Navigating KL

did Nav 2 last week and this time the route was a bit more complicated and further. did everything i could to prepare, but there's always never enough preparation, you know what i mean?

this time i did 3 big and unforgettable mistakes:

1) set course wrong timing
2) took shortcut
3) got the wrong kampung

no 1 got my instructor really pissed. never seen him that pissed before. it was total stupidity by me. set course is when you actually start your navigation flight. and that day, when i was cleared to line up, two helicopters cut queue and got clearance to take off first before me. i didn't take note of it, and my timing was wrong. so when i made the radio call to tell them i'm setting course, that got him red. damn stupid i felt.

no 2 got my instructor laughing. he asked me where i was. i looked at the map, and though i should have been on the left, instead i was wayyy right of the river. soooo off course man. i told him, "sir, we're not on track. we should be the other side of the river". that got him laughing like mad. he told me, though i took a shortcut, and that would be very fuel efficient, but the point of navigation is to follow our route. which i wasn't. told me to correct myself. damn malu.

no 3 got my instructor looking puzzled. i was to overhead a little kampung which was damn ulu and it was not prominent. so i told him according to the river bend, the bridge, the hills, the position of the town relative to the other 3 nearby towns, and my VOR needle, that the kampung was my reporting point. he wasn't convinced. and when i turned the next heading, i realized he was right. again i was off course. he told me the reporting point was more to the left. i checked my track and indeed he was right. i was blurrr. what to do if the rivers and and bridge lookalike?

still learning. give me some time! we learn from mistakes, no?


yesterday i was out with my old friend in KL. so we were walking the streets at night, and this lady with a foreign accent comes up to us, asking us for directions to a hotel. my friend doesn't know KL very well. and i really had no clue where that hotel was coz i never heard of it, nor do i know KL well anyways. pity the lady, come ask for help, but ask 2 clueless people. might as well she go fishing.

but hope was not lost, she pulled out a map! i looked at it, and matched the map with the landmarks. marked where we are and alligned the map with our position, and guess-who showed her the way? yours truly of course.

see i've been learning something. i know i'm making such a big huu-haa over nothing :P

-outz-