Northern Territory Air Services

[Fat Cheryl]

N T A S, yes QUANTAS without the QUA..

Who could forget.....

McTavish running around sacking everyone then giving them their jobs back.
Campervans being given religious-like status, so we got to polish them just because they were there.
Mick+Mick making sure they owned all the tools so they couldn't get sacked.
Exec Air falls over and Gove (or the Arnhem Glub) becomes a new place to get stranded if you work for NTAS.
Just what a Penthouse Pet can do when she really tries.
Did Ch**s really have dat girlpren at Pt Keats ?

(NTAS - it was just a stage that people went through)

It must have been good because Stephan bought it ! :)

[AMRAAM]

Just having a bit of a flit back in time were we FC.

Or do drugs really make you halucinate about these things. But one interesting bit of coincidence, what is it about that hangar and motorbikes, especialy the old noisy type.

AHH the fun of it all, I wonder how mctavish is enjoing his time. At least the house won't need painting for a while.

[18-Wheeler]

N T A S, yes QUANTAS without the QUA..

Who's QUANTAS?

[liquid_gold]

Eh, Pat Sherl,

Me tin yu ma pun my girl im Darrrwiinn. Yo ma no pun my pamily!!

[High Altitude]

I figure it only fitting that I make my 300th post about Darwin.

Well hasn't Darwin changed over the past 10 years.........

My memory isn't the best but gone is:-

Executive Air
Wimray
Mimi Air
Wingz North
Arnhem Air
NTAS
Batchelor Air Charter
Darwin Aero Club

Ownership Changes / Newbies:-

Air Frontier - twice
Anindidlyakwa Air - plus several management tussles
Wimray - Air Ngukurr
Batchelor Air Charter - NAC
NTAS - NAC
Northern Air Charter
Eastland Airlines
Darwin Flight Standards

The only rocks appear to have been Hardy, Pearl & Air North. Without Exec's Air North went through the roof and then their was Dili and silly the rest is history...

Even though there are changes it always appears to be the same wheel turning, someone closes its doors and someone else takes over, someone is sacked (or made redundant) and appears down the road. I geuss the this thread and a previous thread by Sheep Guts got me curious as to how many people have used Darwin as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Yes I am biased from my chair and I do love Darwin and the NT.

The point of the reply is not to engage in a slander match, I am generally curious about the history of Darwin GA as I have only been here for a very SMALL portion of it. Mind you I used to love watching Air North's DC3 coming into Daly River Mission to pick up the school kids.:)

So to you who know, to you who have been, and for the future Darwinites let the history lesson unfold...........

[Capt Vegemite]

HA yer forgot about NTAW.

[Sheep Guts]

HA,
Just a couple of extras,

Brolga Air even though Katherine based had a Darwin Base, and even a cool booking office at the Main Terminal, beside the Rental Car outlets.

Also what about WatAir, you personally know who took over there premesis, on a wing and a prayer;) .

Then there was that mob that owned the fleet of Aercommanders that went to rot eventually in the 1980s

Gulf Air even though based at MKT flew to Darwin and had NGU and Groote Eylandt bases, which led to the start of another NT Company ,which still exists today, Annidillyakwa , started by a former Gulf Employee SB.


There must be more to the above and holes to filled.

Regards
Sheep

[slice]

Arnhem Air (and almost Kakair with it)


Go Bob!

[Dog One]

What about Northern Airlines - took over from Connair and lasted six months. Owned by East West Airlines.

[tinpis]

What about Northern Airlines - took over from Connair and lasted six months. Owned by East West Airlines.

Became NTAW....AN owned, died 1984.

[CoodaShooda]

Then there was that mob that owned the fleet of Aercommanders that went to rot eventually in the 1980s
Amman Aviation...gazzumped by SkyWest on the coast watch contract.

[gaunty]

Cooda

Ahhh Amman.

I can hear it like it was yesterday, Meeke on the other end of the phone, apoplectic, saying "What the........and who the ..........are they?". :eek:
Good question??
We put the tentacles out and got there before most and it wasn't pretty. :(

I well remember a conference call with the innocent unfortunates who had agreed to finance the venture had Amman been succesful, (and let's face it, on the face of it who wouldn't) who were then trying to get a handle on what it was, that they had got themselves in to on the choice, age and type of equipment etc. :o

There were many loooooong silences, followed by the usual, "really", which in OZ translates into "I don't believe you/it" or "tell me it's not true", sharp intakes of breath and general bewilderment.

To give them their due, buoyed up by the fact that the contract and organisation had been given the big "tick" from the Customs Dept Assesors and the DCA "experts" or whatever they called themselves in those days, they proceeded, perhaps more cautiously. Who needs enemies when you have Government friends like those. Mind you I suspect that they were desperate for a change, any change.
Having said that it was a...............nah, it couldn't have been a conspiracy to make sure that they never went near anyone but Skywest again........................????:confused:

Meekes subsequent behaviour may bear some scrutiny and it could be said was the beginning of the end for them, but, the resultant enquiry did bring some benefits and shone a very bright light on the competency and processes of some of our hitherto "accepted experts". :rolleyes: To be fair, the gutting out of the Civil Aviation mob had been under way for a bit with "the dabbler" in full cry. :mad:

It would have made an hilarious G & S opera containing big gobs of slapstick and high farce, were it not so serious and involve the protection ? of our borders.
The rest of the world and the bad guys were falling off their chairs laughing.
And anybody who owned one of the 73 clapped out 690s still on their wheels suddenly could believe that there might be a God indeed.

I wish I could find the magazine article by the journalist who was invited along, describing the "delivery" of one of the 'crates' that was supposed to be 'flying' to our aid in border protection.:rolleyes:

Whatever, it delayed the present methods and fleet mix introduction many many years past, when it should have been and which eventually came out of that fiasco.

If you were going to make the movie, who would you cast as the characters?

Amman
Meeke
FBI
Security guards
The Fat Man
His mate the PM
Rupert
The Financiers
Used 'crate' salesmen.
Customs guys
DCA guys
Minister for Customs
Minister for Ag
Minister for Civil Aviation
Other tenderers
Assorted bad guys.

[CoodaShooda]

Gaunty
All good fun for the perennial political spectator too.

Come to think of it, I appear to have been peripherally associated with such other gems as the regulation of services to NT communities, closure of Connair, good old Northern Airlines and some distant debacle about an Aero-Medical contract.

Seems my track record by association ain't too hot. :rolleyes: :D
(At least I was able to learn from their mistakes :p )

As to the cast for the movie, I'd suggest multiple roles for Peter Sellers, Nigel Hawthorn and Michael Caine - consumate, hard edged farce. ;)

HA
Noticed a sign for Vincent Air Charter (?) near your place on the weekend. Another newbie?

[High Altitude]

Cooda -

Vincent Air Charter have moved into that hanger. New Aussie company operating on a trans tasman agreement with ZK rego.

From what I hear they are not too popular around the traps as people don't seem to like like competition. Bit like when I started really.

HA

[D.Lamination]

:D
Vege: NTAW - an ANSETT subsidiary with AN pilots was a joke of an operation.

They had the NT aeromedical service contact for the Darwin region. They had STOL aeroplanes but would only operate into licenced strips - you had to be careful only to get sick or have an accident in near a "licenced strip". Charter boys made a killing (excuse the pun) because NTAW could often not go to where the MEDEVAC was needed. The STOL aeroplanes just did clinic runs to 3-4000' strips! The jokearound the airport was that an NTAW pilot needed an engineer and ground power to start his car on the way home. They were trying to run a mainline RPT operation in the bush.

Don't forget Tillair either, not strictly Darwin but just about everywhere else in the NT. The owner was one of the few to make a squillion in GA - built up a huge company (for GA) and then was wise enough to break it up, sell it off at the peak of the market and sail off into the sunset with the loot. Airnorth still use TL fllight numbers.
:cool:

[Screw Jac]

The thing about HA, is that he's only 29 and not finished with the Darwin market yet! Provided he stops bus surfing.......

Taking YBAS by storm although its rumoured a few of the existing operators are heard talking about ways to remove NAC from Alice Springs... Funnily enough they weren't too interested in YBAS until NAC showed an interest! Getting rid f NAc wont happen, but if you try get a very big big crow bar...:D :D :D