AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 52
"I find it to be a
completely honest
airplane that does
without complaint
just about anything
you ask it to do."
-Cedric Gitchenko
The Porter is going out the way it
came in-with little notice or fanfare.
Just a vague sense of wonder that such
an ungainly aardvark of an airplane ever
came to be in the first place. Or that, once
it became a reality, it actually performed
the various Herculean feats that it did-or
lasted as long as it has. The Porter's most
impressive and enduring mark was landing on a glacier in Nepal at an elevation
of 18,865 feet and then taking off again-
a fixed-wing altitude record set in 1960
that's still on the books today.
"I find it to be a completely honest
airplane that does without complaint
just about anything you ask it to do," said
Cedric Gitchenko, a Swiss corporate pilot
who flew one of the final Porters from
Europe to the United States this year.
"It's not fast, but it's rugged and reliable.
It's got great flying qualities, tremendous
endurance, and I feel totally comfortable
flying it across the North Atlantic, over
mountains, or landing on glaciers. Its
capabilities are quite unique."
Once in the United States, the Porter-
owned by a nonprofit foundation-was
fitted with Wipaire amphibious floats.
Next, it will go to Brazil, where it will serve
as an air ambulance in a remote region of
the Amazon. There's a stretcher in the
back, a no-frills rubber floor, and several
utilitarian seats for medical staff.
This airplane is meant to help people in
need, as are other Porters operated by missionary organizations around the world.
They're also popular among skydivers,
extreme skiers, and scenic tour operators-
but these airplanes aren't saints.
Porters also have a long and decidedly
mixed military and paramilitary record. In
52 | AOPA PILOT July 2019
the U.S. Air Force, a license-built version of the Porter known as the AU-23A was fitted
with a 20 mm Gatling gun and ironically renamed the Peacemaker. The United States
sent 15 Peacemakers to the South Vietnam Air Force in 1971, where they arrived far too
late to make any peace. Those that survived the war were sent to Thailand, the last few
just as Saigon fell. The U.S. Air Force evaluated the AU-23A for its own use but ultimately
rejected it for combat because-surprise!-it was slow, unarmored, and vulnerable to
just about anybody with a weapon.
Air America, a CIA contractor, used Porters for many years to shuttle people and
supplies to and from remote areas as well as providing airborne communication relays.
In the 1990 Hollywood movie Air America, a Porter provides the best moment of that
otherwise forgettable film when it upstages actors Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr.
with an impressive hillside landing.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019
Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 9
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 10
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 11
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 12
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 13
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 14
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 15
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 16
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 17
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 18
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 19
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 20
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 21
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 22
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 23
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 24
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 25
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 26
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 27
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 28
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 29
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 30
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 31
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 32
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 34
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 36
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 38
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 39
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 40
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 41
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 42
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 43
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 44
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 45
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 46
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 47
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 48
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 50
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 51
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 52
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 53
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 54
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 55
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 56
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 57
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 58
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 59
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 60
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 61
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 62
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 63
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 64
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 65
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 66
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 67
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 68
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 69
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 70
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 71
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 72
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 73
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 74
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 75
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 76
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 77
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 78
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 79
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - 112
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2019 - Cover4
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