Worst Place To Be A Pilot

[Stationair8]

Looks like a new series on SBS commencing tonight(12/10) at 2030.

[IFEZ]

I hope you're right but unfortunately I think it's a repeat of 1st series...

[ACMS]

Yep repeat.....

Bugga:mad:

[Pinky the pilot]

And a real beat up as far as I'm concerned.:}

Struth; Turbines, a full IFR panel with Navaids that actually work, and a GPS??!!:hmm:

I really wonder what Tinpis, Chimbu Chuckles and others of the earlier times would say. :confused:

I was only a latecomer to PNG and a short timer at that, but the blokes on this program have it easy. :*

[lilflyboy262...2]

"Easy" is a very relative term pinky...

[skywagondriver]

Just to put your mind at rest some 'old timers' actually think they are doing a great job up there...and don't feel the need to put them down.
Don't know when you were last in Papua but it's definitely not even PNG in the early '70s...sure, the equipment is better but that's where the comparison ends.

[ACMS]

I just think it's great to see an Aviation program on TV with fantastic scenery thrown in.

Good on ya guys and girls.....

I'd much rather have them as a future SO than others...:ok:

[ChrisJ800]

I watched it, seemed to be all pom and kiwi pilots. Where are the ozzies? :hmm:

[Pinky the pilot]

skywagondriver; I concede your observation that the Pilots there are doing a good job. That much is agreed without argument.

However; Having viewed the whole series when it was previously aired I still maintain that some of the scenes depicted were hyped up just to make things more dramatic.

it's definitely not even PNG in the early '70s...sure, the equipment is better .

It's not even PNG in the early 90's!:hmm: The equipment depicted in this show is not only better; I'd call it far superior to some of the BN2's I flew around the place back in early 92.
Plus none of the strips shown were even a patch on places such as Kanabea, Kamulai, Oram or Iaura.:eek: Bodinumu or Dorobisoro as well, for that matter.:hmm:

but that's where the comparison ends

Maybe I've had one too many Reds over the years but can you elaborate? A genuine question btw.

And no-one I worked with ever came home after a days flying to a fully serviced Flat/Apartment with its own live-in Cook.:ooh: As is depicted in later episodes of this show.

Please do not get me wrong skywagondriver; My views expressed in this and my other post should not be viewed as being critical of you or the Pilots depicted in this 'documentary.' However, I feel that the show itself had more than a few scenes/scenarios where journalistic licence was used to hype things up, purely for dramatical purposes!

[RadioSaigon]

Agreed Pinky and Skywagondriver. Parts of the show definitely were over-dramatised for the audience. I was there when the filming was done, but working for another company, so not directly involved. The crew was British, hence the emphasis on their countrymen in their portrayal with just the odd Kiwi thrown in for local colour ;-)

It was only really later in the show that some of the more challenging Papua strips were thrown in, in the Porters. There are others the film crews didn't get to. A fair proportion of the show was shot in other parts of Indonesia too -not Papua- which wasn't necessarily made clear in the narrative. As I understand it, Papua and PNG strips and ops actually have quite a bit in common.

Sure, the gear we're using (we still have "Classics" too!) is a little more up-to-date than what you guys had -but there is still little in supporting infrastructure. Evidence of the similarities perhaps lies in the crash statistics for the area, particularly recently. Again similarly, it is less regularly the expats that are involved though.

The accomodations usually (for most of us) tend to be a lot less salubrious than has been portrayed also -certainly in Papua. Food hygiene is at best a notional theory for most too, with the easily imaginable consequences. Regularly.

Not a bad place to fly operationally, albeit with its challenges to live. A superb group of expats and social society make it tolerable ;-)

[skywagondriver]

Pinky - I just don't have the will or appetite to debate...maybe over a beer someday.

It's interesting that even a year after it was shown in the UK and Europe that the aviation community still think it was a great boost to GA and it is still commented on as I found out last month doing a bit of flying around.

Radio Saigon summed up Papua quite well.

Some of the pilots involved have moved on to so called 'bigger and better' equipment but will have great memories. I'd be up there if it wasn't for 'Father Time'...

[spinex]

A "reality" TV show that is "over-dramatized" - who would have thunk it:confused:

I reckon take it for what it is and enjoy the scenery and aircraft, it is still light years ahead of any of the pony droppings produced in the US, Dust Off, Airplane Repo or even Ice Pilots. In my book the one about the Maun crew (Bush Pilots?) runs it a reasonable second, just sad that there isn't any more of Worst Place to be a Pilot to come. I also got sucked in by SBS advertising a new series, although that said, I enjoyed re-watching it when I got around to stoking up the PVR.

[TOUCH-AND-GO]

Does anyone know the reason why they have ceased filming future episodes/seasons of the show?

Cheers,

T&G. :ok:

[TrailBoss]

it's definitely not even PNG in the early '70s...sure, the equipment is better .

I remember it well, but that was back in 1962 in clapped out C180/185s...

Quickly learned the lessons and survived to tell the tale before moving on to bigger and better things:)

[Mr Milk]

Geeze those c180/185 must have been pretty damn "clapped out" in 1962.....😏

[601]

After all that survey work we did in the 70s to make decent charts, I have not seen anyone in the series use one.

Maybe they are stored behind one of the screens.

[StudentPilot479]

There were no reasonable maps available until IndoAvis made some maps a few years ago based on SRTM data. The ONCs that were 'available' still had large blank spaces and the depictions of mountains did not come close to matching reality in many areas. I think they were based on data from the late 60s and until more recently (with print-on-demand websites) I don't think they were easy to come by. I heard that the RAAF and the TNI-AU (Indonesian Air Force) both had better maps, but neither was willing to provide them to civil operators. Things may have changed since I was looking for maps.

Pinky: Not wanting to get in a pissing match, I am genuinely curious. What about the strips you named made them difficult? I have basic information for the PNG airstrips from 2005 and they all appear to be fairly typical of village airstrips made in Papua when service was predominantly by 185s and 206s, although doglegs are very rare. A couple are steeper than the average, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary.

[Pinky the pilot]

they all appear to be fairly typical of village airstrips made in Papua when service was predominantly by 185s and 206s, although doglegs are very rare. A couple are steeper than the average, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary.

A fair description. But if you got it wrong in the approach it could (and sometimes did) bite hard!!:eek: I think that you have to had flown into them to really appreciate just how difficult they could sometimes be. Just looking at a diagram really tells you little.

With some of the mentioned strips you were committed as soon as you turned final or shortly thereafter, and as well, with one, (Iaura) the strip was out of sight from cross wind until short final.

I have basic information for the PNG airstrips from 2005

In the form of what documents?

[StudentPilot479]

Thanks Pinky.

I found a list of PNG airstrips dated 2005 online about six years ago. It does not have (or I edited out while formatting the data) headings but it appears to be a list of name, latitude, longitude, identifier, a number from 1-4 (difficulty level?), runway headings, TDZE, length (m), slope (degrees I think), direction of slope, and some very short notes (ie Land 14 T/O 32, soft, slippery, rough, etc). Not sure how complete or accurate it is, but it appears to cover all areas of PNG.

[Pinky the pilot]

StudentPilot479; Check your pm's

[RadioSaigon]

Interesting comments...

IndoAvis are currently the only place that I'm aware of that will supply Aeronautical maps of Indonesia in any form at all -at heartbreaking expense. The ADF got quite thorny the last time I personally approached them with an enquiry. I do have a rather dated but still useful(ish) copy of the ADF TAGR for the region. IndoAvis maps are generally fairly reliable in solely geographic terms -but often wildly inaccurate in strip and waypoint locations, hence wise to view with a severely jaundiced eye.

Personally I maintain my own database of strips and waypoints, verified by endlessly repeated experience before being relied upon. Most of us work pretty closely to make sure we're all singing out of the same song-book, with personally verified data.

MAF and AMA have developed extremely good data over the years too, which is all very useful in establishing a firm data foundation upon which to build.

[Pinky the pilot]

Radio Saigon; Likewise check your pm's

[lilflyboy262...2]

Pinky, there is quite a few of those strips in Papua too but weren't depicted in the show.
Beoga (spelling?) Is one of those strips where you are committed on the turn to final approach.
There are also quite a few others where the Caravans are committed past certain points because they lack the performance to bug out of there.

I'd love to get my hands on some of these charts if you happen to have some floating around! Closest we get is the G1000 and they have a lot of annoying errors in them... and each update seems to move the errors to a new place...

[Pinky the pilot]

lilflyboy262...2 Likewise; check your pm's.

[Massey058]

Does anyone know the reason why they have ceased filming future episodes/seasons of the show?

Cheers,

T&G

A lot of us that did the more "challenging" flying didn't want to be involved, outside of off the record conversations, with an over dramatized production that wouldn't reflect what it's really like.

The primary producer did at least in discussion want to get away from the reality show style, seemingly he failed and was at any rate sacked by the production company apparently.

[Pinky the pilot]

And Massey058; Your post really says it all for the actual 'quality' of the whole series now, doesn't it?

No disrespect to you or any of the other blokes in the company. Anyone who has flown in that part of the World whether it be in PNG, Irian Jaya or anywhere else in that immediate area knows what like Tropical area Mountain flying into one way strips is like.:eek: We have 'been there, done that,' and you try to explain what it's like to someone who has never seen that part of the world!:ugh:

I have tried and just cannot do it justice.:= The only person on these boards who could possibly describe it with any accuracy and clarity was Chimbu Chuckles but he no longer frequents this site.:sad:

an over dramatized production that wouldn't reflect what it's really like.


Em Nau!

[Killer Loop]

"The only person on these boards who could possibly describe it with any accuracy and clarity was Chimbu Chuckles but he no longer frequents this site".................

I don't know, I've been in PNG for 11+ years and I could give it a nudge. Many of the guys I know have been here a lot longer.....20+ years in some cases and they could probably do an even better job.

[troppo]

KL agreed. There are a few other lurkers that don't contribute much that I know were there when I first visited in 93/94. They all started out in the bush and whilst they are still there flying for px they too have been there, done that and have stories to match. Technology has changed, the GA fleet has changed primarily to single engine turbine for Bush work, GPS has come a long way since the days of the Garmin 100. We all did our best with what we had at the time and we all cherish the unique flying we did. 20 years ago there wasn't much GA flying to be had in Irian Jaya outside of AMA and MAF, that has changed as well. The flying, environment and equipment is very similar both sides of the border, it's just that historically there weren't many of 'our types' that were compatible with mission flying over the border.

[lilflyboy262...2]

Would it be fair to say that with the advent of better technology like the G1000 that the approaches and weather is pushed further than 20-30yrs ago?
Weather Radar meaning that you are more likely to go with thunderstorms etc etc...

[Pinky the pilot]

I don't know, I've been in PNG for 11+ years and I could give it a nudge.

Killer Loop; Please do!:ok:

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

The only person on these boards who could possibly describe it with any accuracy and clarity was Chimbu Chuckles but he no longer frequents this site.:sad:

Ha! Chuckles is a bit preoccupied at the moment! :E

Dr :8

[Pinky the pilot]

Ha! Chuckles is a bit preoccupied at the moment

Forky; Please explain?:ooh::E:hmm:
said in my best Nthn Queensland nasal accent