'Our next planned leg was direct to Darwin, almost 1,000m over the shark infested Timor Sea '

'Our next planned leg was direct to Darwin, almost 1,000m over the shark infested Timor Sea '

Mike Mahon remembers the flight from Bali to Indonesia during the Air race.

Mike Mahon

Trinity College Dublin

1969

This item is protected by original copyright

This content may be downloaded and used (with attribution) for research, teaching or private study. It may not be used for commercial purposes without permission.

Mike Mahon

Work and Employment

Life Story

Indonesia

1960s

This leg had presented difficulties for some of the other competitors. Miss Sheila Scott ( Air Race 99 ) was forced to land at Macassar due to electrical problems and was in need of some help. The Red Arrows team , flying a SIAI. - Marchetti SF 260 decided to go to her rescue but they too fell foul to the horrible weather and were compelled to do an emergency landing on a remote beach in Flores They were soon surrounded by a crowd of curious islanders, who may never have seen an aircraft before. To enable them to take off again they got the help of the locals to lay palm leaves on the sand to create a makeshift runway and gladly were able to fly off safely. Meanwhile we were discussing our situation in Bali. Our next planned leg was direct to Darwin, almost 1,000 nm. over the shark infested Timor Sea, which was really stretching the fuel endurance of our aircraft. Bali ATC were very helpful and allowed us to talk to the Australian controller in Darwin on HF radio. We were informed that there were a lot of very active thunderstorms in his area and to attempt a night crossing could be fatal. Good sense prevailed, so we opted for plan B. This was to fly to Kupang in Indonesia but as they were a day time only airport with limited navigation aids we would never find it at night . So we decided to delay our departure so as to arrive their as dawn was breaking. The two Aussies in Air Race 46 had already headed off but as they could not get a fix on their PNR ( point of no return ) they prudently returned to Bali. We eventually took off at 1850Z for Kupang. The en - route weather was beautiful, what a relief. We landed there after just 4. 30 hrs. flying. It was just a grass strip and we refueled with a hand pump from 80 gal. drums. Now had we known in Bali at that time that we were then well ahead of most of the other competitors it might have tempted us to try the direct night sea crossing to Darwin and possibly made some hungry sharks very happy.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)