As we climbed out of Nabire towards the highlands we heard an all-stations broadcast from a TwinOtter who had taken off behind us.
The TwinOtter crew had noticed a fuel cap laying on the runway.
One of the pilots kindly got out, picked it up and recognised it as a cap belonging to a Cessna Caravan.
Once airborne, they gave a call to let the 7 Caravans already in the air know.
An immediate response came from an ex-colleague now working for another Caravan operator ....declaring that it “must have fallen off LTF” (that was us).
It was surprising to hear an instant broadcast for all to hear with such a specific assumption.
After all, several Caravans had recently departed Nabire - including the one piloted by our ex-colleague.
Losing a fuel cap probably means the pilot and ground crew had failed to properly check the cap after refuelling.
This would make both pilot and ground crew look very unprofessional.
You cannot see the top of the wing from inside a Caravan, so it was impossible for any of the 7 airborne to claim ownership of the cap.
In PK-LTF, our tanks were half full and there was no rain ....so little chance of fuel being sucked out of an uncovered tank nor any chance of fuel contamination.
All 7 Caravan pilots decided continue to their destinations – by then only 30 or so minutes away – and investigate after landing.
Getting on top of a Caravan wing without a tall ladder is difficult, but a friendly driver allowed me to balance atop his truck.
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All our caps were there and secure.
We shared the moment with the helpful TwinOtter crew who had landed shortly after us (mostly hidden behind my yellow truck).
During the day all 7 Caravans were heard on frequency or seen on the ground ....6 of the 7 reported all their fuel caps to be in place.
When asked, both on the ground and over the radio, the pilot of the 7th Caravan refused to discuss the matter.