Pilatus Porter doing what it was designed for

[boleropilot]

I served 7 years in Army Aviation so have spent quite a lot of time in Porters - during flood relief in NSW Northern Rivers in the early '70s there was so many people isolated that the rotary wing aircraft couldn't keep up - I was tasked to support on one of the Porters and we were landing anywhere we could get a Porter in/out, using beta approaches.

 

On one occasion we came across a farmhouse surrounded by floodwater, the only dry area was the house and a very short section of raised driveway leading up to a gate near the house. The pilot set up for a beta approach on the driveway and the poor old farmer was having kittens trying to wave us off - he obviously hadn't seen a beta landing before and was certain we were going to go straight through the gate and through his front door! The pilot pulled off a cracker and the porter shuddered to a stop well short of the gate - we unloaded supplies for the family, the farmer said "well thanks but now you're stuck here until the water goes down - there's no room to turn around or take off!"

 

The pilot smiled and said "it's OK mate, we'll just back up and there's plenty of room to get off". So in he went, reversed down the driveway, I signalled for the tailwheel position at the edge of the water, and climbed in. The tailwheel was bouncing a foot off the ground with full power applied before brake release - I will never forget the look on that farmers face as we roared over the gate with a metre to spare. Happy times - got a nice RC Porter I have to get in the air one day, will have to work out how to change the colour scheme to AAAvn...

 

BP

 

 

[Oscar]

A family member conducted the engineering side for DH Australia of flight testing in PNG and Australia for the Twin Otter, and has a couple of memorable stories - just like anybody I guess who has flown into the back country.

 

Back in Australia, he finished off the performance testing for the POH (or whatever is the equivalent for that class of aircraft) out at Hoxton Park. Randy Green was the test pilot.. a legend.

 

Beta landings were not allowed (AFAIK) for inclusion in the performance figures, but when all the T/O and landing figures had been finished, Randy ended up doing a beta landing; I had never seen anything like it before ( or for that matter, since.) It just all-but hung in the air pointed extremely down at the strip, and when the roll-out was finished, it was travelling slowly backwards as the props wound down.. I was close enough (I was doing marking duties) to see that Randy had a grin on his face wide enough to blind the unwary - like a kid who has just managed to crack the lid to the Candy Jar that he's been denied for ever..

 

I can imagine that that level of STOL capability would be very, very re-assuring in the PNG conditions.

 

 

[boleropilot]

hey Oscar, nice story - only ever seen Porters and Caribou do beta approaches but I guess anything with fully adjustable props could do it - as long as the PIC has the goolies (and the skills)

 

obviously military flying is always taken to the extreme (practice for war at 90% and when it comes you're 90% ready) so like many others involved, I saw some magic flying and was lucky enough to be onboard quite a few times...

 

I'd love to do some flying through the trees with my Drifter but I don't have the skills (or the goolies) to do so - when 0455 and my little airstrip are both ready, the approach from the north west will be exciting enough methinks

 

really looking forward to posting a video of that, actually...

 

cheers

 

BP

 

 

[poteroo]

reversed down the driveway

I was present,(in a lowly C185), at a few PNG strips when the very1st Porter landed. It was then backed up the parking bay so as to fit into a corner. The only flat spot at these strips was a small parking area right at the very top. The whooping and yodelling from the locals was something else - what next would these skygods come up with!! The Patair Porters did a lot of beta approaches into the flatter strips - but when you have a 15-18% uphill slope ahead of you, I'm told the roundout is massive and hard to control in a short distance and with a gross load. On takeoff the Porters just flew straight off the slope pretty near level, and then proceeded to climb away. (more whooping & yodelling!!). The poor C185's continued to disappear downhill and launched off the bottom end of the strip into clear air: it had to fly by then or you were about to become a hang glider! exciting days.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

First Pilatis I saw was being slammed onto a steep strip by Mel Gibson in Air America. Impressive.