A flight to forget
Oh what a flight
Okuk's Last Flight
B707 Anecdotes
B707 Introduction
A Biblical Story
A Biblical Story 2
A Biblical Story 3
Forbidden Fruits
Joe's Jolly (Poem)
The Golfer
Suitably Restrained
PX Advertisment 1
PX Advertisment 2
PX Advertisment 3
PX Article 1
PX Article 2
PX Article 3
The Check Ride
First and Last Flt.
First Command
DC3 KOK - POM
The Holiday
Friends at Last
History of P2ANQ
Ferry Flight
Crayfish
FO Cassanova
Larry Blackman
Secret Revealed
Airbus A300
Cargo Capers
Doing it Differently
Side Slip
Larry Blackman
4th Floor Memo
International Arsonist
Office Works
Thru Eyes of a Hostie
Airline Anecdotes
OH WHAT A FLIGHT! Posted by Peter Sharpe
The worst trip that I ever had during my time with Air Niugini was on 7 December 1976 when command training Ian Phillips on the DC3. We were scheduled to operate the Madang - Rabaul - Hoskins - Lae route with an early departure from Madang.
Unable to get a weather update at 5am, I relied on the previous days 24 hour forecast and with more than sufficient fuel, we departed in darkness and squally conditions climbing to the cruise altitude of 9,000 feet. The aircraft was a 26 seater Tourliner carrying some 15 passengers, one of whom was an expatriate businessman.
Not long after departure, the weather deteriorated with winds buffeting the aircraft and continuous rain. Ian Phillips asked my opinion as to when we would break out of the inclement weather and I recall replying that it would not be too long, about one hour.
The weather in fact got worse. The turbulence increased with noise of the continuous rain hammering on the airframe. The cockpit overhead emergency escape hatch leaked with cold water dribbling on both of us making life unpleasant. As the tempo increased, it became necessary to throttle back reducing the turbulence but by dong so, the engine cylinder-head temperature also decreased to near minimum. Fearing cracked cylinders if these conditions continued, it became necessary to lower the undercarriage and maintain a higher power setting, keeping the temps within the normal range. Phew! Gear down, power on, gear up power reduced. This went on for quite some time as it was too late to turn back to Madang and we continued on to Rabaul routing over Hoskins on the way.
The weather and turbulence lasted over two and one half hours only abating as we neared Rabaul with radio static prohibiting any HF communications.
Some 30 miles from Rabaul, still in cloud but experiencing better flying conditions, I was able to make contact with Rabaul Flight Service Unit on the VHF frequency to be informed that Rabaul was closed due weather. This was no problem as we carried more than sufficient fuel for flight to our alternate airport, Kavieng, on the northern tip of New Ireland Not long after, the Rabaul FSU advised an Air Niugini F27 on the ground at Rabaul that the airport was closed due low cloud and rain, but advising that it appeared to be clearing from the east. At no stage were we given any other traffic in the area, only aware of the F27 through VHF communications.
Expecting that the weather would shortly improve, we descended to 4000 feet and entered the Instrument approach holding pattern over Rabaul. Some minutes later, FSU advised the F27 that as the weather was clearing, the aircraft could enter the runway, giving traffic as DC3 P2-ANT and a Territory Airlines Cessna 402. I quickly asked FSU where the C402 was as this was the first that I had heard of this aircraft. FSU advised that the C402 inbound from Buka to the east was in the Rabaul holding pattern at 4000 feet without VHF communications. The DC3 was also in the holding pattern at 4000 feet!
I looked at Ian Ian looked at me without speaking and lo and behold, out of my window I saw a break in the clouds with the airfield below. Giving Ian a hand signal to roll the aircraft to the right, I lowered the undercarriage for high drag and we peeled-off descending rapidly to complete a tight circuit advising the F27 that we wanted a priority approach and landing.
After shutting down and entering the cabin I found many of the passengers had been airsick as a result of the horrendous rain and turbulence. As I apologized to everyone for the bad trip, the expatriate businessman said, “f*** me. That was really awful”.
Later I found that the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone lay virtually along our route, providing us with the weather experienced over such a long period.
After refueling the aircraft, we departed on the next leg of the flight, down the north coast of New Britain to Hoskins. Again, the weather was not the best with strong wind and continuous rain but we managed to land at Hoskins during a break in the weather just before the departure of a F27 that had arrived before us
After our start-up for departure, we experienced massive rough running of both engines with high magneto drop. Both engine ignition harnesses were full of water.
Due to the weather deteriorating further, no aircraft could get into Hoskins for one and a half days and we were stuck there clad in damp clothes, with no way of drying them. With the hotel short of food, we lived on canned bully beef, kau kau and rice.
After engineers arrived on the first aircraft, changed ignition harnesses and spark plugs, we finally departed on our merry way to complete the rather delayed schedule.
Ian Phillips progressed through the Air Niugini fleet to the A310, later resigning as Manager Flight Operations to join Singapore Airlines from where he retired to Australia in 2005. I am quite sure that Ian will remember that fateful day, December 7 1976 for the rest of his life. I will.
The worst trip that I ever had during my time with Air Niugini was on 7 December 1976 when command training Ian Phillips on the DC3. We were scheduled to operate the Madang - Rabaul - Hoskins - Lae route with an early departure from Madang.
Unable to get a weather update at 5am, I relied on the previous days 24 hour forecast and with more than sufficient fuel, we departed in darkness and squally conditions climbing to the cruise altitude of 9,000 feet. The aircraft was a 26 seater Tourliner carrying some 15 passengers, one of whom was an expatriate businessman.
Not long after departure, the weather deteriorated with winds buffeting the aircraft and continuous rain. Ian Phillips asked my opinion as to when we would break out of the inclement weather and I recall replying that it would not be too long, about one hour.
The weather in fact got worse. The turbulence increased with noise of the continuous rain hammering on the airframe. The cockpit overhead emergency escape hatch leaked with cold water dribbling on both of us making life unpleasant. As the tempo increased, it became necessary to throttle back reducing the turbulence but by dong so, the engine cylinder-head temperature also decreased to near minimum. Fearing cracked cylinders if these conditions continued, it became necessary to lower the undercarriage and maintain a higher power setting, keeping the temps within the normal range. Phew! Gear down, power on, gear up power reduced. This went on for quite some time as it was too late to turn back to Madang and we continued on to Rabaul routing over Hoskins on the way.
The weather and turbulence lasted over two and one half hours only abating as we neared Rabaul with radio static prohibiting any HF communications.
Some 30 miles from Rabaul, still in cloud but experiencing better flying conditions, I was able to make contact with Rabaul Flight Service Unit on the VHF frequency to be informed that Rabaul was closed due weather. This was no problem as we carried more than sufficient fuel for flight to our alternate airport, Kavieng, on the northern tip of New Ireland Not long after, the Rabaul FSU advised an Air Niugini F27 on the ground at Rabaul that the airport was closed due low cloud and rain, but advising that it appeared to be clearing from the east. At no stage were we given any other traffic in the area, only aware of the F27 through VHF communications.
Expecting that the weather would shortly improve, we descended to 4000 feet and entered the Instrument approach holding pattern over Rabaul. Some minutes later, FSU advised the F27 that as the weather was clearing, the aircraft could enter the runway, giving traffic as DC3 P2-ANT and a Territory Airlines Cessna 402. I quickly asked FSU where the C402 was as this was the first that I had heard of this aircraft. FSU advised that the C402 inbound from Buka to the east was in the Rabaul holding pattern at 4000 feet without VHF communications. The DC3 was also in the holding pattern at 4000 feet!
I looked at Ian Ian looked at me without speaking and lo and behold, out of my window I saw a break in the clouds with the airfield below. Giving Ian a hand signal to roll the aircraft to the right, I lowered the undercarriage for high drag and we peeled-off descending rapidly to complete a tight circuit advising the F27 that we wanted a priority approach and landing.
After shutting down and entering the cabin I found many of the passengers had been airsick as a result of the horrendous rain and turbulence. As I apologized to everyone for the bad trip, the expatriate businessman said, “f*** me. That was really awful”.
Later I found that the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone lay virtually along our route, providing us with the weather experienced over such a long period.
After refueling the aircraft, we departed on the next leg of the flight, down the north coast of New Britain to Hoskins. Again, the weather was not the best with strong wind and continuous rain but we managed to land at Hoskins during a break in the weather just before the departure of a F27 that had arrived before us
After our start-up for departure, we experienced massive rough running of both engines with high magneto drop. Both engine ignition harnesses were full of water.
Due to the weather deteriorating further, no aircraft could get into Hoskins for one and a half days and we were stuck there clad in damp clothes, with no way of drying them. With the hotel short of food, we lived on canned bully beef, kau kau and rice.
After engineers arrived on the first aircraft, changed ignition harnesses and spark plugs, we finally departed on our merry way to complete the rather delayed schedule.
Ian Phillips progressed through the Air Niugini fleet to the A310, later resigning as Manager Flight Operations to join Singapore Airlines from where he retired to Australia in 2005. I am quite sure that Ian will remember that fateful day, December 7 1976 for the rest of his life. I will.
