cloud of dust and I could swear - rocks flying past. After landing somewhat shaken, I started to tear into the supervisor who met me, who sheepishly told me that just as I got onto short final they had let of an explosive charge to loosen the rock pile, despite supposing to check the area was clear and maybe "over-charged" it. The thought that I was there to pick up some union guy to take him to Brisbane to start a jail term after running foul of Premier Joh Petersen was probably a coincidence.
Other work than the many charters, was flying the Telegraph newspaper up the coast to Mackay (I think) stopping of at every airport on the way to drop of a bundle of papers - occasionally in the twins but my logbook shows more often in the PA-24's.
Then there were the country clinics operated on behalf of the Rocky General Hospital, taking a doctor and a nurse to places like Woorabinda, Ogmore and others that I cannot recall.
Other aircraft of the fleet at that time were, PA28 VH-CUT, PA24's VH-MCW and MCY, PA23 VH-TIP and for a thankfully short while, VH-RRB and PA-31 VH-MCX.
Sadly, despite doing so before and after, I never took any photos of the aircraft and the company and would love to hear from anyone who has some from around that time.
As to RB whose Com training I did down in Bundy - after "scoring a goal" with MCY, a couple years later (about 1981), he had to unfortunately quit flying as he had not been able to renew his licence after he had a mild fainting episode in the Rocky terminal. He told me that, like we all did, that he had just done an early morning charter out to the mines without bothering to grab a bite and upon return was lining up for something to eat when he fainted. Sad thing was that, because the doctors couldn't find anything wrong, his licence was neither cancelled nor cleared putting him in limbo. Whether he returned to flying or not, I do not know.
One thing I didn't miss was how unbearably hot and humid Rocky could get in summer with the Berserker range of hills blocking most sea breezes. Which leads me to one final story about Norty, I believe. Upon coming back from GKI one foul day with low cloud and rain, he called up the tower and asked for clearance "via the North" meaning the standard approach around the north end of the Berserker Range. He was told that way looked closed and did he have an alternative route to which he replied "Affirmative, my wife's sister" which of course, confused everyone. Maybe it's just a standard story but, sounds like him.......
Last edited by Givelda; 2nd Mar 2013 at 06:17.