LANDINGS NEED IMPROVEMENT
The New Guinean tribesmen’s introduction to the white man’s Balus or “bird” was sometimes traumatic, sometimes humorous. In the 1950’s pilot Peter Manser, flying a Taylorcraft Auster J-5 was carrying a young man of the Dreikikir tribe home from a farm where he had been working. The passenger, who had never flow in a plane sat nervously alongside the pilot, clutching his ax and a red wood box of trade goods. Suddenly the engine stopped and Manser, realizing they were going to crash, reached past his petrified passenger and opened the door. In a pidgin dialect, he yelled, “As we hit the treetops, jump out of the plane quickly.” Moments later they stalled onto the dense jungle canopy. The young man bailed out still clutching his precious possessions. Thick vegetation broke his fall, and he came to rest on the ground, bruised but not seriously injured, 100 yards from the crashed Auster and the unconscious pilot. Somewhat angered by the whole…
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