27th Jan 2019, 13:21 - Wikipost
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A thread where ex PNG geriatrics lapuns and long longs can live in the dim distant past.
Where tall stories are accepted as fact. War stories are applauded. Grab a Brownie, pull up a story and join in a trip down memory lane!!! 
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PNG Ples Bilong Tok Tok
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From todays Post Courier.
Post-Courier Online
Plane crash in Morobe
. . . six people dead, pilot fighting for his life
By BUSTIN ANZU
A LIGHT aircraft crashed into the mountains of Boana, Morobe Province yesterday killing six people who were on board.
The expatriate pilot is fighting for his life in a hospital in Cairns after he was airlifted from the crash site to Lae by a rescue team and later flown to Australia.
The plane crashed into the side of the Bengun hill, located between Gumbum and Tunam villages, about three hours from Boana, the district Headquarters of the Nawaeb electorate.
The pilot’s mayday signal was intercepted by a helicopter which followed the signal to the crash site and rescued the pilot and rushed him to Lae for medical evacuation.
Police and medical officers who flew to the crash site retrieved all the bodies including two children and were taken to the Angau Memorial Hospital morgue.
Provincial Police Commander Superintendent Peter Guinness who went with the team to the crash site said the plane was severely burnt and they could not do much but wait for the Civil Aviation Authority to carry out investigation.
The plane, owned by Kiunga Aviation, based in Lae was on its way to Baindoang in the hinterlands of Nawaeb from Nadzab airport early yesterday morning when the pilot encountered a technical problem and decided to return to Nadzab when it crashed.
Only the tail section was intact at the crash site while the front and rest of the plane was burnt out. The pilot, who suffered burns, was considered a miracle as the front of the plane was also burnt out.
According to Ward 17 councillor of the Erap Wain Local Level Government, David Gaman, they heard the plane flying over very early in the morning towards Baindoang and Kasanombe areas.
But not very long it returned and they could hear loud noises coming from the plane and then the engine went off and it glided to a hill covered with grass near their village.
“It came down and crashed and we saw smoke coming from the plane and we rushed to see the plane,” he said at the crash site.
Locals Martha Bob and Morbie Jonah, with the help of others were able to rescue the pilot who was near the crashed plane calling out for help.
They went and took the pilot to a helicopter which had landed near the crash site and took him to Lae.
The pilot was later medivac to Cairns in Australia for further medical treatment in the evening.
This is the second worst plane crash to occur in PNG this year. In August, a Twin Otter aircraft owned by Airlines PNG crashed into the mountains of Kokoda, killing 13 people on board including the pilot.
Of those killed, nine were Australians and four were Papua New Guineans.
Investigation into this crash is still continuing.
Post-Courier Online
Plane crash in Morobe
. . . six people dead, pilot fighting for his life
By BUSTIN ANZU
A LIGHT aircraft crashed into the mountains of Boana, Morobe Province yesterday killing six people who were on board.
The expatriate pilot is fighting for his life in a hospital in Cairns after he was airlifted from the crash site to Lae by a rescue team and later flown to Australia.
The plane crashed into the side of the Bengun hill, located between Gumbum and Tunam villages, about three hours from Boana, the district Headquarters of the Nawaeb electorate.
The pilot’s mayday signal was intercepted by a helicopter which followed the signal to the crash site and rescued the pilot and rushed him to Lae for medical evacuation.
Police and medical officers who flew to the crash site retrieved all the bodies including two children and were taken to the Angau Memorial Hospital morgue.
Provincial Police Commander Superintendent Peter Guinness who went with the team to the crash site said the plane was severely burnt and they could not do much but wait for the Civil Aviation Authority to carry out investigation.
The plane, owned by Kiunga Aviation, based in Lae was on its way to Baindoang in the hinterlands of Nawaeb from Nadzab airport early yesterday morning when the pilot encountered a technical problem and decided to return to Nadzab when it crashed.
Only the tail section was intact at the crash site while the front and rest of the plane was burnt out. The pilot, who suffered burns, was considered a miracle as the front of the plane was also burnt out.
According to Ward 17 councillor of the Erap Wain Local Level Government, David Gaman, they heard the plane flying over very early in the morning towards Baindoang and Kasanombe areas.
But not very long it returned and they could hear loud noises coming from the plane and then the engine went off and it glided to a hill covered with grass near their village.
“It came down and crashed and we saw smoke coming from the plane and we rushed to see the plane,” he said at the crash site.
Locals Martha Bob and Morbie Jonah, with the help of others were able to rescue the pilot who was near the crashed plane calling out for help.
They went and took the pilot to a helicopter which had landed near the crash site and took him to Lae.
The pilot was later medivac to Cairns in Australia for further medical treatment in the evening.
This is the second worst plane crash to occur in PNG this year. In August, a Twin Otter aircraft owned by Airlines PNG crashed into the mountains of Kokoda, killing 13 people on board including the pilot.
Of those killed, nine were Australians and four were Papua New Guineans.
Investigation into this crash is still continuing.
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accidents in PNG
I am trying to get some information on two fatal accidents in PNG in 1974. One was VH-EFO (206) in March after t/o in Lae, in which the mother and brother of a schoolmate died. The other was VH-AMS (206) in June, climbing at Garaina (I think). Being a 12 year old schoolkid, the grownups at the time probably thought us too young for specific information or didn´t have any themselves. After all those years I am still wondering what really happened. 
AMS was an aircraft I had flown in quite often. It was rumoured that it was already burning before it actually impacted. And it was also rumoured, that there was another pilot on the ground at Garaina, who saw it happen. So if anybody has some information he would share, I would be grateful. On the thread or as PM, to your liking.
Storch
AMS was an aircraft I had flown in quite often. It was rumoured that it was already burning before it actually impacted. And it was also rumoured, that there was another pilot on the ground at Garaina, who saw it happen. So if anybody has some information he would share, I would be grateful. On the thread or as PM, to your liking.
Storch
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Accidents in PNG
G'day Storchpilot,
As far as I know there was only one C206 which crashed on climb at Garaina in 1974, so I am passing on my knowledge on that basis. I was en route Menyamya to Lae when flight service called and asked me to divert to Garaina to help locate a C206 (forgotten the callsign) which had crashed north of and close to the field.
On arrival there was smoke coming from the bush just north of the field over which I circled for about thirty minutes until an aircraft (I think a Crowley Aztec) arrived with a first aid kit to air drop on the site. At no stage could I identify what the smoke was coming from, but it had diminished to almost nothing when the Aztec arrived, and later proved to be from the C206.
We learned later from DCA, and I have no reason to doubt this, that the C206 had the flaps stuck at full flaps, and rather than wait for an engineer to fix it the pilot decided to fly back to Lae with full flap. This info came from a would be passenger waiting at Garaina to go to Lae who declined to get a lift due to the malfunction.
The pilot was the only POB and died in the crash.
As far as I know there was only one C206 which crashed on climb at Garaina in 1974, so I am passing on my knowledge on that basis. I was en route Menyamya to Lae when flight service called and asked me to divert to Garaina to help locate a C206 (forgotten the callsign) which had crashed north of and close to the field.
On arrival there was smoke coming from the bush just north of the field over which I circled for about thirty minutes until an aircraft (I think a Crowley Aztec) arrived with a first aid kit to air drop on the site. At no stage could I identify what the smoke was coming from, but it had diminished to almost nothing when the Aztec arrived, and later proved to be from the C206.
We learned later from DCA, and I have no reason to doubt this, that the C206 had the flaps stuck at full flaps, and rather than wait for an engineer to fix it the pilot decided to fly back to Lae with full flap. This info came from a would be passenger waiting at Garaina to go to Lae who declined to get a lift due to the malfunction.
The pilot was the only POB and died in the crash.
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Accidents in PNG - 1974
Storch....
The VH- EFO accident happened on takeoff from rwy 30 at Lae, was an engine failure and the aircraft spun in - I think it was a 182.
Considering that it crashed on the golf course just off the end of the runway, there was a lot of debate about why the well respected pilot didn't control the descent. It was found that the rear seat passenger had wrapped her arms around the pilot pinning his arms to his sides and pulling the pole back...... I guess the boy was in the RHS.
The 206 at Garaina - the date sounds about right....... The pilot was desperate to get home (to Lae) because it was his son's birthday. It seems he couldn't outclimb the terrain.
I started with Crowleys late July 1974 so the investigation findings were being discussed about that time.
The VH- EFO accident happened on takeoff from rwy 30 at Lae, was an engine failure and the aircraft spun in - I think it was a 182.
Considering that it crashed on the golf course just off the end of the runway, there was a lot of debate about why the well respected pilot didn't control the descent. It was found that the rear seat passenger had wrapped her arms around the pilot pinning his arms to his sides and pulling the pole back...... I guess the boy was in the RHS.
The 206 at Garaina - the date sounds about right....... The pilot was desperate to get home (to Lae) because it was his son's birthday. It seems he couldn't outclimb the terrain.
I started with Crowleys late July 1974 so the investigation findings were being discussed about that time.
Silly Old Git
Was in Lae at the time of the EFO crash March 74
Took off on 32 and spun in to the golf course as described
Was pretty unnerving for the new blokes the MKK loss had happened in Dec 73
Took off on 32 and spun in to the golf course as described
Was pretty unnerving for the new blokes the MKK loss had happened in Dec 73
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Thanks guys for the information.
I remember the talking about the flaps of AMS stuck at full flaps, as I read it in your post shinbone.
DeRated, the part about EFO, that the passenger in the rear seat had pinned the arms of the pilot to his side comes to me as quite a shock. Either those grownups didn´t know the fact, or they really didn´t want to let us kids know- being nasty one might say they wanted to keep the blame on the pilot...who knows.
But thank you for clearing up some questions from my younger life.
Storch
I remember the talking about the flaps of AMS stuck at full flaps, as I read it in your post shinbone.
DeRated, the part about EFO, that the passenger in the rear seat had pinned the arms of the pilot to his side comes to me as quite a shock. Either those grownups didn´t know the fact, or they really didn´t want to let us kids know- being nasty one might say they wanted to keep the blame on the pilot...who knows.
But thank you for clearing up some questions from my younger life.
Storch
Silly Old Git
DeRated, the part about EFO, that the passenger in the rear seat had pinned the arms of the pilot to his side
Posthumous report from one of the occupants?
Tinny, I seem to recall that Richard was involved with that Spitfire as well as the numerous P39's and P40's that were temporarily stored in the bakery yard. I believe that a lot of them came from Tsili-Tsili. They were salvaged by Monty Armstrong and were eventually exported to the USA. There wasn't much left of the Spitfire as corrosion had claimed much of the aluminium.
The deal was for every 2 aircraft exported to the USA, a complete restored aircraft was to be returned to PNG which never happened.
The deal was for every 2 aircraft exported to the USA, a complete restored aircraft was to be returned to PNG which never happened.
Hunger Strike Up a Wind Mast is an Act of Tragedies
From Today's Sydney Morning Herald - writer is Michael Duffy. Interesting PNG connection - someone who was known to many of us.
Quote
On Tuesday I visited Peter Spencer, 10 metres up a wind monitoring mast on his property in the high country south of Canberra. Spencer lives there these days, inside a tent on a small platform. State laws restricting the clearing of native vegetation have helped make his land unviable. Some years ago he was unable to meet his mortgage repayments and his sister and brother-in-law took over the debt from the bank. Spencer has been unable to repay them, and soon the sheriff will be arriving to arrange for a forced sale of the property. There are important political issues here, but it is also a family tragedy, and a personal one.
Spencer has talked a lot in recent weeks about climate change and carbon sinks, but the root of his problem with government lies in the native vegetation laws that have prevented him from clearing - and farming - much of his land. In 2004 the Productivity Commission produced a report on the impact of the laws. It recorded how many farmers had lost income, their property had been devalued, and they had received very little or no compensation, and said the worst affected "often suffered serious personal stress in the face of the resultant marginal viability, or even loss, of their property".
The effect on Spencer has been greater than on most, because of his unique personal circumstances. He's now 61, but in his younger days worked in the hotel and tourism industry in Papua New Guinea. Apparently he was successful there, and ended up owning some hotels. He sometimes stopped fights between tribesmen and at one point had his nose pierced so he could wear a bone through it on festive occasions. (You can still see light though the hole if you catch him in profile.) ABC television made a documentary on him in the 1980s.
Spencer's long-term dream was to return to NSW and become a farmer in the high country, where his mother's people had lived for generations. From 1980 he began buying adjacent blocks of land as they came up for sale at Shannons Flat, just south of the Australian Capital Territory. It took him about 15 years to put together a holding that was big enough, and to build a house. He finally had a farm of 5600 hectares, of which 60 per cent was cleared. It was his intention to keep the other 40 per cent uncleared, and to log its alpine ash and mountain gum in a sustainable manner.
During this period he was still working in Papua New Guinea, so he did little farming, and vegetation grew on much of the cleared land at Shannons Flat. In the mid-'90s he was hired by the office of the PNG prime minister, and wrote a paper on corruption and law and order that didn't make him many friends. He says one night some men knocked on the door of his home, dragged him outside and tried to shoot him with a homemade gun. It misfired and Spencer escaped in the dark. Shortly after, he hopped on a plane and hasn't been back. He settled at Shannons Flat, with the intention of spending the rest of his life as a farmer.
A pressing task was to clear the saplings that had grown over much of the previously cleared land on his property, but with the clearing bans he discovered his farm had been turned into a vast nature reserve. He ran sheep on the small proportion that was still cleared, but was unable to make a living. Land clearing was not his only problem. His farm was not good grazing country on the whole, and like many farmers he was affected by the drought and by low wool prices. Opinions differ as to how important these various factors were to his financial failure. Some of his family believe he was undercapitalised and not a good farmer. A rural counsellor who tried to help him says much of the blame lies with the land-clearing regulations.
Spencer could have walked off his farm, but he was too attached to it to do this. He protested for years about what had been done to him. This included complaints to politicians, unsuccessful efforts to motivate the NSW Farmers Association, and many court cases, where he often represented himself. A passionate and intelligent man, although without much formal education, he spent a lot of his time learning about the law. After a while his third wife, Anna, left the farm and took their young sons to Europe to live with her parents.
Meanwhile his sister and brother-in-law were looking to recover the debt he owed them. They felt he was turning to political argument and legal action when he should have been more concerned about repaying them. Maybe government had hurt him, but that was life: it was time to sell up and move on.
Spencer's legal actions failed. One of them involved a government offer, made many years after the land clearing restrictions came in, to buy the farm. The price was based on the property's present value, but Spencer argued it ought to be the value had the land clearing bans not been in place.
In 2008 Justice Stephen Rothman in the Supreme Court rejected this claim, but expressed some sympathy for Spencer's situation. He noted: "The State Vegetation Acts had a crippling effect … on the business of Mr Spencer … it is an extremely disheartening and sad occasion that a person, whose life and resources have been placed into rural property for the purposes of conducting a grazing and farming business, has been required to resort to this action." He further observed: "While all members of society must accept that there will be restrictions on their activities for the 'greater good of society', when those restrictions prevent or prohibit a business activity that was hitherto legitimate, because of the area in which it is operating, and assistance is offered which does not fully compensate for the restrictions imposed, society is asking Mr Spencer, and people in his position, to pay for its benefit … it is a most unfortunate aspect of the operation of the scheme that a person in Mr Spencer's position is effectively denied proper compensation for the restrictions imposed upon him by a scheme implemented for the public good." However, he concluded, "that is a matter for government [not the courts]".
Peter Spencer is a complicated and volatile character. Most of us would regard going on a hunger strike as extreme, and he has shown a propensity for self-harm in the past. There was an occasion about 1970 when he went up a hill in Canberra and shot himself, as part of an effort to get attention during a dispute with his first wife.
Some of those who deal with him have described him as obsessive, and this is certainly my limited experience. I stayed in touch with him after writing a column on land clearing five years ago, and on one occasion when I wasn't displaying enough sympathy he hung up and didn't speak to me for a year. He can be a thoughtful and articulate human being who draws on a considerable experience of life, but he is also a righteous man given to monologues and high emotion.
Spencer's siblings are upset about what has happened, and believe politics has clouded what is essentially a family dispute over a loan. This is understandable, yet there is a genuine political issue here. The land clearing bans have played a big role in what has happened to him.
Spencer has now been without food for 48 days. He spends the time listening to animals and reading the Bible. On Thursday night he said he was losing strength and would give no more interviews.
How should politicians respond to the action he has taken? They should not change laws because of a hunger strike. But it might give them pause to reflect on those laws. Others are already doing this: in the past week there has been a lot of media coverage here and some overseas, and much discussion on the internet. In a poll on Today Tonight, 14,000 people (98 per cent of those who voted) wanted Kevin Rudd to meet with Peter Spencer.
This level of response is a reminder of the moral ambiguity of a hunger strike. On the one hand it allows people to question the mental health of the person engaged in the strike. On the other, it can attract attention to an important injustice: if Spencer hadn't embarked on this action, no one today would be talking about land clearing. His action has been effective precisely because it is unusual, and unusual things tend to be done by unusual people.
Mr Rudd has been much praised for making public apologies to Aboriginal people and to those who suffered as children in state care. These apologies are welcome, but in a historical sense they are (as I'm sure he would agree) regrettably late. With farmers and land clearing, we could say sorry while there's still time to do something about the suffering that's been caused.
But if anyone's going to say sorry, it ought to be the Premier of NSW. After all, it was the State Government that brought in the native vegetation laws.
End Quote
I don't fancy his chances with this protest
BB
Quote
On Tuesday I visited Peter Spencer, 10 metres up a wind monitoring mast on his property in the high country south of Canberra. Spencer lives there these days, inside a tent on a small platform. State laws restricting the clearing of native vegetation have helped make his land unviable. Some years ago he was unable to meet his mortgage repayments and his sister and brother-in-law took over the debt from the bank. Spencer has been unable to repay them, and soon the sheriff will be arriving to arrange for a forced sale of the property. There are important political issues here, but it is also a family tragedy, and a personal one.
Spencer has talked a lot in recent weeks about climate change and carbon sinks, but the root of his problem with government lies in the native vegetation laws that have prevented him from clearing - and farming - much of his land. In 2004 the Productivity Commission produced a report on the impact of the laws. It recorded how many farmers had lost income, their property had been devalued, and they had received very little or no compensation, and said the worst affected "often suffered serious personal stress in the face of the resultant marginal viability, or even loss, of their property".
The effect on Spencer has been greater than on most, because of his unique personal circumstances. He's now 61, but in his younger days worked in the hotel and tourism industry in Papua New Guinea. Apparently he was successful there, and ended up owning some hotels. He sometimes stopped fights between tribesmen and at one point had his nose pierced so he could wear a bone through it on festive occasions. (You can still see light though the hole if you catch him in profile.) ABC television made a documentary on him in the 1980s.
Spencer's long-term dream was to return to NSW and become a farmer in the high country, where his mother's people had lived for generations. From 1980 he began buying adjacent blocks of land as they came up for sale at Shannons Flat, just south of the Australian Capital Territory. It took him about 15 years to put together a holding that was big enough, and to build a house. He finally had a farm of 5600 hectares, of which 60 per cent was cleared. It was his intention to keep the other 40 per cent uncleared, and to log its alpine ash and mountain gum in a sustainable manner.
During this period he was still working in Papua New Guinea, so he did little farming, and vegetation grew on much of the cleared land at Shannons Flat. In the mid-'90s he was hired by the office of the PNG prime minister, and wrote a paper on corruption and law and order that didn't make him many friends. He says one night some men knocked on the door of his home, dragged him outside and tried to shoot him with a homemade gun. It misfired and Spencer escaped in the dark. Shortly after, he hopped on a plane and hasn't been back. He settled at Shannons Flat, with the intention of spending the rest of his life as a farmer.
A pressing task was to clear the saplings that had grown over much of the previously cleared land on his property, but with the clearing bans he discovered his farm had been turned into a vast nature reserve. He ran sheep on the small proportion that was still cleared, but was unable to make a living. Land clearing was not his only problem. His farm was not good grazing country on the whole, and like many farmers he was affected by the drought and by low wool prices. Opinions differ as to how important these various factors were to his financial failure. Some of his family believe he was undercapitalised and not a good farmer. A rural counsellor who tried to help him says much of the blame lies with the land-clearing regulations.
Spencer could have walked off his farm, but he was too attached to it to do this. He protested for years about what had been done to him. This included complaints to politicians, unsuccessful efforts to motivate the NSW Farmers Association, and many court cases, where he often represented himself. A passionate and intelligent man, although without much formal education, he spent a lot of his time learning about the law. After a while his third wife, Anna, left the farm and took their young sons to Europe to live with her parents.
Meanwhile his sister and brother-in-law were looking to recover the debt he owed them. They felt he was turning to political argument and legal action when he should have been more concerned about repaying them. Maybe government had hurt him, but that was life: it was time to sell up and move on.
Spencer's legal actions failed. One of them involved a government offer, made many years after the land clearing restrictions came in, to buy the farm. The price was based on the property's present value, but Spencer argued it ought to be the value had the land clearing bans not been in place.
In 2008 Justice Stephen Rothman in the Supreme Court rejected this claim, but expressed some sympathy for Spencer's situation. He noted: "The State Vegetation Acts had a crippling effect … on the business of Mr Spencer … it is an extremely disheartening and sad occasion that a person, whose life and resources have been placed into rural property for the purposes of conducting a grazing and farming business, has been required to resort to this action." He further observed: "While all members of society must accept that there will be restrictions on their activities for the 'greater good of society', when those restrictions prevent or prohibit a business activity that was hitherto legitimate, because of the area in which it is operating, and assistance is offered which does not fully compensate for the restrictions imposed, society is asking Mr Spencer, and people in his position, to pay for its benefit … it is a most unfortunate aspect of the operation of the scheme that a person in Mr Spencer's position is effectively denied proper compensation for the restrictions imposed upon him by a scheme implemented for the public good." However, he concluded, "that is a matter for government [not the courts]".
Peter Spencer is a complicated and volatile character. Most of us would regard going on a hunger strike as extreme, and he has shown a propensity for self-harm in the past. There was an occasion about 1970 when he went up a hill in Canberra and shot himself, as part of an effort to get attention during a dispute with his first wife.
Some of those who deal with him have described him as obsessive, and this is certainly my limited experience. I stayed in touch with him after writing a column on land clearing five years ago, and on one occasion when I wasn't displaying enough sympathy he hung up and didn't speak to me for a year. He can be a thoughtful and articulate human being who draws on a considerable experience of life, but he is also a righteous man given to monologues and high emotion.
Spencer's siblings are upset about what has happened, and believe politics has clouded what is essentially a family dispute over a loan. This is understandable, yet there is a genuine political issue here. The land clearing bans have played a big role in what has happened to him.
Spencer has now been without food for 48 days. He spends the time listening to animals and reading the Bible. On Thursday night he said he was losing strength and would give no more interviews.
How should politicians respond to the action he has taken? They should not change laws because of a hunger strike. But it might give them pause to reflect on those laws. Others are already doing this: in the past week there has been a lot of media coverage here and some overseas, and much discussion on the internet. In a poll on Today Tonight, 14,000 people (98 per cent of those who voted) wanted Kevin Rudd to meet with Peter Spencer.
This level of response is a reminder of the moral ambiguity of a hunger strike. On the one hand it allows people to question the mental health of the person engaged in the strike. On the other, it can attract attention to an important injustice: if Spencer hadn't embarked on this action, no one today would be talking about land clearing. His action has been effective precisely because it is unusual, and unusual things tend to be done by unusual people.
Mr Rudd has been much praised for making public apologies to Aboriginal people and to those who suffered as children in state care. These apologies are welcome, but in a historical sense they are (as I'm sure he would agree) regrettably late. With farmers and land clearing, we could say sorry while there's still time to do something about the suffering that's been caused.
But if anyone's going to say sorry, it ought to be the Premier of NSW. After all, it was the State Government that brought in the native vegetation laws.
End Quote
I don't fancy his chances with this protest
BB
