ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A Rex Pilot has run into a Bonza colleague this afternoon inside Terminal 2 at Remienko Memorial Aerodrome who had his head cupped in his hands.
Budget carrier Bonza has had their planes repossessed by their leasing company, leaving passengers and staff stranded around the country.
Rex Captain Mark Douglas had just stepped off a Townsville to Betoota service when he saw the young Bonza pilot sitting at Gate 63 looking forlorn.
“Ah, fuck mate,” said Captain Douglas.
“I just heard the news. That fucken sucks mate, seriously.”
Captain Douglas took the lit Peter Stuyvesant Filter from his lips to let out an earth-shattering cough. Before resuming his discussion with the Bonza pilot, he walked over to a transparent recycling bin and spat a brown gollie the size of an emu egg through the top of it.
“Christ alive,” he coughed.
“Yeah mate, I saw the bloody Sheriff down there on the tarmac with the tow truck. They served your mate and they put the Boeing on the tow truck. Did you fly that thing in here? Fuck me, you’re a braver man than me. At least with Rex, you know the Boeing you’re flying on was built in the mid-90s – so you know the fucken thing works! [laughs] Not like those new fucken things, they’re proper fucken lawn darts, they are. What’s your name, joog? Oi! I’m talking to you, boorie!”
The Bonza pilot lifted his head from his hands to see Captain Douglas standing there in the middle of the terminal, wearing a Hazelton floppy hat with a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth.
“Come on, I’ll buy you a beer at Ziggy’s [Bar]. You’re not going anywhere today, fuck it,” added Captain Douglas.
“It’s not that bad, mate. Going back to props or going to the Gulf isn’t that bad. Sure, it’s hot and they whack you with sticks for getting too pissed in public but you can make some good skrilla. Come on, mate, let’s go. I’ll tell you all about it.”
The Bonza pilot reluctantly agreed.
On the way to Ziggy’s, a popular watering hole for aviation professionals near the airport, the Bonza pilot introduced himself as Jethro Bark. Captain Douglas laughed.
“Fuck me, you couldn’t make that up. A Bonza pilot called Jethro.”
“Nah, you’ll be right, Jeth. Do you mind if I call you Jeth? Jeth, we all have a bit of Max Hazelton’s spirit in us. Being red-blooded aviators. You might need to go fly the Pelican between Newcastle and Christ knows where but you’ll be right.”
More to come.
