Papua New Guinea is the ultimate challenge for pilots.
Rough airstrips, rugged mountains, and unusual payloads like coffee beans,
pigs, timber and diesel fuel. For
visitors interested in aviation, past and present, there are a number
of interesting flight sectors and destinations to check out.
MAY WE SUGGEST:
Goilala District
service flights (ex-Port Moresby) - You can take a round trip Port Moresby-Ononge-Woitape-Fane-Tapini-Port
Moresby by Twin Otter. Ononge to Woitape is said to be the world's shortest
scheduled air sector - 5 minutes flight duration. Ononge, methinks, is
also the world's scariest landing as the ridgetop strip has a dogleg and
the pilot has to make a ten-degree turn halfway down the roll. However,
Fane and Tapini are arch-rival white-knuckle strips guaranteed to take
your breath away as you take off over a cliff, just like an aircraft carrier.
Fane has a B-N Islander wreck on one side of the strip to remind everybody
what happens when you don't make rotate speed in time... Operated by Airlines
of PNG, formerly known as Milne Bay Airline (MBA).
D'Entrecasteaux
Islands service flights (Milne Bay Province) - You can take a round trip
Alotau-Vivigani-Salamo-Sehulea-Alotau by Twin Otter and see some stunning
island scenery along the way. The flight stops at each strip to load and
unload passengers and cargo. Sometimes this flight continues on to Losuia
in the Trobriand Islands before returning to Alotau. A great way to take
a quick tour of Milne Bay Province.
MAF (Missionary
Aviation Fellowship) service flights - single-engine Cessna flights to
remote villages in Western Province, Sandaun Province, East Sepik Province
and several of the highlands provinces. Round-trips on these flights are
a cheaper way of seeing the remote areas than chartering a sightseeing
flight. You'll get to see remote villages that other visitors never see,
albeit briefly.
Wau/Bulolo Gold
Mining Aviation history - Morobe Province - see Paradise magazine article.
World War 2 aircraft
wrecks - are accessable in several provinces including Morobe and Milne
Bay.
