Riley

Enjoyable & interesting post. The sound track was as good as the video.

Great story Russ. Very much enjoyed your description of an "Oh Shyte" situation, (and we've all had them). cheers Riley

Ah, the pain of self-inflicted injuries. I'm limping off to the workshop to whittle a plug big enough to fill the hole I just shot in my foot! Apologies folks. (Perhaps that's why Qantas ignored my chastisement those many years ago - they assumed I was berating someone else?) Cheers Riley

Observations of some 45 years of international flying (including a lot of Quantas).

Quantas Downside: 1971. 1st class seat. Singapore/Heathrow. On unpacking at home found that items had been stolen from baggage. Made report to Quantas London & was essentially told "tough titty - you should have lodged a report at the airport." End result - The big Roo was black-listed for all company and vacation travel for self and employees for 4 years and Quantas couldn't be bothered even acknowledging their banishment.

Quantas Upside: 1980. steerage fares. Sydney/Toronto. Ex wife not allowed to board at Sydney due to not having an American transit visa (refuelling stop @ Honolulu) Quantas Mascot staff provided hotel accomodation and facilitated telexed issue of the necessary visa within 12 hours even though the balls-up belonged to the booking agent.

Most horrid flight : Air India 1977. New Delhi/ Kuwait. Middle of the night landing in Aden so hard that all the oxy masks deployed and the aircraft shut down on the runway at the end of the roll. Two hours sitting in the dark with no information, no APU, and therefore, no lights or airconditioning. Worst part of all - no alternative!

Most enjoyable flight: TEAL (pre-decessor of Air NZ) 1966. economy. Fiji/Auckland. There were more cabin staff than there were passengers and they killed us with kindness and, joy of joys - I was a bachelor!

All that said, over the past twenty-odd years when it seems that everybody and their damn dog is flying, on international sectors I've generally found that if the check-in staff are reasonably efficient and the cabin staff keep the masses under control, one carrier is pretty much the same as the next. In short, bad handling of a passenger in any aspect on one sector can poison a carrier's reputation for the rest of time no matter what rabbits they can subsequently pull out of the hat. In almost all facets tho, despite some of their marketing practices, IMHO I reckon we have it pretty good with our National airline. (but then, maybe I spent too much time in the 3rd world jungles??) Best way to avoid airport/airline hassles is "STAY HOME" & fly your own for fun. Cheers Riley

Greetings Geoff

Worked for DOT out of Price Rupert in a maintenance/relief light keeper capacity prior to wandering off to NZ. Was assigned to Dryad Point, Egg Island and Addenbrooke Island lighthouses but no further south. During a three month stint on Egg Island, I did get across to Port Hardy on the DOT S-61 chopper for a 1/2 day on one occasion - it was like a trip to the big smoke after the rock. Working with Ray on Addenbrooke was by far the most enjoyable posting. Assuming that I ever got organized enough to compile a bucket list, a summer-long trundle up the Inland Passage in a 30 foot motor sailer would be very close to the top! Keep well. Cheers Riley

Greetings Geoff,

Have to clarify David's post re: my working/flying out of Campbell River in the '70s. In actual fact, I was incompetant ballast in the RH seat of a float-rigged Luscombe 8E based @ Dawsons Landing in Rivers Inlet in the sixties (not sure how much I've learned since then but at least I've changed seats). I harbour many pleasant memories of inlet-hopping with Ray Salo (oldtime hand-logger and ex lighthouse keeper on Addenbrooke Island) whenever both the weather and his wife would allow. I'd reckon your father & uncle may well have known Ray & his machine some 50 odd years ago. I share your thoughts on big city living - gimme the bush anytime! All the very best to you for 2011.

Cheers, Riley

Your post leaves me in a state of bewilderment. At all times, aerial application is a poker game, the rules of which are accepted by those that sit at the table. Apart from normal "CDF" safety concerns, what is your point? Enlightenment please. tks 'n rgds Riley

Facthunter's hand wins in spades! Unless you are seriously rich (or caught overnight at an 'away' airfield), tying down outside isn't a sensible storage option. As a recreational pilot, if you have consider it, you really haven't fully done your sums regarding the costs of flying/owning an aircraft. Whilst trailering is an option. done on a repetitive basis it has been proven to have unplanned (but constant) additional maintenance costs. The old f#rts will tell you "Bide your time; squeeze your pennies; hire your club/school Jab for the 25 to 40 or so hours that the average weekend warrior puts in each year and when the financial situation finally allows, get both your a/c and your hangarage issues sorted at the same time. Here endeth the lesson from another old f#rt. Cheers

Made for a fascinating 1/2 hour viewing. Where did you dig them up - was F/Sgt Murtagh a family member? Excellent post T87, many thanks.

Tyre troubles?

Off thread but in keeping with Farri's last post, yesterday I commenced rotating the mainwheel tyres on the rims of the Lightwing due to uneven wear. Simple job? yeah - done it a hundred times on cars, trucks, trailers, etc however, after using up a bucketfull of sweat, 6 hundredweight of cusswords and 14 bandaids, I finally took them to a tyre repair place and paid $20 to have a simple swap-out performed. Gotta confess that those small dia wheels/tyres proved too finicky for this gorilla. When I get over the trauma of having been beaten I'm gonna have to find out how it's done cause for twenty bucks, I didn't even get to watch (peep shows in Thailand cost less than that but I guess they don't keep you flying). cheers Riley

My apologies to the censor with regard to the spurious content of my previous post. Guess I could have stated "Hugh Hoyes-Male-Chicken"??

Whilst in Singapore on an employment contract some twenty-odd years ago the firm had an British accountant named Hugh Hoyes-****. I leave it to your imagination to work out what the Asians hacked that into. (matter of fact - so did we!)

Tari & Mendi

Good luck and safe travels with your Christmas Caper. Doubt that it's changed much in the 25 years since my last operations in the S.E. Highlands but the conditions that those zingy missionary pilots flew in, the machines they did it with and the venues they serviced will certainly afford you a new appreciation in the interpretation of the job description of "Bush Pilot". I'm pretty much an agnostic but reckon that any-one flying in that rugged terrain needed a direct connection with the Omnipotent ATC! Word of warning - when you get back home don't go down the main street in Dalby wearing your 'ass-grass' gear. Enjoy yourself but keep your guard up at all times. Cheers

O.M.E.

PM sent re abv. tks Riley

Pre-Pearly Gates penultimate flight?

Methinks any small float plane (Maule, 172, Rans, et al, etc) after an afternoon's fishing off the floats on a remote lake/river in Northern Canada or Tasmania or NZ. That's how it all started and poetically, should finish. Ah, the art of reminiscing - one of the few benefits of advancing years.

Thruster??

Everyone & anyone experienced in rag & tube knows that you can't get a Thruster to do anything THAT exciting - obviously was something else!

Very interesting and enjoyable footage PD. Took me back to the days of the newscasts at the local movies prior to the main film. Me wonders - did the three Princessii end their days written up on a ten thousand pound scrap invoice? I'll have to go googling to find out. Ah, more time gonna be wasted (invested?) on things inconsequential. Tks 4 the post. cheers Riley

OK it's confirmed - I'm thick!! Not in a million years of pondering would I have worked it out. Now that you've removed the blinkers, it sticks out like a diamond in a goat's rectum. Duh

I see a computer keyboard - I see a derelict space jockey - I see nothing else - guess I'm thick??

Gud Pud!

As a baby-boomer, unless you're a deadbeat dropkick, a "refugee" or an unwed mother with four kiddies from four different donors, it's likely there'll be little left in the public coffers by the time you qualify for age-related government support (and then Centrelink will look for every reason to penalize you if you have managed to put something aside). So put a foot in both camps (like Nev says don't touch something you can't shake loose from if you hit a bad patch but, like Maj - if you can arrange to have your cake & eat it too on someone else's capital at a manageable cost, go for it. As an aside, how many of us remember the good /bad old days when the banks would loan you money only if you could prove you didn't need it? Cheers

Pud

With all due respect to learned formites here-in, we're talking about a Thruster here - not an F-18. Despite the characteristics of stainless, straightening that minimal degree of bend is not likely to create a potentially catastrophic failure situation. Doctrine (and common sense) requires close inspection of these brackets for cracking at each pre-flight anyway but if it remains a concern, include a die penetrant test with your 50 hourlies. Any breakdown in the integrity of these brackets will visible in the lead up long before the point of separation is reached. cheers

Yeah, me too. Either from David or relayed from Pud. Access information please.

tks Riley

G'day David

Apologies for delay in response - just back from 4 days in the bush attempting to lay tracks and hang doors on my new hangar. Got on the phone last night to my old winger in Ontario for the contact details of his son who is (was) the pilot/lame connection in Campbell River only to learn that son & wife are presently back in Ont on vacation and is seeking a new position there in the east. So, forewarning or not, it was doomed to be a no-ball even before it got called as such. Sorry to not have been able to arrange anything in that direction but I do hope that you get some float time in anyway.

cheers Riley

A flip in British Columbia?

Damn David. With a bit of forewarning and weather permitting, I reckon I could have tee'd you up with enough right-hand-seat bum time out Campbell River on Vancouver Island to really upset your wife. Guess that's kinda like the 'Free Beer Tomorrow" sign in the pub?? If you do get the chance, a low level flight up in the inland passage of the west coast is something you'll never forget. Did a good bit of it in a Luscombe on floats back in 1965 prior to decamping for NZ & OZ. Give us more notice next time and we'll try to rattle some chains. I too say, enjoy it you lucky bast..d.

Cheers Riley