News of an air crash in Papua New Guinea in which thirteen people died - nine of them Australians - is a reminder that when it comes to air travel, we are a lucky country !
Stringent safety rules govern the Australian air passenger industry and this country has some of the best equipped airports in the world. Huge amounts of money have been spent on developing safe runways guarded by state of the art communications and tracking networks.
Flying in the remote parts of Papua New Guinea is a very different experience. It is not a land of huge passenger jets. Passengers are delivered to their destination in aircraft designed for the job of getting in and out of airstrips that in many cases are simply a street in a mountain village. There is no bitumen surface. In all probability the " landing area " will be a strip of dirt between native homes, often following the natural curve of the land.
There are no facilities for an " instrument landing " in bad weather. The " bush pilots " have legendary skills in finding their way in fog, dense cloud - and the torrential rain that is part and parcel of the tropics - and the miracle is that they do this consistently year in and year out.
This time something went wrong, and the twin engined Twin Otter aircraft went down in dense jungle.
There will be an enquiry but very little will change. There is no money to develop better airfields - and that would probably be an impossible job even if funds were available because of the terrain involved.
PNG is frontier territory. Those venturing to Kokoda are experiencing the drama and danger Australian troops encountered decades ago when they fought an epic battle against huge odds - and won !
Times have changed - but that danger remains !
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