Author’s Note.  From a observers point of view, rarely would one get to see the Sahara in its splendor and vastness unless you happen to be in a cockpit. The CL44 cruised at about 25,000 feet which not being particularly high, a good view is possible and being over the desert, there was very little cloud to obscure the view.

“The crew gave me much encouragement on how and where to approach gaining employment in UK but were not particularly upbeat on my prospects of obtaining a job. I suspect they thought that this kid with limited experience, no multicrew time, no heavy aircraft time, no jet or turboprop time and not even a national, had about a snowballs chance in hell of getting a job.”

The Boomerang was out of Africa, but as James Bond once said, “Never say never again”.

And sometime later…….“Chock-tail Hour” in Turin.

In this concluding chapter, which is the longest in the book, many more adventures happened, having employment riding the Dinosaurs, all unplanned and unique, culminating just after the last name of the book title. 

www.cruiserisland-resort.com

Email – birdstobarra@gmail.com

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My story does not finish here of course. In my next book I continue in a similar vein, of many more interesting occasions with different peoples and places in the Pacific and Asia.

Dinosaurs to Dragons

Chapter 1 starts with………………
“It was fortuitous timing, as the last new moon had been 3 days before and the next full moon phase, 12 days later. To use a traditional astronomical terminology, the moon was in the “Waxing Crescent” phase with an illumination by the sun of only 13%. The moon had set in the western sky a few hours earlier, leaving a dark sky in front as we were heading eastwards. With all the cockpit lights turned off, we peered out into the void at 37,000 feet with great anticipation and hope. Looking out into the pitch darkness over the central Pacific, disappointment looked assured. Without a single island or light within 200 miles, we had the space to ourselves, no other aircraft, no pollution, no clouds, just a vast emptiness…………”

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Taxi drivers, baggage handlers, beggars, touts, tarts, hawkers, hustlers, snake oil salesmen- they were all there shouting, pushing, shoving- Jasus, what have I got myself into.”

In this chapter I will take the reader through the first time I visited Africa. To say it was an eye opener, would be a total understatement.

And the concluding paragraph

“I had been staying with Ken and Jimmy Williams expecting to be gone in no time, but with three delayed departures, I kept returning each day to their kind hospitality, only to be given a nickname that stuck for years “The Boomerang.” He just kept coming back!” 

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The post Chapter 5 appeared first on AN ENTERTAINING STORY OF A YOUNG PILOT.

Checking in with the Prime Minister

Out at Stapleford Airfield in Essex, the Instrument Rating Apache aircraft.

Hardly a sleek machine, but it did the job!

(To put the ocassion in a time perspective, the staff at Thuston’s and I watched on a black and white TV set in the building behind, the epic match of Arther Ashe and Jimmy Conners in the final at Wimbeldon in 1975.)

Stanstead Runway 22

 The make-or-break runway

(Photo by courtesy of Mr. Richard E Flagg of abct.org.uk)

And the final result…………………

(issued the day the Generals took over)

To get the rest of that story you will have to hit…..↓

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The post Chapter 4 appeared first on AN ENTERTAINING STORY OF A YOUNG PILOT.

This chapter is where I leave the rural world for the aviation world.

Following , are a number of images which are reflective of the times and events in the early 70’s associated with my story.
To the right is the Cessna 172 VH-EFR of Pioneer Flight Center, Mackay, on Marble Island in the Duke Island group about 150 kilometers SE of Mackay. The short field landing technique taught in Flight School was definitely necessary as the airstrip was less than 500 meters long. At the time my employer was reticent about letting me fly into such a short airstrip with low experience.

I proved him wrong and I still had a job the next day! Keswick Island near Mackay has a similar short strip which looks very similar to the above image.

The aircraft to the left is a Cherokee 180 which I did over 150 flights in the actual aircraft, both as a Flight Instructor and charter pilot whilst being employed by the Townsville Aero Club. It was painted in different colors to those depicted.

After my 1^st Twin endorsement on an Apache, the second twin I flew was this Beechcraft Baron. It was a brand-new aircraft based in Townsville, being flown most of the time by a friend now, of many years (Mike Castell- Spence). I did the endorsement  for the Baron on it with Pat Harrington in Feb 1974.

The first photo I ever saw of a Baron, was many years before in a National Geographic magazine. As a kid at that time I thought what a cool looking machine it was. To actually get in one and fly it yourself was a sensation  beyond words. I  have loved the Barons ever since .

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On board one of those ferries steaming out past Pinchgut Is. (aka Fort Denison) was an LAA Gunner NX13945, also known as Alan Taunton (my father aka “Big Al “and “the old man”). At the grand age of 20 years having lied about his birthday (just a small discrepancy of 2 years) he had enlisted in the army just 5 weeks before. He would have preferred the Airforce, but as he had to leave school at 13 years of age, he was deemed uneducated and therefore unsuitable for the cutting-edge technology of the De Havilland Tigermoths.

Via this chapter, I go back in time of my family’s history and subsequently my own early years. Yep, I’m in that picture above. At the end it will show the reader a critical juncture of how one’s life changes.

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This was a real scenario in June 1981 over the deserts of North Africa. The images below are what we were looking at……

From that …..

to this…….

All over in 30 seconds
And the big question “is he armed with missiles”?
In this chapter I will take you through events that took place in Libya associated with a contract to supply air transport to the oil industry, during the tumultuous reign of Colonel Gadhafi.

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