I was wondering how Pilatus PC-6 would behave in short strips and I knew that the new world udpate had plenty of them. Today I decided to test PC-6 capabilities and at the same time visit for the first time that big island divided between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Randomly selected Kiwi (WAUG, 1,319 ft long with 60 m descent on the topographic map) for departure and arrival at Ambisibil (WAUA, supposedly 1,301 ft long, but no more than 2/3 available for landing).
There were many no-gos, including an inexperienced pilot on that plane, trees at the end of the strips, mountains at the approach at Amibisibil. To make things worse, the Littlenavmap window stopped working after I mistakingly pressed “pause” on the keyboard (I was using a VR headset) and I deviated north while contemplating that beautiful landscape. Managing to get at Amibisibil, I missed the airstrip twice, since it was hidden by the surrounding elevations.
Before take off check: no go.
Wonderful place to get lost.
But the most adventurous part was landing: I had to loose altitude after the elevation nearby and trees prevented the use of part of the runway. I managed to touch almost at the middle of it, but abruptly deviated to the right while trying to brake hard, and then slipped to the left and crossed the runway while trying to correct the first exit. The airplane stopped 1 meter away from the trees and the engine stopped by itself (no damage reported by the sim).
The arrival airstrip (landed on downslope, because the hill at the lower side seemed prohibitive. It was a bad idea.
Not good, but not that bad.
Final.
Seems good now.
And almost impossible now.
Touching almost at the middle of the airstrip.
Stopped with the whole airplane – did not left any parts behind.
Verdict: I’m a capable pilot, but PC-6 is more responsible than me! 