Ex-pilot will focus on serving

When veteran Air Niugini pilot Captain Lekwa Gure retired last October, he said he would now be able to focus on “other things”.
These “other things” are the responsibilities he will now have to take on as the Rigo MP-elect after being declared on Sunday.
Gure, one of Papua New Guinea’s most experienced airline pilots, was last October recognised for services to aviation as well as to the community and young people with the receipt of a Logohu award.
The 58-year-old, from Babaka village in Rigo, Central, was conferred the award just days before his retirement after 40 years of flying, on October 20, last year.
It was the second such award for Gure, who previously received a British Empire Medal in 2001 for services to aviation, while the Logohu was for his services to aviation, church and community over the last 15 years.
The Rigo MP-elect attended Kwikila High School in Rigo from 1971-1974 before applying to the University of PNG, where he was doing his preliminary year in 1975, when he answered an advertisement for pilot training in Cessnock National Aviation Space Academy in Australia.
He spent a year training in Australia and joined Air Niugini on his return in August 1977 as a cadet pilot flying Fokker Friendships andTalair from 1979-1981 to build up his flying hours. He took his first command on the Dash 7 from 1981-1984, and then moved to the F28 from 1984-1986.
Gure then moved to the Airbus A300-B4 in 1986 as first officer and in June 1988, got his command of this plane.
“Since I got my Airbus command in 1988, I have always been a captain on the wide-bodied jets with Air Niugini,” he told The National.
“At the end of 1988, the company got rid of the older Airbus with the flight engineers and acquired the brand new Airbus A310s.
“We got one at the end of 1988 and another in 1989.
“We flew the A310s for quite a long time up until August 2002, when we got rid of the Airbus and got the Boeing 767 – which we have been on ever since.”
In 2009, when the Government purchased the Falcon jet, Gure was the project leader and check pilot, and was there until 2012.
Gure has been director of flight operations, training and standards manager as well as general manager of flight operations for Air Niugini.
Some of his memorable moments include his captaincy of the Airbus in 1988, first national director of flight operations for Air Niugini, and flying the Pope from Port Moresby to Sydney with Captain Paun Nongorr.
He said he would now be able to concentrate on “other things” with his retirement.
“I’ve still got another six years of flying in me, but I don’t see myself doing that for the next six years,” Gure said.
“I’ve come this far and I feel I need to make a contribution elsewhere, whether in public or private areas.”