Darwin... A bit of goss...
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Location: North son, I say go North..........
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Darwin... A bit of goss...
What the heck, heres a bit of a Darwin goss page for all you folk that have had the pleasure of passing through Darwin in your time.
Well Eastland Airlines are moving out of the old Arnhem Hangar. The airwing will be moving in! Eastland are moving to the old NAC site (between Wimray & Wak Wak)! How I have absolutley no idea? There is 1 toilet, enough room for not alot ****** all car parking and heaps of demountables being installed. the ole garden will never recover.
Gunna be fun watching 2 Twotters in that spot...
Reckon its great 2 Tiwi operators operating next door to each other!
Air Ngukurr are rumoured to be working with Vincent to start up Maningrida in the 1900 (since NAC didn't go though with it).
Air Ngukurr have a coffee shop........ now thats how to make money.
AA have scaled right back but then you would all probably know that.
Hardy - About the only constant in Darwin!
AF - You've read prune.
NAC - Can't say I'm biased.
VINCENT - Their new Reims is here, looks quiet tidy!
You all would have seen or heard Mr Pasapaleys lovely new Falcon around...
Thats it...... I'm going skiing...
Well Eastland Airlines are moving out of the old Arnhem Hangar. The airwing will be moving in! Eastland are moving to the old NAC site (between Wimray & Wak Wak)! How I have absolutley no idea? There is 1 toilet, enough room for not alot ****** all car parking and heaps of demountables being installed. the ole garden will never recover.
Gunna be fun watching 2 Twotters in that spot...
Reckon its great 2 Tiwi operators operating next door to each other!
Air Ngukurr are rumoured to be working with Vincent to start up Maningrida in the 1900 (since NAC didn't go though with it).
Air Ngukurr have a coffee shop........ now thats how to make money.
AA have scaled right back but then you would all probably know that.
Hardy - About the only constant in Darwin!
AF - You've read prune.
NAC - Can't say I'm biased.
VINCENT - Their new Reims is here, looks quiet tidy!
You all would have seen or heard Mr Pasapaleys lovely new Falcon around...
Thats it...... I'm going skiing...
Been gone a shade over two years, and by christ it changes quickly. Would have to be one of the most fluid areas of our industry with all its comings and goings.
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Just of the top.
Yes the aero club went a while back and Darwin Flight Standards took over. Operated from the ole NAC bottom camp however don't even think there around anymore. Bit of a shame no training but I've heard a rumor that another school will be setting up shortly just out of DN (geuss where Stallie).
Kakadu Air - Now that they are back in Jabiru only appear to be going as they always did. Great returns on the 207.
There is however great speculation as to the tourist season this year? Personally I feel that locally we will have a bonza.
Airnorth are still strong with their Brasilla / Metro fleet. They just put 4 blokes on however they are on hold until things pick up. me tinks they will be on hold for a while (one of thems one of my guys so its fairly accurate).
Vincent Aviation are the one you wouldn't have heard from if you've been gone for a while. B1900, F406 started doing Timor work now doing domestic. Might shake up a few opertors with their rates. Will be interesting to see what Air North do on the Maningrida route with the Metro.
Larger scale aviation is still in a bad way in Darwin. If you want to travel you still have ****** all options. Qantas have increased flights for the dry or you can jump on the midnight Virgin.
To get to Broome you must either fly scarenorth via Kununuru or go via Alice Springs or Perth on Qantas. What happened to the days of 2 BAE 146's doing th Broome run?
Garuda is offering very very very good deals to Bali $400 return. Royal Brunei is good but a little on the $ side.
But now the dry's here who cares about the flying let the backpacker season begin
Yes the aero club went a while back and Darwin Flight Standards took over. Operated from the ole NAC bottom camp however don't even think there around anymore. Bit of a shame no training but I've heard a rumor that another school will be setting up shortly just out of DN (geuss where Stallie).
Kakadu Air - Now that they are back in Jabiru only appear to be going as they always did. Great returns on the 207.
There is however great speculation as to the tourist season this year? Personally I feel that locally we will have a bonza.
Airnorth are still strong with their Brasilla / Metro fleet. They just put 4 blokes on however they are on hold until things pick up. me tinks they will be on hold for a while (one of thems one of my guys so its fairly accurate).
Vincent Aviation are the one you wouldn't have heard from if you've been gone for a while. B1900, F406 started doing Timor work now doing domestic. Might shake up a few opertors with their rates. Will be interesting to see what Air North do on the Maningrida route with the Metro.
Larger scale aviation is still in a bad way in Darwin. If you want to travel you still have ****** all options. Qantas have increased flights for the dry or you can jump on the midnight Virgin.
To get to Broome you must either fly scarenorth via Kununuru or go via Alice Springs or Perth on Qantas. What happened to the days of 2 BAE 146's doing th Broome run?
Garuda is offering very very very good deals to Bali $400 return. Royal Brunei is good but a little on the $ side.
But now the dry's here who cares about the flying let the backpacker season begin
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Darwin Flight Standards now in voluntary bankruptcy and somehow trading under another name and opening up under the name Bruce Hartwig Flying School. Very Sus that the operation can shut down on 31st March 2003 and open up under some other name the next day. The porsche driving airport businessman (Port Keats/Daly River expert) is involved in DFS's demisal up to his armpits. He treats his pilots like sh_t and has been a director in DFS for quite a while although reckons he is not responsible for the shoddy way the DFS has been run.
Vincent Aviation are the one you wouldn't have heard from if you've been gone for a while. B1900, F406 started doing Timor work now doing domestic. Might shake up a few opertors with their rates. Will be interesting to see what Air North do on the Maningrida route with the Metro.
Yes, Vincent Aviation were proposing startup in their own right between Drw and Maningrida using the Beech 1900 but this seems to have been shelved while they get RPT approvals sorted out, Air Ngukkur partnership is new to me, apparently the locals at Maningrida aren't happy with the Airnorth service, i think they would be quite happy to get rid of this one, they have dropped all their other arnhem land services last year, handballing them to MAF.
Broome via Knx in a 146, consistent money LOSER for Ansett, hence it was handballed to Airnorth about a year out from An's collapse, QantasLink dropped their Bme-drw service for the same reason.
This is now Airnorth's most profitable run.
More Darwin Gossip -
NAC has employed yet another ops manager, where do they all go? Apparently this one is ex virgin!!! why would you make a career move like that? i know where i would rather be!!!! each to their own i guess...
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So Vincent's are going to put up a B1900 against a Metro on a 200nm sector?
Good luck for trying, but I suspect the Kiwi alliance (Vinnies and Ngukurr) will soon be 'ut suxes 'nd sevuns when they go head to head with AirNorth.
My prediction-- a lot of heartache for all concerned.
Vinnies will get some hearty business initially simply because they are NOT air north!
Poor customer communication and lack of understanding by both parties in the ANR/MGD folk relationship over years has left some MGD folk thinking that ANR freight and traffic staff sit around and devise ways to wreck their day.
One MGD barra fishing operator thinks that AirNorth directors are carrying out a personal vendetta against his business!
Case of someone mistaking simple human error for evil intent.
However, I predict that at the end of the day, the higher per-seat-mile costs of a B1900 will tell against the paid-for-over-and-over Airnorth Metros.
Remember too that ANR ran their nightly 210 newspaper run at $184 per m/r hour for years and years (IFR planes with IFR paid pilots, when VFR C210's were being billed at $250 to $320/hr), a below-break-even situation, simply to stop other piston operators getting the contract and possibly gaining a foothold in KTR and TNK.
That and the fact that despite ANR's poor profile in the town, Vinnies are yet to learn all the bugs and pitfalls that ANR has (slowly) ironed out over the years.
Will Vinnies be able to back up the RPT with a baggage (c402/c210) flight four times a year when the new teachers at the MGD school turn up with 60kg of baggage at the start of the new term?
Will the 'teach those airnorth bastards' mentality hold together after the contractors and teachers figure out that they could have got enought QF frequent flyer points to go to SYD in a year if they had booked ANR?
Watching with interest..
Good luck for trying, but I suspect the Kiwi alliance (Vinnies and Ngukurr) will soon be 'ut suxes 'nd sevuns when they go head to head with AirNorth.
My prediction-- a lot of heartache for all concerned.
Vinnies will get some hearty business initially simply because they are NOT air north!
Poor customer communication and lack of understanding by both parties in the ANR/MGD folk relationship over years has left some MGD folk thinking that ANR freight and traffic staff sit around and devise ways to wreck their day.
One MGD barra fishing operator thinks that AirNorth directors are carrying out a personal vendetta against his business!
Case of someone mistaking simple human error for evil intent.
However, I predict that at the end of the day, the higher per-seat-mile costs of a B1900 will tell against the paid-for-over-and-over Airnorth Metros.
Remember too that ANR ran their nightly 210 newspaper run at $184 per m/r hour for years and years (IFR planes with IFR paid pilots, when VFR C210's were being billed at $250 to $320/hr), a below-break-even situation, simply to stop other piston operators getting the contract and possibly gaining a foothold in KTR and TNK.
That and the fact that despite ANR's poor profile in the town, Vinnies are yet to learn all the bugs and pitfalls that ANR has (slowly) ironed out over the years.
Will Vinnies be able to back up the RPT with a baggage (c402/c210) flight four times a year when the new teachers at the MGD school turn up with 60kg of baggage at the start of the new term?
Will the 'teach those airnorth bastards' mentality hold together after the contractors and teachers figure out that they could have got enought QF frequent flyer points to go to SYD in a year if they had booked ANR?
Watching with interest..
Last edited by ITCZ; 19th Apr 2003 at 14:18.
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It's amazing how HA has all the gossip in darwin he seems to know evrybody elses business. It would be nice for a change if he stayed in his own backyard and stopped sticking his nose into everybody elses business where it is neither needed or wanted.
If he was looking after his own backyard maybe NAC's track record of ACCIDENTS in the last couple of months may have been less.
You must have some good friends in the NT NEWS. The article on the "206 that had an incident and landed safely on a beach" was astroke of brilliance. It would be a different story if the photos were in the hands of the NT newspaper. For those of you who don't know, the 206 crashed into the trees and was totally written off and ending upside down with a broken back etc. Admittadly it wasn't pilot error but the 310 where the pilot just happened to forget to put the gear down ,well that is a different ball game. And well that wasn't reported to the news.
If another companty has a problem your the first to make sure they get bad publicity.
How about you mind your own ####### business and stop stabbing other companies in the back and maybe then you may have more friends.
If he was looking after his own backyard maybe NAC's track record of ACCIDENTS in the last couple of months may have been less.
You must have some good friends in the NT NEWS. The article on the "206 that had an incident and landed safely on a beach" was astroke of brilliance. It would be a different story if the photos were in the hands of the NT newspaper. For those of you who don't know, the 206 crashed into the trees and was totally written off and ending upside down with a broken back etc. Admittadly it wasn't pilot error but the 310 where the pilot just happened to forget to put the gear down ,well that is a different ball game. And well that wasn't reported to the news.
If another companty has a problem your the first to make sure they get bad publicity.
How about you mind your own ####### business and stop stabbing other companies in the back and maybe then you may have more friends.
DFS!
Stilted, very interesting news to hear! I am amazed that DFS lasted as long as it did and I think would have to be said that its demise was largely (ha ha pun intended!) due to Dreadnauticus. Maybe you know this but the Port Keats porsche man put money into DFS some years ago to bail it out, so it was effectively stuffed then but he thought that he could bring the fat instructor into line. Anyone who needed to pay for a renewal in Darwin went south automatically because of mr big's personality free zone. The guy who owns Hartwig has had a fair bit of involvement with mr big before so that is where this arangement has come from.
As for the hard-porsche man, you are quite correct in your assertions, as well he was indirectly involved the p1ssing off of the MGD locals through the AirNorth connection. Airnorth simply didn't have enough aircraft/pilots/interest to do Arnhemland properly. Dili and Ansett runs were where all the money was thus MGD, MGB, RAM, ELC all came last i.e. so CHARTER cartergory Hardy C404s and C402s were subbed for the RPT runs(the legality of which was evidentely uncertain). Net effect was FRT offloaded and p1ssed off locals.
BTW East Timor made AirNorth - they were really stuggling before that goldmine opened up
As for the hard-porsche man, you are quite correct in your assertions, as well he was indirectly involved the p1ssing off of the MGD locals through the AirNorth connection. Airnorth simply didn't have enough aircraft/pilots/interest to do Arnhemland properly. Dili and Ansett runs were where all the money was thus MGD, MGB, RAM, ELC all came last i.e. so CHARTER cartergory Hardy C404s and C402s were subbed for the RPT runs(the legality of which was evidentely uncertain). Net effect was FRT offloaded and p1ssed off locals.
BTW East Timor made AirNorth - they were really stuggling before that goldmine opened up
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Hey everyone don't you know that HA's biggest fan is HA. Any publicity is good publicity. Did anyone catch his picture in last sunday's NT news. He is a sad man who constantly needs to be the center of attention.
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Hi to all up in the N.T
Just wondering if the institute is still going or has it been shut down ?,bloody good memories of spending 3 days driving an old banged up datsun 120y from brizzy to darwin with a couple of mates all in search of our first commercial job.
Arrived at darwin airport at about 5pm on a friday night and the first watering hole we found was the old instit and it got all pretty messy from what i can remember......
Just wondering if the institute is still going or has it been shut down ?,bloody good memories of spending 3 days driving an old banged up datsun 120y from brizzy to darwin with a couple of mates all in search of our first commercial job.
Arrived at darwin airport at about 5pm on a friday night and the first watering hole we found was the old instit and it got all pretty messy from what i can remember......
PPRuNe's Paramedic
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mmmmm DFS now theres a bad memory... personally I just physically couldnt fit in the cockpit with the examiner is question and chose to go down south at my own choice.
I refuse to be belittled and intimidated as well has have my hand slapped whilst in flight... I still cant believe he did that...
He is a product of his own behaviour and one wonders if the Porche driver wanted out of the business as it may have been draining his pocket, and paying poorly on his companies reputation by association.
Thats the reason I paid to have my renewals down south... (contrary to popular rumour! ) and many thanks to Witworth Aviation to fitting me in at such short notice.
No and Then ... HA's company is not the only one not to feature after a prang or scrape... and his C310 certainly did make the news... (perhaps not the NT News ... it didnt have a crodile anywhere in the story
) but tell me this... in all the years since the first airplane flew, was there ever a pilot who did not err...
I believe the saying goes... there are those that have and those that are yet to....
Didnt think so... I know its a rumour mill but for the goodwill of every one concerned perhaps check a fact or two...
I refuse to be belittled and intimidated as well has have my hand slapped whilst in flight... I still cant believe he did that...
He is a product of his own behaviour and one wonders if the Porche driver wanted out of the business as it may have been draining his pocket, and paying poorly on his companies reputation by association.
Thats the reason I paid to have my renewals down south... (contrary to popular rumour!
) and many thanks to Witworth Aviation to fitting me in at such short notice.No and Then ... HA's company is not the only one not to feature after a prang or scrape... and his C310 certainly did make the news... (perhaps not the NT News ... it didnt have a crodile anywhere in the story
) but tell me this... in all the years since the first airplane flew, was there ever a pilot who did not err...I believe the saying goes... there are those that have and those that are yet to....
Didnt think so... I know its a rumour mill but for the goodwill of every one concerned perhaps check a fact or two...