Best Airstrips
Hey Tiger77, i managed to snap a photo of your amphibious buffalo taking off from jatz cracker homestead airstrip. Sorry about the photo quality, my camera isn't the best.
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Australia
Age: 36
Posts: 130
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Dry twotter, that particular aircraft was only used for about 5 months during the wet season with the floats fitted, and at the time Jatz airstrip was about 80% water so it had no trouble getting in and out of the strip.
During the dry we used the amphibian buffalo into Jatz. It had extra wheels attached to the floats. I'll try to find a photo.
I'm still trying to bring Buffalo's back to the Kimberley as they were always a great freight / charter machine. The new aboriginal community of Port Kaloombiru has an airstrip of only 250m so none of the current aircraft in the area can operate into it.
Cheers
Tiger.
During the dry we used the amphibian buffalo into Jatz. It had extra wheels attached to the floats. I'll try to find a photo.
I'm still trying to bring Buffalo's back to the Kimberley as they were always a great freight / charter machine. The new aboriginal community of Port Kaloombiru has an airstrip of only 250m so none of the current aircraft in the area can operate into it.
Cheers
Tiger.
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: (Not always) In front of my computer
Posts: 371
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
WHAT THE?
Originally Posted by dr_doLiTTle
Uphill landing, positive flare and full power to the parking area?? Is it as steep as the photo looks, or is there some illusion.
Two Dogs
Grandpa Aerotart
Two Dogs this picture turned up a year or so back doing the rounds...none of us ex PNG pilots recognise the strip and it's either Irian Jaya or South America...it's very likely a MAF 206 judging by the colour scheme....and my guess is Irian Jaya.
I suspect there is a LITTLE bit of lense induced distortion but that is most obvious around the little flat bit half way down....I don't think that is as flat as it looks....in fact it looks almost un-negotiable without a prop or tail srike
REALLY steep strips are however common...15-20% slopes are very common in PNG and Irian Jaya...there are strips in Irian Jaya that would not be allowed in PNG, and in PNG we always had a pretty broad mind about what constituted possible.
Another common feature in PNG and Irian Jaya is landing around corners...20 odd degree heading change in 400 m...and sometimes a combination of both steep and around corners
The technique for steep airstrips revolved around carrying enough extra speed into the roundout/flare to get the nose up high enough to 'land normally' and then apply LOTS of power as the wheels touched to get up to the parking bay...if the aircraft stopped before the top it may well be impossibe to get there at all...especially with a full load in the back.
It is also essential to 'look high' all the way down final approach into a steep strip...if it starts looking 'normal' you are below the strip and will land in the trees short of the strip...more than one new pilot has done this. In essence you are making a normal 3 degree approach, slightly fast and thus you look incredibly high on approach. There were also strips where the touchdown zone was a 3-5% downslope before a 12-15% upslope on the last 2/3rds of the strip...then you must look low all the way. 3-5% cross slopes were not unusual too...in fact combinations of ALL the above characteristics were not uncommon at one airstrip...they were the really challenging ones.
It should not be underestimated just how much fun this is...when I was doing this for a living NOTHING else came close for pure fun and pleasure..I would rather do this than have sex...by a rather large margin
Mix in rain (most afternoons or early mornings) or strong tailwinds which were the norm from just before midday on sunny days (anabatic winds), windsheer from elevated thresholds (sometimes you went from 2000'AGL to touchdown in a few seconds) and you can see why boredom was never an issue...unlike these days doing longhaul
I suspect there is a LITTLE bit of lense induced distortion but that is most obvious around the little flat bit half way down....I don't think that is as flat as it looks....in fact it looks almost un-negotiable without a prop or tail srike
REALLY steep strips are however common...15-20% slopes are very common in PNG and Irian Jaya...there are strips in Irian Jaya that would not be allowed in PNG, and in PNG we always had a pretty broad mind about what constituted possible.
Another common feature in PNG and Irian Jaya is landing around corners...20 odd degree heading change in 400 m...and sometimes a combination of both steep and around corners
The technique for steep airstrips revolved around carrying enough extra speed into the roundout/flare to get the nose up high enough to 'land normally' and then apply LOTS of power as the wheels touched to get up to the parking bay...if the aircraft stopped before the top it may well be impossibe to get there at all...especially with a full load in the back.
It is also essential to 'look high' all the way down final approach into a steep strip...if it starts looking 'normal' you are below the strip and will land in the trees short of the strip...more than one new pilot has done this. In essence you are making a normal 3 degree approach, slightly fast and thus you look incredibly high on approach. There were also strips where the touchdown zone was a 3-5% downslope before a 12-15% upslope on the last 2/3rds of the strip...then you must look low all the way. 3-5% cross slopes were not unusual too...in fact combinations of ALL the above characteristics were not uncommon at one airstrip...they were the really challenging ones.
It should not be underestimated just how much fun this is...when I was doing this for a living NOTHING else came close for pure fun and pleasure..I would rather do this than have sex...by a rather large margin
Mix in rain (most afternoons or early mornings) or strong tailwinds which were the norm from just before midday on sunny days (anabatic winds), windsheer from elevated thresholds (sometimes you went from 2000'AGL to touchdown in a few seconds) and you can see why boredom was never an issue...unlike these days doing longhaul
Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 18th Mar 2006 at 03:20.
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Crookwell
Posts: 333
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Photoshop?? Thats giving a little too much credit! Try ol' Paint cut&paste 
Tiger, I met the base pilot out at this new community you speak of. Friendly fellow....
...Disco (Wet_Twotter)
Tiger, I met the base pilot out at this new community you speak of. Friendly fellow....
...Disco (Wet_Twotter)
