Australian Flying - July 2018

not a recalcitrant aeroplane if I

f lew to the numbers. Even a little

bit north or south of the ideal

produced great performance.

An hour or so later at Vashon

Head at the top of the Cobourg

Peninsula Mackney had me

running through the stalls, steep

turns and PFLs that I missed on

the day before. Ultimately, if you

want a charter job, you'll have to

show off your aircraft handling

as a way of convincing someone

to give you money to f ly their

aeroplanes, so knowing the beast

and how it works is critical.

Rafa was back in the front

left for the haul to Jabiru via

Murganella, during which

Mackney put him back through

the ringer ... an didn't apologise

for it at all. If you're putting

yourself up as a charter pilot

option, only your A-game is

acceptable. Consider if you will a

simple alternator failure scenario

overhead Murganella airstrip.

You'd land, wouldn't you? Most

obvious thing to do.

" ... except there's no mobile

coverage down there," Mackney

said, pointing to the red gravel strip

carved into the scrub. "So you've

dropped your passengers in the

middle of nowhere and can't even

tell anyone you need help. Is this

a life-threatening situation? How

far is it to Jabiru where there's

accommodation and help on tap?"

Lesson learned: there are many

factors in f lying over Arnhem

Land, created simply by the

distances and lack of supporting

infrastructure. Each one of them

has the ability to impact an in-

flight decision.

Onward to Elcho

We f lew into Jabiru having

experienced no more "failures"

and continued on our way direct

to Elcho Island. The route was

dictated by fading light, a legacy

of our late start at Darwin. This

was supposed to be my leg, but I

handed it to Rafa. He was there

to learn to be a charter pilot; I

was there to write an article. Stick

time for me was fun, but for Rafa

it was his future.

But there was an ulterior motive:

my job was to see how effective

the training was, and seeing Rafa

absorb and learn through the

cockpit relationship with Mackney

was best done from the back seat.

We f lew a long diagonal across

Arnhem Land and arrived at the

coast near Millingimbi with the

sun slowly disappearing behind

us, then direct into Elcho Island

(Galiwin' Ku). I didn't realise at

the time, but we were about to

experience one of the most critical

parts of being an NT charter pilot:

understanding the local customs.

That night Mackney displayed

his BBQ skills at a good social

night with three pilots from the

local operator Marthakal Yolngu

Airline. They gave us solid

background on the customs of the

Aboriginal communities and their

relationship with the pilots. Most

of these communities rely on GA

Charter Pilot Training

“ It was pure learning gold, and

you could see it in his eyes.”

48

AUSTRALIAN FLYING July – August 2018

• Min. ve hours on C210s


• Ground school


• Experience light with
  Hardy Aviation


• Visits to CASA and
  RAAF ATC


• Simulated overnight
  charter mission


• LAHSO training and
  approval


• Pilot maintenance
  overview of C210

Charter Pilot

Course

0900, we were prepped and ready

to go not a minute after 1300,

four hours later. Flight Standards

didn't teach us that tardiness ... it

came naturally.

The two of us were desperately

inexperienced, and as we worked

through the complex plan, came

across more landmines than we

ever knew existed. Mackney

would chime in every now and

them with a gem like "OK, you've

calculated you can take off from

Darwin at MTOW, but if you go

into Port Hurd, will you be able

to get out again at that weight?"

Or, in my case, "you've planned to

arrive at Elcho with minimum fuel

and refuel there for the trip home.

Are you aware you could be paying

$5 per litre for fuel?"

By the time we started taxying

I understood that being a good

charter pilot means being a good

organiser as much as it means being

a professional f lyer. It was a huge

eye-opener for me and the wheels

hadn't even left the ground yet.

When they did, Rafa tracked

us out over the ice-blue water

of Beagle Gulf with the spinner

pointing to Port Hurd on

Bathurst Island. After we landed

at Hurd, I got my chance at the

controls. I was a C210 virgin, but

found that the big Cessna was

My ersatz

charter career

Next day the Darwin morning

dawned hot and steamy; like the

morning before that, and the

one after it and probably every

morning since then. Mackney, Rafa

and I were getting ready for our

simulated charter mission, which

was to end with an overnight stay

in the community on Elcho Island

to the east of Darwin.

Appropriately briefed for a

f light that would take us over

Bathurst Island and the Cobourg

Peninsula, down to Jabiru and

up to Elcho, Mackney gave us

one hour to prepare. Starting at

LEFT: Ben Mackney

conducts the C210

ground school at

Flight Standards.

RIGHT: You won’t

always have the

luxury of a concrete

run-up pad such as

the one at Vashon

Head.