Flying in remote area in the seventies took a lot more careful concentration on navigation than it does today. There was no global positioning, no automatic direction finding facilities and no radar except in the immediate vicinity of major airports. Deaths from light plane crashes were too frequent usually caused by the pilot getting lost and running out of fuel and/or daylight before finding where they were.
Navigation was by dead reckoning and using your magnetic compass and gyroscopic compass to carefully maintain your correct heading. Then you had to make allowance for the wind which carries you off course. Although you planned your course taking into account the bureau of meteorology’s report wind can vary over your flight path and at differing altitudes. We used to, if flying at approximately the same altitude as the clouds, watch the shadow of a cloud on the ground in relation to a tree or hill and judge the direction and speed of the wind by that of the shadow then recalculate your drift off course.
The most hairy trip I undertook in the Aero Club’s Cessna 172 was from Alice Springs to Balgo Mission about eight hundred kilometres North West of Alice Springs and one hundred kilometres over the border into Western Australia. There was more than two hundred nautical miles (approx 450 kilometres) of featureless scrub with no recognisable land marks to check our position.
The first time I flew to Balgo Mission I was in the left hand seat (pilot seat) and because I had not yet completed my navigation theory examinations had to have an instructor with me who was Ossie Watts. The first land mark after the two hundred nautical mile stage of featureless landscape, a line of salt lakes close to the West Australian border, came into view and we breathed a sigh of relief because they were confirmation that we knew where we were. “Good flying” says Ossie. Balgo Mission according to the aeronautical map was about 100 kilometres ahead and three South.
When we reached the mission, flying low, we could see that the buildings had no roofs and were obviously abandoned.
Ossie checked the map which showed that we were definitely in the right place.
He took over the controls and started a steep spiral climb and said “scan the area and look for tin roofs, it appears the mission has moved and the map has not been corrected”.
I was very pleased to have Ossie, a well experienced remote area pilot, as my instructor because the wrong decision in these circumstances can be fatal. Had we started to range out searching for the new mission site and started in the wrong direction we could have run out of fuel before we found it and crash landed where no one would know our position.
Ossie’s plan was to climb to fourteen thousand feet, the maximum without oxygen, and if we still could not see the mission from that height to radio Alice Springs. We had to be at an altitude of at least ten thousand feet to have any chance of contacting Alice Springs. Balgo Mission has a radio but such remote areas turn on their radio only during what they call their ‘sched’ (abbreviation for schedule) which is a given time each day. If we were not able to see the mission we would land at the deserted site and try the radio at frequent intervals, staying the night if necessary.
When we reached about five thousand feet I spotted some tin roofs shining in the sun about ten nautical miles (twenty kilometres) to the North.
The procedure on arrival at such remote destinations is to buzz the settlement at low altitude to let them know you have arrived then fly to the landing strip.
Before landing you fly at very low level down wind along the strip to check the surface and note any pot holes, obstructions or other defects then climb away and do a one eighty degree turn to line up for your landing at the same time checking the area for animals.
Although the Department of Civil Aviation’s (now called CASA) rules were to do a conventional airport circuit this was the most common and practical practice.
After landing you then had to tie the plane down using cables and steel pegs which you kept in the plane locker. A sudden gust of wind or whirlwind can turn a light plane upside down.
On arrival we asked the priest, Father Heavern, how long since the mission had moved and he said “about four years”. Aeronautical maps are updated every year but they had obviously missed this change which was a very serious oversight.
A part of learning to fly is to know what to do when you come across unexpected situations that are beyond your control.
When taking off from remote dirt strips you start the engine without the brakes on so the plane rolls forward to keep ahead of the dust, sucking dust through the motor is not good.
Ossie Watts was involved in the prevention of the hijacking of a Fokker Friendship airliner in November 1972.
Basically the storey as reported in the papers later was.
A passenger on an Ansett flight from Adelaide to Alice Springs, as the flight neared Alice, produced a sawn off rifle and a knife and demanded to be given a parachute and to be taken over the Simpson desert where he would bail out. The authorities convinced the hijacker that due to the way the doors opened and the air pressure no one could bail out of a Fokker and offered to provide a light plane to take him if he allowed them to land. He released some of the passengers but kept the crew and some passengers as hostages. While preparations for a light aircraft and parachute were being made he forced the crew to taxi the Fokker up and down the runway. Ossie Watts volunteered to fly the hijacker out to the Simpson desert. The police told Ossie to tell the hijacker that because of this remote area it was necessary to take a navigator who would in fact be a plain clothed policeman. The police officer gave Ossie a pistol.
The hijacker, using one of the hostesses as a shield, left the Fokker to go to the light plane but when he saw the “navigator” he told him to get out of the plane.
He got the hostess to frisk him for weapons and she was smart enough to not pause or flinch when she felt his gun.
The policeman convinced the hijacker that as navigator he was needed on the flight and when they turned to board the policeman grabbed the barrel of the hijacker’s gun.
His hands were sweaty and the hijacker was easily able to pull the gun free and shot him.
The policeman ran away with the hijacker shooting at him.
Ossie opened the door of the Cessna, saw the policeman huddled on the ground with the hijacker shooting at him so laying across the seats fired a few shots.
The hijacker turned his attention to Ossie, sitting down taking careful aim when Ossie fired a quick shot which gave the hijacker a flesh wound.
Ossie then realised that the hijacker was reloading so he took careful aim and pulled the trigger but he too was out of bullets.
Then the police arrived in force, firing at the hijacker who ran and took cover behind a drainage bank.
Ossie saw him kneel, put the gun under his chin and fire. We never heard how many wounds he received but he died in hospital.
The police officer survived but his career in the force was finished.
Where the Araluen Cultural Centre now stands is where the Connellan Airways (later called ‘Conair’) “town air strip” used to be.
When the commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) (Now called CASA) moved Connellan Airways from the Alice Town Airstrip to the main Airport they commissioned me to organize the moving of one of the two hangars and to design and build a two storied office building across the front of it. Buildings built in a very open landscape as the new Airport is have to withstand a much higher wind force. DCA had the Commonwealth Department of Works engineers advise them on what structural modifications would have to be done to the hangar to make it withstand the additional wind forces. The modifications they designed were going to make the cost greatly more than the DCA budget for the project. I told the DCA representative that I was confident that my engineers could get the same result by using more innovative modifications and even including their fee would bring the project within their budget. This was asking a lot of a professional from one government department to ignore the advice of a professional from another government department and go with the advice of a private consultant but he agreed. My consulting engineers, Kineard Hill DeRohan and Young, (now Kinhill) were able to prove their structural modifications and I thought that was a coup for me and I gained the respect of the Department of Civil Aviation.
However although the modified hangar and the new office building were well able to stand up to the wind forces they did not stop the impact of an aeroplane.
On January the fifth 1977 a disgruntled pilot who had been dismissed from flying for Connellan Airways, stole a twin engine Beechcraft aeroplane from Wyndham and flew to Alice springs straight into the first floor of the office building through into the hangar.
Roger Connellan, the owner’s son, and four people were killed and five were seriously injured.
There was a fierce fire caused by the fuel but the buildings did not collapse and were later repaired.
One employee was given a bravery medal for rescuing an office girl from the flames and he received disfiguring scars on his hands and face. The girl called Leoni Nappi later died in hospital. I knew Leoni because the rotary club of Alice Springs, of which I was a member, financially assisted her through her final years of school.
Navigation was by dead reckoning and using your magnetic compass and gyroscopic compass to carefully maintain your correct heading. Then you had to make allowance for the wind which carries you off course. Although you planned your course taking into account the bureau of meteorology’s report wind can vary over your flight path and at differing altitudes. We used to, if flying at approximately the same altitude as the clouds, watch the shadow of a cloud on the ground in relation to a tree or hill and judge the direction and speed of the wind by that of the shadow then recalculate your drift off course.
The most hairy trip I undertook in the Aero Club’s Cessna 172 was from Alice Springs to Balgo Mission about eight hundred kilometres North West of Alice Springs and one hundred kilometres over the border into Western Australia. There was more than two hundred nautical miles (approx 450 kilometres) of featureless scrub with no recognisable land marks to check our position.
The first time I flew to Balgo Mission I was in the left hand seat (pilot seat) and because I had not yet completed my navigation theory examinations had to have an instructor with me who was Ossie Watts. The first land mark after the two hundred nautical mile stage of featureless landscape, a line of salt lakes close to the West Australian border, came into view and we breathed a sigh of relief because they were confirmation that we knew where we were. “Good flying” says Ossie. Balgo Mission according to the aeronautical map was about 100 kilometres ahead and three South.
When we reached the mission, flying low, we could see that the buildings had no roofs and were obviously abandoned.
Ossie checked the map which showed that we were definitely in the right place.
He took over the controls and started a steep spiral climb and said “scan the area and look for tin roofs, it appears the mission has moved and the map has not been corrected”.
I was very pleased to have Ossie, a well experienced remote area pilot, as my instructor because the wrong decision in these circumstances can be fatal. Had we started to range out searching for the new mission site and started in the wrong direction we could have run out of fuel before we found it and crash landed where no one would know our position.
Ossie’s plan was to climb to fourteen thousand feet, the maximum without oxygen, and if we still could not see the mission from that height to radio Alice Springs. We had to be at an altitude of at least ten thousand feet to have any chance of contacting Alice Springs. Balgo Mission has a radio but such remote areas turn on their radio only during what they call their ‘sched’ (abbreviation for schedule) which is a given time each day. If we were not able to see the mission we would land at the deserted site and try the radio at frequent intervals, staying the night if necessary.
When we reached about five thousand feet I spotted some tin roofs shining in the sun about ten nautical miles (twenty kilometres) to the North.
The procedure on arrival at such remote destinations is to buzz the settlement at low altitude to let them know you have arrived then fly to the landing strip.
Before landing you fly at very low level down wind along the strip to check the surface and note any pot holes, obstructions or other defects then climb away and do a one eighty degree turn to line up for your landing at the same time checking the area for animals.
Although the Department of Civil Aviation’s (now called CASA) rules were to do a conventional airport circuit this was the most common and practical practice.
After landing you then had to tie the plane down using cables and steel pegs which you kept in the plane locker. A sudden gust of wind or whirlwind can turn a light plane upside down.
On arrival we asked the priest, Father Heavern, how long since the mission had moved and he said “about four years”. Aeronautical maps are updated every year but they had obviously missed this change which was a very serious oversight.
A part of learning to fly is to know what to do when you come across unexpected situations that are beyond your control.
When taking off from remote dirt strips you start the engine without the brakes on so the plane rolls forward to keep ahead of the dust, sucking dust through the motor is not good.
Ossie Watts Refueling at Balgo Mission
Ossie Watts was involved in the prevention of the hijacking of a Fokker Friendship airliner in November 1972.
SHOOT OUT AT ALICE SPRINGS AIRPORT
I was in my office with Father Meaney when one of my staff stuck his head in the door and said “there is a hijack happening at the airport” so we turned on the radio and all work stopped while we listened.Basically the storey as reported in the papers later was.
A passenger on an Ansett flight from Adelaide to Alice Springs, as the flight neared Alice, produced a sawn off rifle and a knife and demanded to be given a parachute and to be taken over the Simpson desert where he would bail out. The authorities convinced the hijacker that due to the way the doors opened and the air pressure no one could bail out of a Fokker and offered to provide a light plane to take him if he allowed them to land. He released some of the passengers but kept the crew and some passengers as hostages. While preparations for a light aircraft and parachute were being made he forced the crew to taxi the Fokker up and down the runway. Ossie Watts volunteered to fly the hijacker out to the Simpson desert. The police told Ossie to tell the hijacker that because of this remote area it was necessary to take a navigator who would in fact be a plain clothed policeman. The police officer gave Ossie a pistol.
The hijacker, using one of the hostesses as a shield, left the Fokker to go to the light plane but when he saw the “navigator” he told him to get out of the plane.
He got the hostess to frisk him for weapons and she was smart enough to not pause or flinch when she felt his gun.
The policeman convinced the hijacker that as navigator he was needed on the flight and when they turned to board the policeman grabbed the barrel of the hijacker’s gun.
His hands were sweaty and the hijacker was easily able to pull the gun free and shot him.
The policeman ran away with the hijacker shooting at him.
Ossie opened the door of the Cessna, saw the policeman huddled on the ground with the hijacker shooting at him so laying across the seats fired a few shots.
The hijacker turned his attention to Ossie, sitting down taking careful aim when Ossie fired a quick shot which gave the hijacker a flesh wound.
Ossie then realised that the hijacker was reloading so he took careful aim and pulled the trigger but he too was out of bullets.
Then the police arrived in force, firing at the hijacker who ran and took cover behind a drainage bank.
Ossie saw him kneel, put the gun under his chin and fire. We never heard how many wounds he received but he died in hospital.
The police officer survived but his career in the force was finished.
Where the Araluen Cultural Centre now stands is where the Connellan Airways (later called ‘Conair’) “town air strip” used to be.
When the commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) (Now called CASA) moved Connellan Airways from the Alice Town Airstrip to the main Airport they commissioned me to organize the moving of one of the two hangars and to design and build a two storied office building across the front of it. Buildings built in a very open landscape as the new Airport is have to withstand a much higher wind force. DCA had the Commonwealth Department of Works engineers advise them on what structural modifications would have to be done to the hangar to make it withstand the additional wind forces. The modifications they designed were going to make the cost greatly more than the DCA budget for the project. I told the DCA representative that I was confident that my engineers could get the same result by using more innovative modifications and even including their fee would bring the project within their budget. This was asking a lot of a professional from one government department to ignore the advice of a professional from another government department and go with the advice of a private consultant but he agreed. My consulting engineers, Kineard Hill DeRohan and Young, (now Kinhill) were able to prove their structural modifications and I thought that was a coup for me and I gained the respect of the Department of Civil Aviation.
However although the modified hangar and the new office building were well able to stand up to the wind forces they did not stop the impact of an aeroplane.
On January the fifth 1977 a disgruntled pilot who had been dismissed from flying for Connellan Airways, stole a twin engine Beechcraft aeroplane from Wyndham and flew to Alice springs straight into the first floor of the office building through into the hangar.
Roger Connellan, the owner’s son, and four people were killed and five were seriously injured.
There was a fierce fire caused by the fuel but the buildings did not collapse and were later repaired.
One employee was given a bravery medal for rescuing an office girl from the flames and he received disfiguring scars on his hands and face. The girl called Leoni Nappi later died in hospital. I knew Leoni because the rotary club of Alice Springs, of which I was a member, financially assisted her through her final years of school.
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