Airline Anecdotes
LARRY BLACKMAN Posted by Alistair (Jasper) Maskelyne
Larry was one of the most expert DC3 pilots I ever flew with. Quite impeccable on a base check, he was impossible to criticise during that exercise. Rather different when his line check came along: he had acquired the nick-name of "Low level Larry" due to his penchant for operating the ANG freighters at low altitudes when terrain permitted.
Iamo Ralai, the very switched on ANG operations communicator, came running to my desk one morning in 1975. "Captain Blackman is landing at Malalau!" he told me. "Stop him!" I said. Malalau was a grass coastal strip which was too short to allow a fully loaded DC3 take off. He might be stuck there until the aircraft was emptied of its freight, which was bound from Moresby to Lae. Too late! Larry had landed there and we heard no more of him until the next day, when he announced taxiing for Lae, and completed his delayed flight. It appeared that he had wished to attend a reunion with some old friends, and having done so, fortunately he found a fifteen knot headwind which permitted his fully loaded departure.
This behaviour needed an explanation, and my request went into Larry’s pigeon hole. "Please explain your conduct" was the demand.
Next day I got it: "Approaching the Aseki Gap I saw ahead an unusual meteorological phenomenon: a tornado! So I landed at Malalau."
Signed L. Blackman, Capt.
An answer impossible to argue with, except to comment that such weather was almost unheard of in PNG.
Later that month, I was stuck with a series of bullamacow charters from Popondetta to Safia. Some hundreds of cattle had to be lifted, and a DC3 freighter would be based in Popondetta for five days. No-one was available for the charter except me, or, aha! ...Larry Blackman. There was a slight degree of resentment in my mind about his Malalau landing, and I thought "It serves him right! Shuttling cows for five days will smarten him up."
Wrong again! Larry came to me and thanked me for giving him such a welcome series of flights. He was genuinely pleased. It had the effect of cutting me down to size, and making me understand what a true gentleman Larry was.
Jasper



