Bena gap
 

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Goroka128.jpg

Bena gap on a nice day, approaching the Ramu valley.

The very one :ok:

Wasnt there a Bundi gap as well?

:hmm:...Bena Gap, Peter Manser, trees parts stuck in flaps of DC3? :rolleyes:

Yup remember Bena and Asaloka - Daulo is indeed the road gap I couldn't think of. Bundi Gap was between Kundiawa and Ramu Valley not Goroka and Ramu Valley.

I knew Jasper very well but don't remember 'Jasper's gap' still being called that in the mid 80s onwards - which Gap was it again?

Is Jasper still upright? I don't remember hearing he'd passed but he must be VERY old now - His first flying job was hauling 'freezer' between Goroka and Chimbu in a Tiger Moth on his days off from ATCing in GKA tower. When I first got to know him he'd recently retired from PX/F28 and was back at Talair flying the DHC8.

True Gentleman.

Copied his notes on Baron Instrument Rating Renewals once. Mustn't have got his ones on DC3, knew he had them. Hired his 182 a couple of times. Once when my sister visited, and I took her and my then girlfriend out to a friends island for the weekend, and another time to come back from another resort with a later girlfriend after a weekend..
Ahh.. those times...

My "present wife" still sends and receives Christmas cards from Beth. Still in Taringa, and she would have mentioned.

Kuli Gap and the Tomba?

Those gaps are much closer to Hagen than Goroka, sixtiesrelic. Perhaps when I return from leave, I'll be able to find time to scan a few charts to show these gaps. I was never aware of "Jasper's Gap" though, even after flying with him for some time around the Highlands - maybe I should've flown with some of those who he trained!

Gaps
 

The Tomba was the gap on the northern side of Mt.Gilluwe en route Hagen - Mendi and the Kuli Ridge was just south of Hagen en route to POM.

No where near Goroka but a famous gap.
Always announced by Captain Helliadore Otmar Baron von Tschuchnigg to recalcitrant pilots sheltering in the tea room of a ****ty Hagen morning.....

Ze Tari gap! She is open! I KNOW ziss veather!"

http://www.augk18.dsl.pipex.com/Smileys/laughpound.gif

...and a dozen arseholes would pucker in unison.. :uhoh:

Or, early morning pickup at "Siberia" dead bodies and empty SP's everywhere...

"Vat? Vat is ziss? You are waiting for an invitation to come to werk?"

Now youre flying.. Tinpis

....and the 402 and Baron taxi back in at Hagen after missing out on the Tari gap...

"Who, WHO vill pay for ziss!?"

An old Hagen pilot told me just recently he once did a trip in formation with Helly Hagen -Daru in a pair of Twotters. The weather was the usual 8 octas of diwai stratus at Daru. Mate did instrument let down and cracked it .Helly flew out to sea and came back underneath
Contrary to what some thought he probably never I- EFFED it, he just flew hard.

Picture the scene - my first/orientation day at Talair - myself and another chap who joined the same day are standing near the door of the Hangar at GKA killing time between picking up uniforms/paperwork etc and Herr Baron Helliadore von Tschuchinigg comes storming out of the Chief Engineer's office ranting as he walks past.

"Zee only non productife peeple in zis company are zee fcking engineers und zee fcking pilots".

:ooh:

Later that day the CP told us "The mood Helly and Dennis are in at the moment if you so much as scratch the paint on an aircraft you'll be sacked instantly"

:eek:

Luckily it was quite a few years later when I ripped the nose gear out of an Islander:(

:ok:

Heard the story from a friend that they flew into a rage too, the day they heard the Solair pilots were taking them to court the day after they were all sacked 10 days before Christmas one year for refusing contract "amendments". Probably flew into another one a month later after they kept working over the busy period and won the case !!

I was lucky (very) to survive my first solo revenue flight in PNG
A charter in a 206 to the Banz races with four Bank Johnies from GKA and pick up another pax ex Chimbu
The weather was an ultra ****e morning and my trainer The Prawn, took one look at the weather and very wisely decided I could go on my own as his wife needed to be taken shopping
I got lost over cloud pretty well straight after takeoff.With wheels in tops at 10000' somewhere near Chimbu, I let down through a small hole to find bugger all but rocks and trees! While climbing back up in the now rapidly diminishing hole I caught sight of Chimbu through a crack, dived in landed and picked up the extra pax. The four others by this time were paralysed with fear as away we continued on down a very marginal Wahgi morning to Banz .
I spent a miserable day at the races contemplating the afternoon trip back

Flash back to a few weeks prior I'm on a famil flight into Omkali
The pilot has been in country for a while and I'm wondering on approach into Omakali whether I would ever be able to see through all this cloud and rain like him
I sorta realised he couldn't see either :hmm: after we smacked into the strip about halfway up going like a bat out of hell towards the cliff at the end of the parking bay. No braking as the strip was like a butchers finger, but he had the good sense to initiate a ground loop and the impact was taken by the wing on my side:uhoh:
Couple of years later a chap tried the same thing and killed himself and his passenger

That and several other hairy ones left me with a fondness for an SP

Survival
 

There are a number of memories lurking at the back of my mind of occasions when I swore that if ever I was fortunate enough to land the C206 in one piece, I would never get in it again - the next day would see me going through the samol samol - maybe it's true that only the good die young - so what's that say about the survivors? ;)

Out of strip out of ideas
 

Yep you can tell just how wrong its all going by watching the inevitable crowd at the end:bored:. They stop frozen in time working out the point of impact of the cliff behind:confused:. White eyes and teeth appear as you close in, hard on the brakes:\. Grass and or yellow clay flung in your wake, hell a 185 may not even be all on the ground yet, just between bounces:ooh:.
The cunning old Meris flee first, no need to look cool:uhoh:. Pekininis vanish in an instant:{. The crafty old gits are already off to the side out of harms way or at the top of the bank:hmm:. That leaves the cool young bucks at the end of the Flee list:cool:. But they only hold out for an extra long second or so:eek:. In the last few metres the remaining brave/stupid members of the crowd split and Flee double quick time:sad:. Estimated point of impact is behind the division in the crowd. That just leaves the careering Aircraft, the Cliff:ugh:, and the fickle finger of fate. Always ended well for me, the hard part after stopping was doing the HF call to terminate and looking miffed:* at the Locals for having such little faith in my vast reserves of skill and experience :}. Then off to the Dero for several SP. Keep your mouth shut:oh:, and promise never again to stuff it up so badly again:=

Lot of emotions there in all those emoticons :O

Fun at Oram and Nauro
 

Hey I had the lot in but we only get 15 it seems. But yeah alot can happen in those few seconds. Landed at Oram a classic one way sloping ski jump joint up a gully East of Pom and SE of Dorobisoro somewhere.
The Pitot tube in the Bongo had water in it so past the no return point it became apparant our 70 indicated was really about 110 with a tail wind! Grimly stuck with it sideslipped full flap etc does wonders for the concentration. Landed perfectly at the end of the strip which was normally never used, but doing about 100 or so instead of 70. Straight on the Picks and made four furrows in the clay all the way up. The crowd fled as described and I had a track worked out off to the side to demolish a stick hut well off piste but not a cliff at least. But it got quite steep just before the park bay and to my immense relief the beast came to a halt just in time to park briskly at the top. Had similar fun with a 185 at Nauro in the Jungles that bounced right to the end. Dirt in the brake disks, cracked the cargo pod, bashed the tailcone with the tailwheel spike. But we stuck with it and kept her straight. The old Meri in the back fled out the baggage door and was not even going there, never been seen since.

Plaintive Plea For PX F-27 Photos
 

I am modelling a 1/72 scale Air Niugini F-27. I have commenced the decal designs but I do not have any reference shots of the aircraft from above or beneath except for a postage stamp size image I found in an old paradise magazine.
In particular I need the size, style and positioning of the registration letters. Does anyone have contacts associated with the airline past and present that may be able to help me?
the decal work in progress below
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...t/airniusm.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...xcheatbird.jpg