Who misses the 70’s?
How cool is that?
Kundiawa in 1977 was sporty. The Chimbu province of Papua New Guinea was rather lawless, clothing was optional and white people were all missionaries, miners, police, plantation owners or pilots. I was pilot spawn and the old man was there to build an aviation career in the most hazardous flying environments on planet earth. What we call tough now, bordered on lunacy then. Uplift one wife, three kids [under 5] and live on a mountain airport at 5000ft surrounded by jungle. Climb into your single engine Cessna U206 and roll off at ‘max all up weight’ into olympic class mountain flying daily; no weather information, no GPS, no VHF radio network, no SAR service, no CRM, no Sat Phone and no Instrument Rating.
Only common-sense, good hands, feet and wits engaged.
After one day flying in PNG you quickly appreciate why during one holiday, Dad refused to return to PNG until he had completed his initial Instrument Flight Rating [IFR]. Consequently, IFR contributed to his longevity [14 years] in country; keeping him out of the trees and in command of BN Islanders, Twin Otters and Cessna 402’s. It’s the country that ‘twin-engine’ never seemed like a better idea and living on that airport informed my young brain that the Cessna 402 was the coolest thing ever. I’d be on the strip practicing wheelies on my chopper “pushie” and the guys would taxi past with their elbow out the window drinking in the unburnt AVGAS while the prop wash lashed their lamb chops, raybans and porno mo’s. The C402 would screw around into wind, pause while elbows were retracted and then the turbo Continentals would spool up and be firewalled off the end of the strip.
Retro cool.
It was during our recent trip to Malaysia [which culminated in the sale of this DA62 to a client in the USA] that I was reminded how far multi-engine aircraft have evolved.
The DA62’s Diesel engines sip 15 USG of Jet A1 an hour and automatically feather the prop in an engine failure. It has more avionics than the space shuttle and from the luxury of your leather seat, you can communicate anywhere in the world while the FIKI handles moderate icing. If situational awareness is diminished by a hang-over, you can plumb yourself with Factory Oxygen and inverted operations are frowned upon by the Garmin ESP System which automatically restores level flight using the autopilot. It remains the easiest twin engine aeroplane to land and it was a pleasure to sell. We dismantled and shipped it out which further comments on the specialist knowledge and capability my team of Aircraft Sale Professionals bring to any transaction. We are wired with Aviation and will support your purchase or sale with all our combined experience. If you are looking for a particular aircraft or would like to sell something – you know how to find us.
The only issue with the DA62 is that the prop wash can’t wrestle with your hipster beard and taxiing with the canopy open is forbidden.
But who cares? They didn’t have factory Air Conditioning in 1977.