A Delayed Post

for the eleven of us,
the cross junction of our lives were our passion,
and through encouragement from everyone around us,
the belief among ourselves and between each other,
we've made it halfway through our journey.

it's not ending yet,
we've just taken off,
the flight just got airborne,
let's keep the experience awesome,
let's keep cruising along.

-the end of "The Take Off" chapter-

Saying Goodbyes

i just want to remind you. you must not be good. you must not be very good.


then sir?


you must be exceptional! and in everything you do. not just your profession, but as a gentleman and everything in your life.


yes sir.


that is why i give you that name. what do i always call you?


superman :)


yes that's it. don't ever forget it!

Establish Bachok...

NO MORE! the infamous Buddha statue of bachok, kelantan. for all those flyers out there, familiar?

the statue is actually located at this double dragon temple fyi. (cool right 'double dragon', reminds me of that micro genius game) last day in kelantan and my first day actually stepping foot at the east coast beach. now i can say, been there, done that!

the joy---stick in between the crotch.

the footwork,

that took me a long time to get accustomed to.

the cockpit. display is powered if you look carefully.

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- i've been travelling on this road too long... -

The tat

the long road out of kb...

this picture actually looks like a detective's head facing to the left. can you see the top hat, hook nose, and sharp chin? or is it just me? oh well...

'

'

we call our aircrafts by their registrations. its like their names. aircraft registrations in msia start with 9M (pronounced as Niner Mike), followed by three alphabets. but most of our aircraft have ascending (?) alphabets, for example it could be 9M-AAA, 9M-AAB, 9M-AAC etc etc... so we would simply call them by their last alphabet like alpha, bravo, charlie (aviation terminology for A, B, C (and U would be uniform)).

'

then there is the exceptions. like 9M-TAT. since that makes out a syllabus, we simply call it "tat".

'

the other night, only 9M-APU and 9M-TAT were being used. the engineer wasn't sure. and a conversation took place like this:

'

'

him: malam nie, Uniform dengan TAT flying?

'

me: ahhh yes. TAT dan apu (i pronounced as apoo, like the owner of kwik-e mart in the simpsons)

'

him: apooo dengan panTAT eh?!

'

doesn't the clouds look fake. like a passageway to heaven?

'

'

'

btw, that's panTAT fyi.

After Dark

yesterday while i was cutting my nails, i remembered being given one of the most random senseless advices in my life. it was back in form 1, one of my classmates comes up to me, really out of the blue and says,

"don't share nail clippers. very harmful. a lot of bacteria and germs. your nails can rot and drop off if you share nail clippers".

righttt. how do you react to such helpful advice? with a "oooo-really?-yesss ah" expression of course. but its much harder to do, cause the "wth"-look would be painted really deep into your face to change it.

and as random as that advice was, i have just realized this post is also very random. it's ok, got a picture. (no words to say, so maybe picture will help :P)

flying at night was always more scenic for me. love the sight of taking off from klia (as a passenger of course), then seeing the highway lights and the whole kl city lighted up. ignore the light pollution and all. its much nicer to see, for me at least.

'

finally started night flying properly, and realized kb looks wayyy better at night than during the day. that's the heart of kb up there. it actually looks like a town at night. another 3hours of night flying to go! let's see how everything goes...

'

*******

'

i guess it's not the way you always planned it.

looks like you're heading for a crash landing.

that's just the way it looks from where i'm standing.

.

-Schuyler Fisk's "from where i'm standing"-

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'

(its just a song. i have absolutely no intention of the second line. its just a nice song)

SimulatorS

some simulator (not to be confused with stimulator, even though the stick looks like it may bring some joy, but its entirely for controlling the aircraft and not pleasure) pics:

the diamond-42 simulator cockpit. whenever i go there to take pics, it's always off. hence, a bit dull. anyways, i'm not doing sim on it. instead...

the seneca simulator which i'm doing. feels like a boeing 737 cockpit with the instrutors' pilot jackets hanging just behind the chairs.

for your information, these simulators shown do not move, instead the screen pictures move to provide visual reference. and no, still not done with single engine. lil more than 30hours to go...

a lil more information, multi engine aircrafts these days are designed so that even if there is an engine failure, the aircraft is controlable and capable of making a safe landing. so simulators are used to practise these emergencies since its unsafe to actually shut down an engine in flight in real life. simulators provide the closest to the real thing. and its not easy.

*******

the foreigner went to town for a meal. after his sumptuous meal, he called the waiter for the bill. you know how locally the waiter just comes and asks what you ordered then randomly spills out an outrageous figure for your meal? well the waiter asked him what he ate.

unsure of what its called coz he's not from around here, he said "nasi kangkang". if only i was there, i would have laughed my butt off. dang!

Snake In Piece

i'm sure you guys have heard of the movie "snakes on a plane".

today, i saw a friggin dead snake on the runway. i was flying with a batchmate, he was the pilot in command, and i was his co-pilot. and the airplane i fly, only has a door on my seat. so my captain says as we taxied onto the runway:

"kb tower, this is APAC X, we have visual with the FOD(foreign object damage) on runway. its a...DEAD SNAKE".

tower replies: "copied. can you please remove it?"

me frantic, but captain replies: "affirmative. will remove it".

of course he can't leave the aircraft cause he is pilot in command. and turns to me. a friggin snake. where the hell am i gonna throw it?! with my bare hands? do i look like an undertaker? or even remotely like tarzan?

somehow i embraced myself, opened the door and rushed out. the carcass (which i wasn't sure was alive or dead yet), was dead center of the runway. probably got run over by a boeing or airbus, or maybe even more sadder by a pathetic diamond-40 or piper-warrior while it tried to slither its way across to greener grass. well they did say, the grass is greener on the other side, but nobody talked about the journey to the other side now did they? unfortunately it never made its destination. instead it lay upside down, kena lanyak.

as i got off the runway, it felt kinda cool standing there. the runway is a very restricted area, don't think many have touched foot there before, and its pretty huge (though i should know this by now). but the snake still freaked me out. what if it was just playing dead? and suddenly goes "BOOOH!" as i picked its tail up? you know, a snake with humour perhaps? it doesn't help that i ain't much of a reptile person either.

i quickly took it up by the tail and swirled it across the side of the runway like a discus throw hoping it was the side of the runway it wanted to go in the first place. last wishes kinda thing so it may rest in peace? i've a real kind soul, i know.

i just regret not taking a picture on the runway. don't think i'll get an opportunity like this again. oh well, its an experience nonetheless!

Pictures Do The Flying

happy birthday to the sultan of kelantan. but its flying as usual for some of us. in two days i've flown ten hours. kinda :)

few days ago was the first time i actually went into the terminal building of the kuala terengganu airport. when i flew with my instructor, the first thing he commented was, "such a big airport, but under used. what's the point?". the aftermath of the renovations done is kinda cool. i like the fountain, there's a kinda calming effect, don't you think? i'll let the pictures do the talking...

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the kenyir dam.

this is dung-gun. no, actually dungun town, south of kuala terengganu.

approaching redang.

redang's runway. looks scary to land, so near hills.

perhentian besar.



perhentian kecil. a lil heaven on earth, eh? must visit one day. soon!
the beaches look so awesome.




anyone wanna guess what's this tiny island called? (flyfreak and sy not allowed to spoil the fun) it has one of those weird quirky malay names. think innocently dirty.

really eager to catch yasmin ahmad's "taleNtime". its all over the tv. must watch.

Lotsa Solo GH

it's been an unexpected week. last week was absolutely horrible. even to tag it horrible, was an understatement. but let's not talk about the past so much. fast forward to this week, and it was sure a whole lot brighter for me.

i managed to get back the hold on doing the exercises after the short hiatus of 1168's action in the air. it was nerve wrecking at first, but all i needed to do, was to get my nerves controlled. i get anxious and nervous easily. and too much of being anxious and nervous makes me do big blunders. big kahuna, big shit.

so after doing some solo exercises, i managed to get myself intact. doing exercises with instructors later on became easier. don't get me wrong, i still do get frighten by certain someone's presence. it's impossible to imagine them not being there.

'

"you need to be more confident".

someone told me this, and i get his point. its just that, this whole thing still overwhelms me sometimes. i love it, but it is a lil foreign. like the fun fair you'd go when you were a kid, wanting to ride every ride that existed. wanting to run every corner in every direction.

'

yet, scared of losing sight of your parents. i just don't want to be over-confident and lose all that i've gained. that'd be ultimately scary.

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view of kb airfield from 1000feet.

"AsianExpress ready for push-back!"

stall exercises have been good so far. steep turns to the left is pretty stable. but whenever i do the turn to the right, somehow i (always) magically end up about 100 feet higher midway through the turn. fyi, steep turn is a turn at 45degress angle of bank. slight G can be felt if not done properly. so it should be done as smoothly as possible for comfort.

*******

a smoker was heard saying this with the windows up and a lit ciggie in his mouth:

"i don't know about you, but i need to wind down the windows coz i'm getting choked by the smoke".

welcome to the everyday of my life, i'd say!

Dream Bigger

i was stuck in hostel the past weekend due to flying and making two radio equipment displays. this was one of em' halfway through:

i couldn't help but to laugh to myself. it looked like a one-eyed haloween pumpkin. what to do, all by myself, so have to entertain myself with such lameness.

so anyways, started instrument let-downs today. we did NDB for runway 10. cut things short, i need to prepare myself more on ground. and the needle was rather ill disciplined. keep running away. but overall, it was a pretty good day. can't say the same bout tomorrow though *bites tongue*

MAS, Westar, AirAsia. soon it'll be a frequent view here in kb? hope so.

last night i was busy trying to prepare myself for today's exercise. so i asked one of my friend to explain the chart to me properly coz he's quite advanced in his flying. he's been doing let-downs for a few weeks already.

he got stumped at one point, and remarked: WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?

he couldn't explain it. cat got his tongue? no. but it was just incomprehendable. the figures were massively impossible. it was a situation worth to be perplexed. so we sat wondering what the hell was wrong. the chart couldn't be wrong. for quite some time we just sat trying to figure it out.

finally he gave up. and so did i.

later on, another friend came, and said: WRONG CHART la. this for category C & D.

very embarassing. fyi, category C & D charts are for airliner aircrafts. guess we're just dreaming of the future to come earlier! already getting ourselves psyched for the airbus.

never too early to start dreaming??? *grins*

First KT Solo

i flew to kuala terengganu yesterday. solo. it was awesome!

though there was a lil incident. i forgot to latch my door properly. the piper warrior aircraft i fly, has two latches. one top and one bottom. unluckily, the top part of the door was open, a gap bout 3cm wide. i didn't realize till i was near kt. luckily i latched the bottom one properly cause that's the more stronger one.

the aerodynamics weren't affected that much coz the aircraft was flying at its normal speed at the normal power setting. hence i didn't realize it. except that it was unsually cold.

that's why i had to land in kt to latch my door *malu* but hey the aircraft manual says the aircraft has been designed to land even with the door unlatched. i'm so grateful i read the manual thoroughly.

on another note, the direction indicator (DI) which runs on gyro, kept swirling around. i had to fly by compass. i'll go into that another day. i'll take a pic so its easier to understand why its annoying to fly by compass.

on ANOTHER different note, as i was heading from tok bali to penarek, there was a sukhoi 30 heading from penarek to tok bali. i was cruising at 3000feet, while the sukhoi at 2000 feet. i eagerly kept a lookout, but sadly could not see it in the air.

i only heard it pass by. damn anti-climax i tell you. i thought i could see it zoom pass below me. at the end, only hear it -.-''

this is what it looks like:

the infamous SU30 MKM. pic taken from: www.abpic.co.uk

today flew another navigation solo and then general handling solo. my turns and stall recoveries damn fail man. so sad. so long never do already.

btw, the sukhoi's callsign was Bisa23. there's just something about the number 23. its not a coincidence! its a good number!

-outz-

Nav 5, Nav 7 & Backseat

on the 15th i flew navigation 5 with 16. flight was ok but visibility was rather bad. we did a simple diversion due to weather. big black clouds are really unfriendly. these days, they seem to appear yet after passing them, its pretty clear weather. i guess that's good.

anyways, i flew navigation 7 to kuala terengganu (kt), or supposedly to kt with 06. he's not local, and he's really nice. he always says stuff with a little humour. like when we were holding at kb town, he said we should be assertive like kids and the controllers are our parents. we want chocolate, and they're not gonna give us. we gotta keep keep asking! same thing with flying, we gotta keep asking to descend/rejoin or were not gonna get it.

clouds everywhere.

weather again wasn't too good. we had actually delayed our flight from morning to 1400hours. still, clouds were everywhere. we had to go inland first towards the thai border for our first waypoint. when we reached, he went right near the border, i could see straight into thailand! it was kinda like a warning lesson, if you see that big river and that road coz you don't have roads like those in kota baru, TURN BACK! well its happened before, students crossing the border.

more clouds.

we couldn't carry out our planned route due to the weather that was approaching, so we diverted back to pasir mas, then headed coastal. flying coastal was nice. our route continued along the coastline, so it was easy to maintain track coz we had the coast as a reference. if you can get lost along the coast, that's seriously something new. unfortunately for the bad visibility, we couldn't see the islands :(

that's pulau rhu off the coast. it looks like, well kena dipulaukan. but it looks absolutely awesome. its shaped like a cresent. i think there's a lil white building on the island. maybe its a private island??? i don't know. but it'd be awesome just to chill out there. the beach looks amazing.

about ten minutes before kt, we encountered really ugly looking black clouds. soon, we were caught in the rain. so friggin close yet so far! i needed to do a touch n go at kt before heading back to kb. we tried going inland, but it was raining as well. we tried going into the sea, but it was worse there. we waited for 5mins before deciding to head back. my instructor was not very pleased. i had to go solo to kt in a few days time, and he felt he couldn't prepare me enough. but it wasn't totally useless cause we managed to carry out diversions and dog-leg procedures.

that's kt's new funky new airport. btw, pics were taken today while backseating.
not while piloting the aircraft. see, i'm safe :P

today, i backseated a batchmate who was enroute to kt. i wanted to familiarize myself better with the kt airfield. luckily weather wasn't a total bitch and we made it there and back safely.

instructor: its such a shame we've got this mucky weather. or else we'd be able to see pulau rendang.









ermmm... i think he meant pulau redang. but its been awhile since i ate rendang :D

Sqawk 7600

today i went for my very first solo navigation flight. and it was eventful to say the least. maybe in a year, reading back this post will look miniscule, but it sure did not feel like it in the air. this is gonna be a rather long post, with a bit of technicalities, and sweaty palms too.

before i start, for navigation aka cross-country exercise (though its purely non-crossing nation border), you basically plan a route and fly it. overhead each checkpoint, or more professionally called waypoint (which are usually towns), you transmit to inform current position and ETA (estimate time of arrival) of the next waypoint. the aim of the whole exercise is to fly the route as accurately as possible to ensure you reach on time as what has been planned.

yesterday i flew my nav 3 exercise with my instructor early in the morning. there was carpet clouds all over and it was impossible to identify the ground features. at some point, i made some really bad turns that got me a little off on my orientation. we were a little late on time but we managed to reach back safely.

this was my second take at nav 3. i had to repeat it because when i flew with 18 bout 2 weeks back, he wasn't impressed with my knowledge of the procedures like radio failures, dog leg, drift correction, and 1 in 60 rule. so he did not clear me for solo.

however, after yesterday's flight with 17, i finally was cleared. you have no idea how weird it felt. i was thrilled to go solo yet scared about the clouds. i was katy perry's hot and cold.

so off i went airborne around 1455 local time. the destination was around 50miles away from the airfield. and problem arose when i was about 15miles from airfield. i requested to descend from 3000ft to 2500ft due to clouds but was not given a reply. i thought the tower was just busy. i tried again, but still no reply.

soon enough i was overhead my first waypoint, and i calculated my ETA for the next. i turned next heading and gave my call, but to no reply yet again. then i started to worry. i transmited again, but silence returned.

i started to worry. a lot.

so i switched radio, and tried my back up radio, but that wasn't getting any replies either. i switched it off and switched it on. i hooked up my headset to the instructor's port but to no avail. so i transmited blind.

transmit blind is when you transmit a call, not knowing if anyone can hear you. its like waving a flag and hoping someone would see you, regardless of who they were. see, if you transmit blind and if another aircraft nearby could hear you, they could help relay your message to tower. this would at least ensure you still got positive communication with tower in case if anything happens.

sadly, although there were 2 aircrafts also flying nearby, but none heard my call. so i continued my flight while still trying to contact tower every few minutes. why i did not return back to base? because for navigation exercise, the tower assumes i will be completing my navigation route. then i won't jumble up their schedules of arrivals.

finally i sqawked 7600.

each aircraft has this device that can be set to a 4 digit code called a transponder. initially, i had to set mine to 5400. the guys at the tower, using radar, will be able to see on their monitoring screens a dot noting my aircraft as 5400. certain 4digit numbers mean something. like 7500 means an aircraft has been hijacked. and 7600 means an aircraft has radio failure.

so now officially i had lashed out to tower that i was having a radio failure and finally they could forgive me for being a rude and ignorant pilot, for not answering their calls.

from waypoint 1 to waypoint 2, i could hear nil on my radio. i got nervous but continued flight. after sometimes, i noticed there was bad weather ahead and i could not proceed. i had to return back. i had no choice.

i made two orbits in the air. i just needed to orientate myself to confirm position, and make sure my nerves weren't getting the better of me. it'd be disastrous if i got lost AND had no way of contacting base. so i took my map and made sure where i was. did my checks. made sure fuel was sufficient and engine was fine. then i headed back.

again i transmited blind, not knowing that actually nobody could hear me then (my batchmate told me once i landed). i thought i just couldn't receive. so i kept harping on the radio every few minutes to check if tower could hear me. no harm trying either eh?

about 25miles from airfield, i could hear transmissions from other aircraft, but no one could hear me. this was still worrying. i maintained on course and kept reciting the radio failure procedures in my head. i was rather unsure about it. you know when you're nervous you tend to jumble things up? about 18miles from airfield i descended to 800ft as per radio failure procedures and flew over the river just west of kb town. at that point i heard my instructor 17 who just took off.

i suddenly had hope again. so i tried to contact tower yet again. airfield was in sight. so very close. my heart was thumping as i pressed the transmit button.

but they gave a reply to a scheduled arrival instead and that sent me back to frenzy mode. it went something like this:

" ... cleared to enter control zone bla bla bla bla... break break APAC 1168 cleared to join right hand circuit, runway 10, right base"

i gleamed i tell you. APAC1168 was me! they could finally hear me in between transmission with an airline's call. i was so happy that i replied:

"cleared to rejoin righ hand...runway 10... say again sir???"

the controller was nice. he repeated it slower. i think he could hear how tense i was intially. first nav solo and radio problems are not pleasant. i was worried if my radio still had problems then once i was overhead the airfield i might crash into another aircraft taking off. i know its kinda far-fetched but it was really one of those REALLY unexpected things.

i'm thankful i flew with 18 and he made me a fool for not knowing enough. he didn't dare send me solo for my lack of knowledge and drilled me with procedures. kind of an irony how his drillings came crazily from books to reality. coincidence? or higher power?

so that was today. pretty shaking for me. although the tower was always monitoring me, but i couldn't just do whatever i wanted to make sure I alone landed safely and disregarded the rest. its my part to make sure of the safety of others as well. without procedures, things could turn out mortifying.

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.

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-please be advised APAC 1168 has divirginized sqawking 7600-

Uprooted

spotted: an aircraft jerking forward on start up. was that an indication, or just too much power set? was it a sign to worry? did it really jerk? or was it just rumours spouted to make a bonfire out of matchsticks?

today an aircraft didn't land so safely, as its nose made its way into the green pastures outside of the runway. what exactly happened, i'm not too sure. all i heard was:

"wooo... woo......... WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

and as i directed my attention to the runway outside, i saw the aircraft nose first into the dirt. one would definitely resent the aircraft. one who never wanted to fly that particular aircraft, but is forced to.

slow down. things like this are unavoidable truth be told. like driving school, rolling backwards during the balancing hill test? or even the sudden dead engine when the traffic light turns green? and i mean manual cars btw.

whether it happens to you or not, that's a different story. to begin with, the eagle 150B isn't exactly the idealist's aircraft. categorized as extra light weight, the aircraft is certified to be a trainer aircraft only in malaysia. i think because it is malaysian. usually trainer aircrafts are light aircrafts, get the picture?

landing is the most important part, and its a lot harder when you're flying these types of small aircrafts because speed, height, and power setting is based on your own judgement, especially on solo flights. you can't be scaning to check speed and height when you're nearing threshold, and as you reduce power to prepare for touchdown, your controls become sloppy and inefficient. there is a lag when you turn the controls till when the aircraft actually banks. its not easy.

touching down can be considerate(?) in the sense the runway is more than sufficient in length. the hard part is touching down safely and smoothly. landings can be heavy with a loud "THUMP", leaving you with a sore ass, which i've proven before.

and of course breaking is a big slice of the pie too. though you may have touched down safely on the runway, its not over till you bring the aircraft to a safe slower speed. breaking as well needs careful application. break too fast or unequally, you can safely end up skidding off the runway. i get really nervous when i press on the breaks, sometimes taking too long, sometimes just feeling like i'm gonna lose control of the aircraft.

so like i said, landings are difficult. it all takes a lot of time and practice. worse thing is, losing the feel of the aircraft and judgement, resulting in bad actions. but maybe today wasn't his fault. maybe the aircraft had problems. maybe the throttle faulted during landing. we'll have to wait and see.

i'm sure he's quite shaken up by this incident. its scary even just for me as a passerby. the possibilities and what ever not, runs a chill down my spine. though the ironic thing is, this is particularly what makes it so goddamn interesting for me as well. leaving the aircraft with heart thumping on rage, in one piece.


damages?

well the grass will grow back ;P

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-

Maps N Watches

completed: IF2, GH8, Nav 1

had 3 days of early morning sorties straight. so that meant i had to wake up early. to top it off, the first day my sortie got cancelled coz of bad weather. what a bummer. wake up early for nuts...

so i did IF2 with 17, and it was good. starting was a bit rusty, but got a hang of it after some time. see, usually we fly visually, meaning we look outside the aircraft to judge our attitude, whether wings level, or if we're climbing or descending. we're not suppose to look at our instruments that provide us height change and aircraft attitude info. but its always easier to look at instruments to fly rather than looking outside.

then when we do IF(instrument flying), we wear a hood, and realize i'm trying to peek outside to see the attitude. i think i'm just a lil confused hahaha...

anyways, IF2 went well, and 17 was cool. what is nice about flying with him is, he's been in our place before. he just graduated a few years ago, so he knows what problems we face as a student. he's more understanding. and he's been through hell before reaching where he is today.

GH8 was a solo sortie, and everything was nice. except the part i had to hold. and hold and hold. for like 15mins. i wasted 15mins holding.

Navigation1 was a brief intro into navigation. the route was pretty much straight, but there's quite a bit to do. luckily i was flying with 17, as i said he's understanding, so he took time to teach which was good. half the time i was lost, not the route part, but the things i had to do hahaha

oh for nav i was suppose to carry a stopwatch, but there was not enough. so i ended up borrowing my friend's watch to use as a stopwatch, and my own watch as a UTC time reference. gosh, i look so stupid with 2 watches lol

mostly the taking off part is a bit troublesome, which i'm still blur about. i think i'll get it in time though. so its HAT at the holding point, set course, then CLEAR, and once in awhile FREDAH checks. and the same routine before, overhead, and after the waypoints on our route.

navigation is mostly map-to-ground reading, so that we constantly know where we are. for example, we make sure we're over a river at a certain time, or beside a hill at this time. its just constant reference to map to locate ourselves. which is not that hard, it just takes a lil time to read the map, while flying the plane, logging in your nav logs, and occasionally answering radio calls. i'm kinda intrigued with map reading actually. its quite fun picking out the features from above. and also finding deserted towns in between valleys faaarrr from civilization. what do they do with their lives?!

the irony, sharman was never a map guy. i was in the boys scout till standard 6, and never ventured it again after that. then again, i was never much of a badan beruniform guy as well :P

but looks like i'm stuck with uniforms though :D

As I was going up the stair,

I met a man who wasn't there.

He wasn't there again today,

I wish,

I wish he'd go away.

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- variation of Hughes Mearns poem from the movie "Identity" -

1st Week Of Sept

i flew GH4 with 16, and finally it was a good sortie with him. things went smoothly and at the end, he wrote "student progressing well" on my report form. after the disastrous screwed up circuit revision, i needed this to feel like i wasn't totally useless.

then flew GH7 with 04, and THANK GOD its fasting month. but it was my best flight with his thus far as well. he is satisfied so far with my performance, not good but satisfactory. will need to improve on accuracy and landings.

which brings me, yesterday i flew with 16 again for instrument flying 1 (IF1), all went well, till the landing. it. was. heavy. like THUMP!

damn malu man. came down from flight he said:

"you're flight today ok. but everytime come down from your flight... buntut sakit!"

damn. back to square one. though he meant it as a joke, and though the winds were kinda strong, but its demoralising laaa... NEED TO IMPROVE!

anyways i flew GH5 solo as well during mid week. everything was well, and 04 told me to do a touch & go if got time. so i came back early, did a touch & go and then landed.

went into flight ops, when i was filling my forms, kena marah: SIAPA SURUH BUAT TOUCH & GO?! terus land la etc etc

hehehe right timing, 04 entered flight ops and suddenly i was treated so nicely. don't play play with 04. his presence can silence you! (and not in a dota kinda way)

then yesterday as well flew my GH6 solo. my bad day:

1) checking aircraft, stall horn didn't have sound.
2) engine couldn't start. but both when engineer came, was solved.
3) request bachok, full. so request to go uban. taxiing to runway, advised uban not suitable for solo. so i change for circuit and landings initially.
4) doing circuits, winds damn strong man, didn't dare land the aircraft so just go around TWICE. didn't dare continue circuits so asked to proceed to bachok again.
5) bachok too many clouds, so stayed at 1500ft. doing turns till boring. because of the friggin clouds, keep gaining/losing height.
6) returning to airfield, reciprocating runway in use. omg.

usually we biasa with runway 10, sekali today changed to 28. i was like WTF! panic panic panic. so tried to continue everything, then they ask extend downwind some more, kena hold late downwind, my circuit pattern damn out man hahaha...

then finally proceed with finals, luckily for the strong headwind so it was quite stable, but i was like:

shyt. i'm gonna crash this aircraft. shyt i'm gonna crash. shyt i'm gonna crash.

but realized it wasn't so bad coz of headwind, then calmed myself down and went instead:

just land it safely. land it safely. you can do it. somehow.

managed to land the aircraft in one piece. note to self: if things don't start out right in the first place, prepare for a bumpy ride.

GH 1, 2, 3; Solo 2,3; Cct Revs!

OMFG. its been a tiring week.

been flying with 04 the past four days straight. first time i'm flying with him, and you really gotta do good man.

he is an amazing pilot. hands down. the man can land an aircraft with just the play of the power. can you imagine it? like using two fingers to land a friggin aircraft?!

flying back to back, four days straight is really tiring. preparation, mentally.

i've become a coffee addict. before flight, i'll take approximately 2 black cuppas. and i usually fly in the evening. morning there's another cup! not like i like coffee, but i need to stay awake.

so anyways, we flew GH 1 & 2, and TWO Cct Revs coz i sucked and needed to do my solo circuits before proceeding with the next exercises. i don't think i flew that well, but i think i'm getting it. i think there's much to absorb from this man. i do feel a lil more confident with what i'm doing. i think i'm begining to understand airmanship and captaincy. just a lil bit clearer, its a longgg way to go...

and though everyday is really hell on earth, but the man is awesome during debrief thus far. and to know he thinks i'm safe to go solo (solo 2 & 3 and GH 3), i realize i need to learn more.

its been an amazing day. i almost felt like i didn't want the rain to stop. but instead i flew. and had the bestest day. flyin 1.5hours solo.

next week, i presume, shall be somewhat the same. little by little, i think i can. its exhausting, maybe its just me.

luckily its the weekend. finally. i went to school at 8am, returned only at 9.30pm today. it doesn't help i had many unsleepable times the previous nights... i'm just tired. merdeka. woo. who.

*GH= general handling.
(i know i didnt really type much. excuse me, i'm tired)

Cct Rev

i flew on sunday doing my circuit revision, after slightly more than a month of not flying because of exams. i took up to the skies with a new instructor, 16, and he was pleasantly different.

so basically a circuit is a standard pattern flown above the aerodrome, shaped like a race course. we take off, fly till 500ft, then turn 90degrees right into what we call crosswind, then after sometime we'd take another 90degrees to the right into downwind, where we'd be flying parallel to but opposite in direction of the runway. this is also where we would level off at 1000ft. then once we fly past the entire runway, we turn another 90 degrees right into base leg where we start descending, then turn the final 90degrees into finals where we make our approach for landing. i hope you can imagine that.

well i was thoroughly unfocused the night before, i don't know why. and it showed the day after. the lack of preparation was obvious.

the thing about circuit flying was, though i flew it many times before with 09, but 16 had a different approach on the turnings. with 09, i'd use landmarks to guide when to turn or to make sure of the correct circuit pattern. for eg:

wing approaches water tank, start turn to downwind.
wing touches river, turn base.
when flying downwind, make sure the mosque comes between your legs to fly straight!

this was so much easier to do, but this knowledge was limited to the KB aerodrome only, coz you weren't gonna be finding rivers, water tanks and mosques at other airfields. so i tried learning the 16 way, which was to use my own judgement of distance and fly the circuit.

damn it was hard. i kept turning too early, and i was too near the runway on downwind. so my descending went wrong and the circuit pattern just went out the window.

i was always too high on finals, so i had to keep coming in at a damn steep approach. it was sooooo stupid. no. I was soooo stupid. ridiculous flying man.

one of my friend kinda complimented: eh just now your landing nice man.

me: no la. you crazy or what. it was damn fucked.

friend: no la. you were coming in damn high, but at least you land nicely. you did what, practice force landing or glide approach?

me: ermmm. normal approach laaa.

friend retracts his compliment: oh then quite fuck up la.

which ends up in both of us laughing. pathetic. i tell you, i was damn lucky i was flying with 16, and not 09. else i don't think i'd even be able to be blogging this out. 16 is one patient man, and in the words of another friend, he treats you like a king in the plane. i call it the 16 treatment. absolutely good instructor, with a disappointing student.

then today i was scheduled to fly with 06, who's so kind when he speaks, its unusal and uncommon. but when i turned the ignition key, the engine didn't make a sound at all. the propeller didn't even move an inch. tried another time, but still fail.

aborted start up. all the pre checks for nothing. we got out the aircraft for a cuppa tea. hopefully next week goes better.


note to self: never go unprepared. don't be a lazy ass.

Getting There

lookout. there's a new guy in the sky. APAC 1168 is officially online so look up!

i finally went on my first solo flight today. and it was simply amazing.

running up to today, i was more worried about my solo check than the solo itself. 'solo check' is basically a test where we do take-off and landings above the aerodrome, and the instructor will decide whether or not to clear the student and send him for solo.

so yesterday i saw my instructor, and he's all happy and just tells me 'well tomorrow morning just make sure you shave, shower, and shit. remember those 3 things!'

he is quite unpredictable la basically.

anyways during my solo check i screwed up quite a bit. really dumb stupid atrociously silly mistakes, like not maintaing height/speed/power. and boy i thought i wasn't gonna pass the check.

thank God my landings made up for that. prior to this, my landings used to be horrible. once, in the early stages of learning how to land, my instructor yelled, "are you trying to kill all 3 of us in the plane?!"

it was NOT funny.

surprisingly, even to myself, my landings today was good. i didn't baloon, landing wasn't hard, or even out of control (which usually IS the case).

so he cleared me for solo, but not before a few questions:

him: can you MAINTAIN yr height and speed and power?

me: yes sir.

him: are you SURE?!

me: yes sir.

him: are you confident?

me: yes sir.

him: ok, i'm clearing you for solo. do your pre take off checks and don't forget to...

it was more than just music to my ears. it was unbelieveable. and i started to fumble with my checks. always rechecking if the fuel pump was on, lights on, fuel correct tank, etc etc..

finally i said:

"kota baru ground, APAC 09Siera ready for taxi", and there was no turning back. i started to freak out. taking off isn't so hard, landing is the worry. as they say, "taking off is optional, landing is not".

then i lined up, did my checks, got clearance for take off, advanced to 2000RPM let go of the brakes, and advanced to full throttle.

so far so good.

40 kts. 45 kts. increasing rather slowly.

and i checked my rpm, and it was stuck at 2100, when in fact it should have been somewhere around 2600.

should i freaking abort? THINK THINK THINK SHARMAN!

so i did what an engineer once did, reduce power a little and advanced it back to full power. luckily it worked and the power increased steadily. reached 65kts and i rotated. maintained an attitude for 80kts, trimmed the aircraft, and carried on as usual.

i don't know why but my speed was too high, or i was gaining height, which i started to freak out coz i was suppose to start descending soon, even though my power settings were normal for cruise.

luckily i made some adjustments along the way, reached finals at the correct height, maintained my rate of descent and speed, which was the most important thing. staying on centreline wasn't so difficult with the light winds.

everything went well. i reached above the runway threshold, pulled back on the control collumn to straighten the aircraft then cut power. and the aircraft didnt balloon! to my amazement! ballooning is when you increase the aircraft's nose too high that it starts gaining height, and you do not want it to happen.

flared out nicely and the aircraft just sinked so smoothly on the runway. it lost height, wings were level, and slowly just touched the runway with the main wheels and then i lowered the nose wheel to get all 3 wheels back on solid ground. best ever landing i had ever done. it was amazing. i couldn't believe i did it.

i did not kill myself, or even damage the aircraft. i friggin flew a plane by myself, and landed it all alone. my instructor thought me well :D i friggin landed the aircraft!

during lunch he came over and congratulated me on my first solo. he smiled. it was satisfying to know i didn't disappoint him, like how i usually do.

sometimes its not hard to feel tiny in this massive industry. it still freaks me out that i'm actually here. it feels like its too big for me. more than i can grasp. but today just proved to me how in love i am with the industry when you actually realize with time and guidance, you can do it. may take a lil longer, but its worth the wait.

its really hard to put in words what i'm feeling. its like that itch that you just can't seem to scratch. the smirk you can't seem to wipe off. you just have to experience it yourself to know what's it all about.

might not be about landing an aircraft for you, but there's just something in your life that's gonna leave a psychotic smile on your face. and when you do find it, you just wanna live off it and suck all of its every tiny essence of euphoria it has.

for me, i'm more-than-words-can-describe happy that today went so well. it wasn't perfect, but it was perfect to me. and you know what?

i live another day to do it again and again and again..


signing out,
APAC 1168.

- The difficult takes time, the impossible just takes a little longer -