Unknown PNG Airstrips?

[OzExpat]

I'm back from my TGI Friday overindulgence and have found all of the photos I previously posted for Alistair. I even found most of the comments he provided for those photos, so my records ain't totally up to sh*t. I've now added in the extras that he sent me yesterday, complete with the comments that he provided with them.

This is where you will find Alistair's new PNG album so I hope you enjoy them. Should this thread get the padlock for reaching the magic 100 posts value, I will start a new thread and advise this URL again.

Haven't had time to make a start on HJ's album but, then, he hasn't yet sent me the extras that he promised... hint... hint...

[Herc Jerk]

Hey Oz!! i sent 'em yesterday, and sent the comments for them just this afternoon... how's that filing system going??

Tell me if they are lost in the ether and i will re-send them.

HJ

[OzExpat]

HJ... yeah mate, I got those, but you subsequently told me that you'd send more and that they'd be ready by Friday evening. Thus, I thought I should wait until I had the lot, rather than out them online in dribs and drabs.

I've got the comments you sent and will go thru those soon as I'm sober enuf to do so. Maybe around lunchtime tomorrow, or thereabouts...

[Herc Jerk]

Sorry aboot that old chap!! Bit of confusion there!! Hopefully all sorted now (check ya email) and we can get on with Guess the Goat Track!!

I guess we will start when Oz's head recovers...?

HJ

[Chimbu chuckles]

Hey Alistair......that strip in the Monghi Valley which you call Tobou looks like Ogernerang.....was there a name change? Kikori is west of Kerema........about 274 deg for 108nm from memory.

I agree about Menyamya......it was a inoccuous looking but with the winds etc was always hard work in C402/Islanders....although easy in a DHC-6, lots of good crosswind practice when landing.

Chuck.

[OzExpat]

Guess the Goat Track Competition is alive again!

I'm alive, sober and hard at work on the competition again. I've now received a sh*tload of photos from HJ, plus an offer of some from our good mate lurch. I've uploaded a bit over half the photos that HJ sent me and have sent him the URL for proof-reading before I provide it here. By that time, I hope to have uploaded the remainder of his photos, so you'll see the complete collection straight off.

But, while that's going on, we need to keep the competition humming along, so here's a few grabs from HJ's collection for you all to ponder. Some of them should be a gift for the likes of Alistair and lurch, so those blokes aren't allowed to give the answers! There, that outta p*ss 'em off a bit, but they can take heart from this...

You guys can be the adjudicators on the answers! Okay? Happy now? I figured that, as I've never been to any of these places, I have to disqualify meself as an adjudicator. So, with all of that resolved, here are the latest offerings...

Goat track Nr 1

Goat track Nr 2

Goat track Nr 3

Goat track Nr 4

Goat track Nr 5

Goat track Nr 6

Goat track Nr 7

Okay, guys, time to get busy again... let's have all them answers flooding in!

[Chimbu chuckles]

well baring in mind that I haven't frequented these places since 1989 here goes

1/. Derim (easy pick)
2/. Indagen
3/. Yeva (taken from crosswind)
4/. Makini
5/. Pindiu
6/. A strip that was just being built when I frequented the Monghi Valley...it's about 1nm west of Ognerang...dunno what they called it when they finished it.
7/. Satwag.


Chuck

[OzExpat]

I guess the adjudicators are doin the right thing by waiting for a few more replies ... to see which ones the arguments are gunna be about...

[Herc Jerk]

Chuckles, ya on the money- especially after 12+ years!! Definite pass mark, but unfortunately no cigar

But then, to keep the game afoot, i won't say which ones

HJ

[Capt Vegemite]

Apart from pindiu and satwag all seem a trifle modern to me.The photties taken from a Brick did these things take over from 206/185?.
Bloody disgraceful excuse for an airyplane.

[Chimbu chuckles]

So what was my score outa 7? Must admit I was only certain about 3 or 4 of them.......but it has been a loooonnngggg time.


Hey Vege the Bongo wasn't that bad..........wait a sec what am I saying

I'd rather fly a Bongo than a 206 but would rather fly a C185 than an Islander or a 206..........Interesting that I can't think of too many C185s that ended there days in PNG in 'classic' taildragger ways.

I could never understand why there weren't more Porters in PNG, it would seem made for them..........guess it was the lack of tailwheel experienced guys in the end.........and C&T types who could really train on them........they're easier, by all accounts and my very small exposure to them, than the 185 to fly and carry at least an Islander load, + leave the Bongo dead for character!!

Chuck.

[OzExpat]

Patience is a virtue Chuck...hmmm, what am I saying? None of us are "virtuous"... Anyway, I'm sure that the "official" adjudicators (are ya listening HJ? ) are still doin the right thing by waitin to see who else decides to put their memory on the line...

[Herc Jerk]

orr, sorry Chuckles , i should have given you a score... 5/7... don't reckon i would have done as well with my own photos HA!

Awright, batter up... who can say which?



And BTW you lot ragging on Brittain Norman's finest creation...

[Feather #3]

Capt. Veg.,

As the first to officially recognise Wonenara, I'd be obliged for some acknowledgement. One may not be a recognised 'wantok', but that doesn't mean rejection is appropriate?

G'day

[Bozzo]

I don't know what you PNG boys are going on about with the weather up there......look at Goat Tracks 1 thru 7.....sure looks good to me.

Question: What are the highest altitudes known for the 206, BN2 and DHC6 in PNG?

[Chimbu chuckles]

OZ can you post a direct link for Bozzo to that Kiantiba wet season piccy?

Bozzo I think I speak for all who have posted piccies/flown in PNG(or anywhere else for that matter) when I say that there is little if any desire to take pictures when the weather is bad.........99% don't turn out for starters

To answer your question though.....I have had a Turbo 206 at FL230(P2-SIA), C-185 at 14000 fully loaded, BN2 at 18000', DHC6 at FL250(interesting that the highest I ever got an empty DHC7 was 210 ). All the aforementioned were due stress of weather except the Twotter where I was just trying to reduce my fuel flow enough to get an empty aircraft home on available gas......worked too The dash was just for fun

F#3........credit where credit is due.........you definitely picked it while most were punting on Omkali

HJ..........please! There would seem to be so few people on this bb that have flown the Monghi this side of the early 70s that I think we are fooling ourselves that a huge body of dissent is going to form on what strip is what.

What about a good piccy of Tep tep, Sim, Siwea, Heweini, Masa, Garasa, Aro (with Geeve's wreck), Ogenerang, Baindong, Kasenombe........I'd kill for a good piccy of Bawan taken on finals......and what were those strips called on the Nadzab side of the Saidor Gap? Some goodies in there too!

Did NCA operate into the above ones, I know you operated into the Garaina valley ones, but what about the others?

Chuck.
Chuckles.

[OzExpat]

Bozzo... we're usually a bit too busy to take photos when the wx turns to sh!t, but here's a few that might give you a bit of an idea of what it can be like a lot of the time...

First

Second

Third

Yes F3, I hereby award you the kudos and our sympathy for having led such an unsheltered life!

Chuck... there's a photo of Ogenerang among those in HJ's collection. Dunno if anyone has a photo of Baindong (aka Buyin Death) but lurch has offerred to send me some pics to publish so maybe there'll be some of the ones yer looking for in his collection.

[Capt Vegemite]

Feather#3
sori tru i missed your post somehow...Carton of SP greenies in your email.
Once picked up a sick kid from Marawaka who died shortly after T/O.Had new expat doctor on board suggest we may as well go back.I suggested to him if we went back I'd leave the engine running and he could hop out and expalin to the Kukakukas why the live kid was now dead ...we carried on to Goroka.
Bozzo Just about every fatal crash up there is weather related in fact I cant remeber one that wasnt?

[Torres]

Chuck. You questioned why there weren't more Porters in PNG? Probably not enough Parkers to fly them!

From a bean counters perspective, the Porter wasn't a money maker. From memory the max (legal) gross weight was a ridiculous 4,800 pounds. In US military service the PT6 powered Porter had a max gross weight of (from memory) 6,200 pounds. The max structural weight was apparently around 7,500 pounds and I think the Air America Garrett powered Porters flew at that weight. (I don't think they were Pilatus Porters - I think the Garrett powered aircraft was a Fairchild Porter with separate certification.)

So, the low payload and very slow speed did not make them attractive economically.

Someone mentioned the tail wheel was a weak part of the airframe. I don't seem to recall any tailwheel problems in Talair. I do remember the piston Porter's appetite for engines - they seemed to have an engine cooling problem. At one stage Junior wanted to convert the piston Porter to a PT6 powered aircraft, but the cost was considered excessive.

On the coffee runs into Wau, max gross weight was achieved when the aircraft bulked out and coffee sacks touched the cabin head liner...........

P2-SEA came with ******. The previous registration was VH-MK?? (or P2-MK??)

(Edited because the censor caught me again! The ****** above is M @ C @ I R of PNG - not even a distant prick relative of any other company by the same name.)

[Capt Vegemite]

Torres
Correct on the coffee beans it was full when you couldnt see daylight thru the windows.
The Turbo porter had a T/O roll of about 350' no matter what you seemed to fill it with.
If SEA was ex M a c a i r it would have been P2-PNH.