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Go around at Jabiru NT
We had slept the night under the wings of the mighty VH-EPL a Cessna 206 at the airfield on Crocker Island. Today we were flying down to Jabiru to get some fuel and have a look at Kakadu. The plan was to then fly north back to the coast line and turn right to follow the coast to Maningrida to stretch the legs and have a look and on to Gove. 19 May 1987 was the date.
The stay at Crocker Island was not without incident. Having landed in the late afternoon, we decided to go fishing. We walked down a walking track to a small beach. We were using rods and lures. Two sets of crocodile tracks greeted us on the beach, clearly visible as they came out of the water and back again. You could see their foot marks and their tail sliding in the centre. To confirm our suspicions, a set of eyes watched us from about 30 feet off the beach. Just the eye brows and eyes visible above the surface of the still water. These eyes watched us for about a minute before submerging from sight without movement in the water. Fishing was unsuccessful. Bill did a huge cast but let it sink too deep catching a snag. I remember well shouting at him to give it away, but seeing him walk into that water up to his waste poking at his snagged lure! His mission was successful. Antony was so concerned about the crocks that he brought a full handled axe on the trip.
A thunder storm came through that night. We were under our mosquito nets when woken by heavy rain on the wings. The 206 can hang a mosquito net off its wings at a number of points. Lying on a rubber mat with a pillow and a sheet, one could get a reasonable sleep if for the mosquitos! Their noise and huge size set new standards.
In the morning we were woken by the noise of galloping horses. They were in the airfield enclosure narrowly missing us lying under the plane as they ran along the inside of the fence around the field. We had permission to land and stay the night with the necessary permit from the relevant Land Council. Perhaps they were in the runway area to keep the grass down!
A cold breakfast consumed, we taxied with watchful eyes for horses. We flew south towards Jabiru and the Kakadu wetlands on our way to the Twin Falls. Flying around this area is interesting - water pools, lakes and green vegetation, but we were not lower enough to pick out the crocks. A flat blue and green water land, is my memory of the flat parts of Kakadu on that trip.
After flying over the falls, we flew back north for Jabiru for fuel. Doing all the right things at Jabiru, joining the circuit for runway 09, giving all the radio calls at each step to eventually line up on final. Then we saw it - a small twin aircraft taxiing from the terminal area towards the runway and straight onto the runway without so much as a ‘boo’, or ‘excuse me’. Not one radio call and certainly no pausing for observations for possible circuit traffic or runway use. It faced us as it taxied towards our touch down point.
I always turn the landing lights on as I join a circuit to land. I quickly gave an “Alert” call on the correct frequency. “Alert, alert, traffic Jabiru, Echo Papa Lima is short final for zero niner.” No response. I turned the landing lights off and on, still no recognition of our presence. I had no option, the position of this aircraft on my runway demanded a full power up for a go around. I pushed the throttle to the wall and wound in the revs to flat out, while slowly, bit by bit, retracting the flaps back to 10 degrees. I flew low over the infringing aircraft. There is no doubt in my mind they knew we were there and being forced to go around by their inattention. Had that pilot looked, as was required, to the left before entering the runway, they would have seen us on final. Opening the engine on a 206 to full power gets attention on the ground. Those in the terminal area would have looked up and observed what was going on.
The plane climbed well. Leaving the flaps at 10 degrees I turned left and left again onto down wind. We were low on fuel having last taken fuel in Darwin. I was keen to put her down. Again, giving all the usual calls but adding “for the second time” we joined final. Setting full flap, I aimed for the same piano keys on runway 09. At about 400 metres out from the end of the runway we noticed yet another light twin aircraft coming out from the terminal. Surely this time this aircraft would stop prior to the intersection line and have a look and hopefully not penetrate the runway? No such luck! It came straight onto the runway, not even pausing for a moment at the intersection before turning left to face us. My landing lights were still on. Then suddenly just as I was about to transmit another Alert call, (I suspect a passenger saw us), the light twin at the same speed it was moving down the runway, turned a hard left straight onto the grass to clear the runway. While I could have avoided the infringing aircraft by flying over it and landing on what remained of the runway, I was very grateful to avoid that.
We taxied into the terminal area to the refuelling stand. While I was less than pleased and wanted to speak with the operator who I assumed was not briefing their pilots for the occasional visiting aircraft, the passengers were far more excited about having more than serious words. The operator knew exactly what had happened, and happened twice. He was visibly shaken and nervous about it but I suspected, not as much as the pilots involved. I asked how long they would be. “They are both on a charter and won’t be back for a while.” I’ll bet little profit was made on those joy flights – the pilots having been radioed to stay away. We could not wait. We were keen to move on to Gove.
© C McKeown 2021