Wow. ,Amy memories with some regos, here.
VH-DAP: I did my PA31 endorsement on this one. I understand that it crashed into the ocean off the coast of NSW killing 3 on board.it was doing target towing for the RAN at the time.
PDN: I worked for Bob Courtenay in the '80s and did many charters in this. Bob and Gary built up a pretty good little company. They had many regular clients such as Enrst and Whiney and Webster's. The 2 blade props run smooth if you used 2400 RPM instead of 2200-easier to synchronise too!
WGI: I flew about 50 hours in this one at Flinders Island Airlines. It never flew straight as it had been landed gear up at some stage. The last time hat I saw WGI was as a burnt wreck in a paddock just south of the RWY 32 threshold in Launy. I had popped out of the cloud at about 400' on the ILS one early morning and there she was in an area of brunt grass and surrounded by police and emergency services vehicles. 6 young men from a football club had been killed in an accident just a few hours before. It is a vision that will haunt me forever.
MCX was a clapped out heap of manure when FIA operated it, mostly to KI or on the "paper run" for the Herald and Weekly Times (EN/ML - Bendigo- Swan Hill- Mildura- Ouyen- En/ML). FIA had that contract for over 40 years. The "paper run was also done at various times using C206s, Ansons (!) and Beech 18 VHS-FIA. My primary recollection of MCX was that it stank of crayfish. Badly. Really badly.