Matt Dearden
@IndoPilot
📕Author and ex-bush pilot. ✈️Pilatus PC-6 & PC-12, Catalina flying boat & Piper SuperCub. ⚠️CHECK OUT MY BOOK BELOW ⬇️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "In parts terrifying, in parts hilarious, in parts emotional - this is a proper page turner that will have you dreaming of adventure. " - Royal Aeronautical Society
Escaping through a gap in the clouds ☠️ Patience is all part of being a bush pilot and you often have to sit and wait for the right time to take-off
Escaping before the fog rolls in over the airstrip 💨 Anabatic winds commonly blow the fog up the valley and onto airstrips which can trap you there for hours or if it turns to cloud, you can be there even longer!
⛰️Escaping a deep valley🛫 🌴Not all airstrips in Papua are on the side of a mountain, some are buried deep in valleys requiring precision flying to both land and take-off from 🫡 👉🏻Read more in my memoir, Flying from Shangri-La 📚
Barely kept it straight after landing on this crazy rough airstrip 😬
At one time there were three wrecked aircraft at Pogapa airstrip in Papua, Indonesia 😱 Combination of inexperienced crews trying to land with powerful anabatic tailwinds. Such a waste 😢
The STOL collective podcast with yours truly just dropped. Go check it out here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s2-…
🌴✈️☁️ Squeezing between the trees and low clouds is all part of the bush pilots book of tricks. Knowing when you can push it and when to back off is what keeps you alive 🤠😇
Fully committed landing with the mighty Pilatus Porter in the remote mountains of Papua, Indonesia ✈️🌴⛰️
Far beyond the committal height with a heavily loaded aircraft, the only choice from here is to land. A go-around would be fatal ☠️
If you’re going to Sleapkosh this weekend, I’ll be there in my Cub and giving a book talk on Saturday morning. Hope to see some of you there!
So true! Unless you’re a celebrity or successful author, you have no right publishing a book 💀
I’d laugh if I wasn’t crying. (From the new Private Eye.)