(TWOTBAGS on PPRUNE)
Guys I did the Twin Otter Float gig for 3 years and now I punch buttons on the mcp, my only advice is…… its not all its cracked up to be.
Between the exhilaration of landing in crystal clear lagoons on a sunny day and reversing up the beach, tying the plane to a palm tree and being greeted with the customary “paradise cocktail”………… (ok it was not like this all the time)
It was some of the highest risk assessment flying I have ever done and that includes PNG and Angola!
Between speedboats, sailboats, windsurfers, swimmers, snorkelers, sand bars, reefs, sunken stuff and general junk in the water always where you want to land. Add in swell, constant crosswind, no airports, no handling, no approaches, no traffic services, plenty of traffic, air tragic controllers that truly were……
Then there is sitting on the dock waiting for the storm to pass, 47 kts indicated airspeed one engine running to keep it straight while tied to the dock, swimming out to the plane at “O dark thirty” because no one can find the boat driver….. then spending the rest of the day wet…….. pushing last light, mixing the swell with the wind, the reef and of course the only place to land directly into the sun for the “Golden Approach” feeling you retina’s burn like your on planet crematoria.
Ok you got the picture.
Plenty want it, not many make it, you really need the hands and feet, which unfortunately most guys I know up here in the “levels” have forgotten how to use.
Its not for those who are not willing to put in 100% day in day out. Full Stop. I don’t really think it is a retirement gig.
But hey.
You only live once……. Go for it! Best fun you can have with your clothes on
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