Guess what. My batch mates and I were pushing aircrafts in the rain back to hangar. And of course all of us were drenched from head to toes. What a sh*tty day.

Some of you may think it was a punishment to us because we did something wrong. Haha. It was actually because we were in the list of duty to push aircrafts yesterday. Pilots pushing aircrafts eh? Never seen before? Never heard before? Haha. Now you have heard of it. Come and see it for yourself! *shaking head*

Luckily I did not fall sick today. If not, I would not be able to fly at all. Today I flew solo circuit again in the afternoon. 30 minutes sortie and I only managed to do 1 Touch&Go and then landed already. The traffic was a little busy with big airlines taking-off and landing. Me in this small aircraft had to give way to the big 'guys' by holding in the air. The term 'holding in the air' means circling at the early/late downwind until the control tower gives pilot the clearance to resume circuit. It sounded like a waste of time me going up in the air. But come to think of it, I was actually able to practise my Medium Turn by holding several orbits at downwind. Turning round and round, maintaining 30 degrees of bank angle and 1000ft altitude.

By the way, half of my batch mates including me are given two days holidays starting from today 1700hours. As usual, I can't go back to my home down south. I requested with the Chief Flying Instructor to let me fly and he agreed with it. I am lagging behind some of my friends by 4 to 5 flight hours, so it is a good thing I keep continue flying at here.

I think the raining season has come. Even today the weather is bad, raining in the morning and now in the late evening. Cloud base is approximately 2000ft above mean sea level. If the weather gonna continue for many months to come, I have a bad feeling that we can't complete in time before we enter ground school by early April.

Today sortie was GH3 and it was actually a Solo Check for me to go training area! Haha..And of course, I cleared the check, baby! Haha. The sortie was not much different from the previous one. Steep Turn left and right, then went back to aerodrome for PFL. But hey, today's weather was crazy. At one time, the wind was crosswind 10knots. The next minute, it was tailwind plus crosswind 14knots! And the bad weather condition went on until late evening and I had to cancel my sortie again!!!!!

For some of you who wanna know why tailwind is unsuitable for landing/take-off, I will elaborate in a simpler way. Tailwind is the wind coming from behind the aircraft while crosswind is wind coming from sideways. So imagine now you are flying at 75 knots (indicated air speed) for approach to land and suddenly there is a 10knots tailwind. 75+10=85knots. Which means your ground speed is 85knots the moment you touch down. Please take note that airspeed (based on dynamic pressure in the air) and ground speed (based on distance travelled on ground per unit time)are two different speeds. So instead of 75 knots during touchdown, you have 85 knots, and this equals to longer landing distance to stop the aircraft, agree? What if there is a brake failure at that point of time with tailwind? Crash straight to the end of runway? NO NO. There is of course a 'cure' for the emergency provided that the pilot can handle it. Haha.

I will explain about effects of crosswind next time. Plus with how to land in crosswind, if I have the time. Haha. Gotta go for dinner now.

Today was supposed to have two sorties, GH 2 and Circuit 2 (Solo). However, due to no extra aircraft available, I could only go for GH2 with my instructor at 1500hours. I really have no idea how the Flight Ops staffs planned the schedule. Anyway, finally after nearly a month, it rained. For only an hour. But it was still better than no rain at all! At least the visibility was improved and the temperature up in the sky was not so warm. The weather here is changing rapidly and getting unpredictable. I wonder the weather at other places is the same too.

GH2 today was basically not much different from GH1. I revised on Steep Turn again and this time was much better. :Later, the instructor showed me how to select the right place to land if I encounter with engine failure at the training area. Remember PFL? Practice Forced Landing. Yeah, that air exercise will come in handy if I ever have engine failure. To keep it short and simple here, it is suffice to say that I need to determine the direction of wind (so that I can position my aircraft flying into the wind) and then select the widest (and safest) place to land such as paddy fields. After approximately 40minutes, we proceeded back to the aerodrome to revise PFL and did one Touch&Go before landed. I did great in all but one. The landing for Touch&Go. I saw the aircraft suddenly sinked too fast and my immediate reaction? I pulled back the control stick too fast.

My instructor scolded me on that of course. He said that I should not do sudden reaction to the control especially at such situation because it may lead to tail-strike (aircraft tail hits the ground and certain amount of impact can cause the tail to fall apart). I have seen three propeller strikes already since the day I came to study here. I don't want to be in the list of cadets destroying the aircraft. Haha. You don't need me to explain why, do you?

Now is 1832hours. In half an hour time, I have to attend class. That's right. Class!! After sortie, I still have class. Goodness. But the class is about Instrument Flying (IF), which sounds fun to me! So it is not all that bad. Some of my friends have already started their IF since few days ago actually. And I am still lacking them by nearly ten hours. Reason? Simple. The Flight Ops again. Many times my friends get to fly two hours a day while mine is either cancelled or allocated with just 30minutes sortie. Damn.

Yesterday accidentally stepped on a rusty nail at the table tennis court. Left foot was bleeding quite a bit and I immediately went to clean the wound with water. No ointment could be found. So had to bear with the pain for a day before I could go to clinic. After morning parade, I walked to the clinic nearby the hangar to get myself the injection and medication required (free of charge). I have to finish the antibiotics and eat the pain-killers whenever necessary. Luckily the doctor said that the medication will not have any side-effects, so I still can fly.

Yesterday finished another sortie called GH1 (GH stands for General Handling). This sortie was conducted at the training area and I was required to do revision about Stall. By the way, please take note again that the Solo Clearance that I obtained on Friday only applies to General Handling in Circuit, not in training area.

About Stall revision, I somehow put the aircraft into nose dive when doing recovery from stall (which is something I should not do because the aircraft will lose much more height). Imagine I stall the aircraft while landing and I put the aircraft into nose dive. The result is obvious: Crash! At the last practice, I finally got it correct. Phew~~

Later the instructor showed me how to do Steep Turn. Steep Turn is actually 45 degrees bank angle, more back pressure on the control stick to keep the aircraft on the same altitude, more rudder control to prevent the aircraft from skidding out from the turn and pilot can feel a little of G force (approximately 1.4G). I didn't feel much of the G effect on my body though. One obvious difference from Medium Turn is that I really had to pull the control stick backward much more and use a lot more strength to prevent altitude loss.

After finishing Steep Turn air exercise, it was time to go back to circuit area to learn about PFL (Practice Forced Landing). PFL is actually sort of like EFATO (Engine Failure After Take-off) but PFL is actually like a simulation on how to land the aircraft safely (by gliding) if the aircraft suffers total power loss at any point of time and at any altitude. This air exercise is quite complicated and involve more things to handle such as:

1)how to confirm the wind direction : smoke, dust, tree/crop movement, wind lanes/wind shadows, cloud shadows, weather reports, etc.
2)how to select a suitable landing site: size, shape, slope, surface, surroundings, stock, and sun.
3)how to plan the approach: aiming point, circuit direction, 1000ft point, 1500ft point, etc.
4)how to assess the approach.

I shall not go into detail of each of the subtopic above as it may sound confusing to you guys.

Anyway, the instructor mentioned that I have to eliminate the bad habit of rushing to finish things fast. One example is that I did not let the engine to idle for two minutes before shutting down the engine. Do things fast is not required at this stage, he said. I kept thinking why I have such a habit and I think I have found the answer. I played too much Initial D, a racing game. Haha.

This is another challenge I need to conquer now.

Yesterday was my second Solo Check with a different instructor. The sortie was 45minutes and below was what I did and the comment given by the instructor and my evaluation on my performance:

1) Taxy - need more patience.
2) RT call - pay more attention to the calls and be more alert!
3) Take-off - Use more right rudder to maintain centreline of runway.
4) At downwind - maintain spacing from runway. Wing tip is touching the runway when viewed from cockpit.
5) Base - Maintain 85 knots for normal approach and 90 knots for flapless approach.
6) Base turning final - Don't overshoot the runway when turning!!
7) Final approach - Maintain 80knots for normal approach and 85 knots for flapless approach.
8) Landing - Don't flare (make the aircraft to fly Straight and Level) the aircraft too early. If not, you will only be floating above the runway and unable to land in time!!

So what is the result of my Second Solo Check, you ask? For some of you may have already got the news..hehe..I HAVE PASSED!!!! =D

Finally after waiting for so long, I managed to pass the test. Honestly, the instructor was quite fed up with me because I could hardly get what he was talking! The headset that I was wearing had a little problem. Not my fault!

And I think he was like shouting: You f**kin' idiot, can you hear me now?!

And I said: WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, SIR?! I can hardly hear you!

And he kept increasing the receiver volume till nearing maximum and screaming "You f**kin' idiot" at the same time. Bloody hell. At one point finally I got what he was trying to convey. Foul words. Awesome.

After we landed, I actually thought he gonna fail me because he was cursing and scolding me! But for some reason, he still pass me and gave me the callsign to go airborne alone straightaway. MAHA 21S, that was the callsign. The word "S" indicates Solo. And so I took-off, all alone, flying for one circuit and landed safely! Hihi. Nervous? Tension? NO NO NO. I felt fun and happy and more relaxed instead!! =D

Anyway.. just like a friend of mine said, this clearance for Solo Check is the best birthday gift ever! Muahahahahahah. I have been thinking to buy myself a small piece of cake to celebrate, you know. Chocolate Banana cake (I think that's the name of the cake) from Secret Recipe. But hey, there isn't any Secret Recipe to be found on this island! Damn. Plus no transport to go out too. Oh yea, I received birthday card from my family too. =D

Cleared for Solo Check is just another step closer to my goal. This clearance is just for me to fly solo in circuit. I still have to take another Solo Test for Training Area, which will come in a week time, hopefully with no delay!!

Tuesday was supposed to be my second Solo Check but it was cancelled because the Flight Ops staff missed out my name to be put into the Solo Check schedule. Wednesday and yesterday also did not get to fly because of weather and heavy traffic. So, I was quite fed up waiting and being delayed for so many days. I have been arranged to go for Solo Check today again at 1745hours. Now is 1330hours. I still have few hours to rest and blog here.

Yesterday night was Chap Goh Mei and my friends and I went to the town to watch the celebration after having Bak Kut Teh for dinner. First time I saw so many Chinese on this island gathered together. I had always been thinking that the Chinese here were facing extinction. And you know what, this place sure got many babes to see! The event was held at a huge car park, by the seaside, with a middle-sized stage at one end. There were a few food stalls nearby selling food and beverages. According to my friends, Chap Goh Mei is also known as Chinese Valentine's Day. Singles who wanna find their better halves can throw Mandarin oranges to the sea, in hoping their future life partners will be able to pick up their oranges and contact them. I wonder anyone succeeded using that method. I saw a stall which was selling Mandarin oranges, 1 buck per orange. Apparently the event organizers wanted to channel the profits from the oranges sold to fund the only two Chinese schools on this little island.

Anyway, there were various performances, such as acrobatics show by a renowned troupe from Beijing, Shaolin Kungfu by three Shaolin monks of course, CNY dances by primary school students, and of course the not-to-be-missed hot&spicy performance by 6 secondary school girls. Muahhahhahhaha. I sound like a pervert,eh? Oh yea, there were also two songs, a Malay song and a Mandarin song sang by a Chinese female singer. I dunno who she is, but I was told that she won the third place in some singing competition called Angkasapuri. Her voice is awesome, not many normal teenagers have that kinda voice. I am not saying she is abnormal. =P

I have a feeling that my Solo Check today gonna cancel again because when I walked to the airport just now, I noticed that there are two flights (MAS and Airasia) to depart to KL. One at 1750hours, one at 1800 hours. If both the planes are to depart punctually around my sortie time, there is a high chance that I will be delayed for at least 15minutes and the instructor will cancel my sortie.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, uncles and aunties,

I am proud to announce that I have failed my Solo Check yesterday. Reason is simple. I made too many critical mistakes. One example is I drifted on the runway. Yes, you read it right. Drifted. How and why, I can only say that my brain malfunctioned at that point of time.

About other mistakes, I shall not elaborate further. Anyway, another Solo Check will be conducted tomorrow according to my instructor. Schedule is not out yet but I hope it is gonna be in the early morning. Less traffic, no need to hold and calmer weather.

I did a lot of mistakes. But more importantly is to learn from the mistakes and don't do it again. Bury the past and get on with life. This message is not just for me to remind myself but also to remind certain people out there. =)

By the way, I have to thank a few people as follows:
-Eric Ng
-SG Foo
-PH Ng
-CZ Yap
-ME Lau
-LL Wong (just added)
-MH Ling
-HT Gan
-SK Heng
-HY Lim
-MRoo Tan
-Ong Y
-YX Tan
-Cheryl (just added)
-YW Chong (just added)
-My batchmates
-Erlaopo
-Dalaopo
-and to my friends whom I missed out their name here.

You know why I thank you guys ;)

Today is the final sortie, called Circuit 4 that I went before I have to go for Solo Check. And guess what, I managed to get all the landings right!! =D

My hands were not stiff or tensed while holding the control stick. How the heck I did my magic? And my RT call was good. A few things that I did today:

1) Glide approach: maintain 75 knots, power idle. Sort of like to simulate a glide approach back to runway in case of engine failure.
2) EFATO: stands for Engine Failure After Take-off. Maintain speed 75 knots, trim, pick a clearing to land (paddy field is the best place)
, emergency fuel valve off, engine master off, all light switches off, call tower (if there is time); when landing is assured, put Flaps Landing and finally off Electric Master.
3) Low level: maintain altitude 500 ft in the circuit until final approach to land.

My EFATO drill was kinda sucks today because I had to do 4 times only got it correct. First try: airspeed to high. Second try: pick wrong place to land. Third try: Same problem.

Anyway, my instructor has cleared me for Solo Check, which is tomorrow!!!!!! I gonna fly with another instructor, that's the rule. I should be nervous right now, but surprisingly I am not. Who knows I gonna be nervous tomorrow right? By the way, after my Solo Check, I straightaway have to fly Solo! I didn't expect I have to fly Solo directly after Solo Check. Goodness. The instructor seems to have confidence in me eh? You don't even know whether I gonna pass or not in my Solo Check!

Solo Check is 1800 hours (45 minutes) and Solo flight is 1900 hours (15 minutes).

I am not gonna try my best.



I will do my best.

1. Grab the arm rests in your seat and squeeze them as hard as you can, making your lower and upper arms contract. Tense your stomach and leg muscles as well.
2. Hold that for about ten seconds, while you continue to breathe.
3. Then let go with a long, gentle Calming Breath.
4. Repeat that two more times.
5. Then shift around in your seat, shaking loose your arms, shoulders and legs and gently rolling your head a few times.
6. Finish off by closing your eyes and breathing gently for about thirty seconds. Let your body feel warm, relaxed and heavy during that time.

Circuit 3 today. And again, I messed up again. My instructor said I was too tensed up with my controls. Even my RT with tower also like sh*t. At one point during early downwind, I should have said "MAHA 25, downwind to land". But I said "MAHA 25, request to land".

Totally $#@% out. Instructor took over the RT and made the correction. The reason why I should not use 'request to land' is because the tower guys will misunderstand that I am having some kinda trouble up in the air.

Climbing speed also could not be maintained at 75knots. First 3 landings were like sh*t. And again, the instructor said I was very tensed up and held on the controls too tight!

He pointed out my mistakes correctly. I didn't realise I was holding on the control stick so tight that I couldn't make the aircraft to fly as I want. I relaxed during my Circuit 1 and performed great, so why I couldn't relax today (and probably yesterday too)?

A good question, eh? I am finding the answer in the internet about "How to relax during flying?". Those study psychology maybe can help do research and provide an answer for that. Haha. If anyone of you got any good idea to solve my problem, please feel free to leave a comment here or email me.

Yesterday Type Tag exam was really Bullsh*t. Total Bullsh*t.

WHY?

Because the school only gave us 5 papers for 30+ people (together with another batch) to do! And of course, they had to let us share the papers and of course we all had to copy each other. Goodness. All of us had only two classes and the other batch had only one class (even worse) before the exam, and the school expects all of us to pass with less than 24 hours notice??

Crazy!

I had to admit that this is the first time I saw such a terrible examination being conducted. The school has to pass all of us because some of us are having their solo check today. If they fail the type tag exam, they are not allowed to go for solo flight!

Out of 40 questions, I only managed to do half of it. The others I had to copy from others. The questions were really tough. A few examples:

What is the lower caution range temperature for gearbox oil?

What is the upper caution range temperature for gearbox oil?

What is the lower caution range temperature for coolant?

What is the upper caution range temperature for coolant?


Anyway, there are good and bad about this bloody exam. Good is that all of us have passed. Bad is that our instructors will ask a lot of questions (some which are not in the book) about the aircraft before they can clear us for solo flight.

Today's sortie was cancelled again due to the bad weather condition. Crosswind heading 090 and 15 knots. Flying in the afternoon has a higher chance to encounter lousy weather. I can only hope tomorrow's weather will be fine.

Yesterday started the sortie called Circuit 1. This sortie was basically turning round and round, using the air exercise that I have learned from previous sorties such as Straight&Level, Climb&Descend, Medium Turn, Climbing/Descending Turn, etc.

I was the first one to fly in the morning 8am. So the weather was really calm, no wind at all! So, my performance yesterday was much better than my previous sorties. My best performance so far because I finally got a C+!! You may think that C+ is bad, but hey, the instructor's expectations is very high and he wants my friends and I to aim higher. I had been getting C all the while until yesterday finally there was a C+ for me. An achievement! But I hope that I can perform better in any weather conditions.

Anyway, today is the instructor's day-off. However, our batch will be having our Type Tag exam tonight! And, you know what, there were only two Type Tag classes (which should be at least 7classes in total) for us. That's not all. The school informed us about the exam date yesterday!! And, the school was supposed to issue us the Aircraft Flight Manuals to us donkey years ago, but till yesterday only they gave the books to us. Mind you, there are only 9 books (our batch has 17 people).

Goodness.

We decided to share the books, with a book each in a room. So two people will share one book.

Anyway, I managed to "loot" quite alot of things today. Batch 8 guys have graduated last week and they left alot of unwanted stuffs in their room. So, me and my friends all "looted" things such as hangers, extension plugs, fans, pails, water filters, slippers, books, stationaries, etc. =D


And oh yeah, I looted a table lamp too! ;D

Well well well, I had been thinking that no reunion dinner for me this year. But hey I was wrong. One of my batchmates' family came here for holiday and the father, a captain of B747, treated 5 of us at a Chinese restaurant near the town. Ok, that is not exactly a reunion dinner. Not for me but for my friend and his family. Had a sumptuous dinner, and of course the bill was high, I think. Each of us got an Ang Pau from him too! The one and only Ang Pau of the year! Wahahahahah! =D

Anyway, after finishing the dinner, we went to a shopping mall nearby to catch a movie called CJ7. Premier showing yesterday and the cinema was only half-packed. As always, the people here don't know how to shut up when the cinema has started. I felt like I was in pasar malam. I am not gonna elaborate about the plot of the movie. But my recommendation is that if you feel boring, want to laugh and have spare $$ to spend, then watch the movie.

The movie ended around 12.30am and by the time we reached back hostel, it was already 1.00am. I thought the guard gonna scold us or something like that. But he did not! Instead, he was surprised why we Chinese did not go back to hometown to celebrate CNY.


No point arguing with school authority to give us holidays.




I'd rather be flying.

Today is Chinese New Year's Eve isn't it? Today is the day where family and relatives both near and far gather to meet up and enjoy dinner.

My sortie was scheduled to start on 1500hours, but today's wind was bloody strong, coming from heading 210. The windsock was seen "hanging" at nearly right angle to the pole. For take-off from runway 03 (means runway's heading is 030), such wind is called headwind and aircraft can take-off faster and at a shorter take-off run. However, such wind will also cause the aircraft much harder to land and the aircraft will sort of like floating along the runway. After waiting for an hour and a half, my instructor finally gave up waiting and let me go back.

This means tomorrow I will have to combine both Stalling 2 and Circuit air exercises together.

NO sortie today as we attended the graduation of Batch 8. Finally those seniors of mine graduated as they had been studying here for more than 2 years due to delays and lack of aircrafts and flying instructors! The actual duration for this course is actually maximum 20 months! Luckily when my batch entered here, the problem has been resolved and I hope my friends and I will be able to graduate in time!

Again, we were treated with free lunch at the hotel. Buffet style. Haha. I dare to say that most of us went for the graduation was not to attend the function, but to eat!

After lunch, we had our briefing about Circuit. Basically Circuit is about take-off,climb, make a 180 degree climbing turn, maintain 1000ft straight and level, then when abeam the runway's threshold, make a decending turn 180 degress and align with the center of runway to land. Not that easy as it sounds as we need to make RT call at certain height and also keep a lookout of other aircrafts and also know how to land safely.

There are mainly four types of landing:
1) Normal
2) Flapless
3) Glide
4) Crosswind

As I have mentioned before in previous post, landing is one of the most critical stage in flying. Honestly, until now it is always the instructor who will be there to guide and assist me side by side to land the aircraft. He has yet to teached me the technique to land the aircraft and I always follow through and feel the way he lands the plane.

Eyes: Scan the instruments and maintain runway's centreline.
Right Hand: Adjust power throttle to maintain suitable rate of descent
Left Hand: Adjust control stick to maintain correct and constant airspeed.
Feet: Adjust rudder to maintain aircraft in centreline and arrest yaw effect due to lower power / wind.

I have already clocked 7 hours and 30 minutes so far. Around 4 to 6 hours more and I will start flying solo (Circuit).



I am finding skins related to commercial aircraft or piloting. But this skin is the best so far. If anyone of you has any information regarding that, please sms/call/email me. Thank you.

Just came back from the morning sortie, called Stall 1. Ok, "stall" in this context means a condition in which an aircraft or airfoil experiences an interruption of airflow resulting in loss of lift and a tendency to drop. An aircraft with very low power and airspeed, and still wanna maintain the straight and level flight will have to pitch up (higher angle of attack).



However , this increasing angle of attack can only last until the aircraft stalls at the critical angle of attack (normally 16 degrees). The symptoms approaching the stall are:

1) Cockpit is quieter than usual (due to lower power).
2) High nose attitude (due to higher angle of attack).
3) Low airspeed.
4) Controls become very sluggish.
5) Buffeting/vibration of aircraft body and control stick

Recovery from stall:
Release backpressure from the control stick slowly. Aircraft's nose will start to come down. When it is about to reach level, give full throttle to reduce height loss. Apply rudder to maintain straight flight. After airspeed reaches more than 85 knots, climb out of dive.


My performance today regarding stall was not good enough as I released the back pressure on the control stick too fast on the first try and the aircraft starts to dive! On the second try, I released the back pressure and applied forward pressure at the same time, so the aircraft dived again! On the third try, you may think I gonna do it correctly but I was not! Haha. What I did was I applied the full throttle when the aircraft was starting to dive and not during nose level!

I have recognized my mistakes now. That is just the first step. To learn from the mistakes and not to repeat it are the next steps to go. After reading all my sorties, I do have a lot to learn. My instructor said that he's training me and my batchmates to be individual pilots. Individual in the sense that I do not have to rely on anyone to manoevure the aircraft. When I go for solo flight, I can only rely myself!

Gotta buck up more! I am going to start to make a simulator to help me in flying. Hey, it is not the real simulator machine! My version of a "simulator" is that I use imagination and picture out the way I fly and all the procedures that need to be taken , and then write them down in papers and then do the simulation everyday. It's like doing the same thing over and over again until the thing becomes a habit. Just like driving.....

..... you know that you don't brake when you see the traffic light turns orange.....

=D

Yesterday was the sortie called Medium Turns. Straight & Level Medium Turns is by banking the aircraft 30 degrees to the desired direction and apply a little back pressure on the control stick to maintain altitude. It was a little tough during turning because of maintaining the altitude and I was going plus minus 80ft from the given altitude. The instructor comment was "OK" but he said that it's best to maintain the exact altitude.

After that, I had to perform the Climbing Turn and Descending Turn by banking 20 degrees to the desired direction. And oh yeah, I had to maintain the speed of 85kts too and pressing the rudder at the same time. So my eyes were like looking the horizon for 20seconds, then the airspeed indicator and the Turn Coordinator for 3seconds and then to the horizon again and so on.





Turn Coordinator
























My taxiing skill still sucks because I sometimes stepped on the brake too much and sometimes I couldn't taxy exactly on the yellow line. Braking too much will result in lesser effectiveness of the brakes.

Today's sortie was pretty tough and confusing. Yes. Confusing. It's called Descending 2. Now, this sortie required me to operate the flaps (both take-off and landing flaps) during descent and then adjust the attitude of the aircraft to maintain the speed of 85 knots and lastly trimming. Later, I was required to operate the power (max, cruise and idle power) during descent and then adjust the attitude, maintain 85kts and then trim. And then I also learned about base technique and final technique. Ok, you don't know what the heck I am talking about those techniques. Well, "base" means the route at whcih the aircraft is flying before approaching the runway's final. And "final", means the route at which the aircraft is approaching the runway to land, normally 4 nautical miles from threshold. Now you must be wondering what the hell is threshold. Threshold is the part of runway which is usable for landing.

The two techniques are still a little confusing to me and I think I need to brush up on those two for my future sorties.



Anyway, throughout today's sortie, from climbing till all the way to entering circuit altitude (1000ft), my instructor kept saying that my wings were not level and the aircraft was like kept going to the right! Hey, the weather today was hazy and I barely could see the horizon. He said that I have to use my imagination to picture out the horizon. Tough. I tried to "bluff" alittle by looking at the Artificial Horizon instrument but still not enough. He caught me. I mean he caught my eyes were staring at the instruments. Again, 90% time should be outside and 10% to instruments. Remember!! Remember!! Remember!!

Flying sounds easy or hard to you all?

To me, it is tough at first for sure. Just like when I started to learn driving a car. Tough at first but as time passes, I got used to it, then driving became easier, then drifting, then speeding, then helped parents to fetch siblings everday, then got stuck in traffic jam everyday, then finally became so "good" in driving that I don't even care about the law. Traffic light shows GREEN, no problem straight go, if ORANGE, time to step on the accelerator don't slow down, if RED, no need stop just speed up and go!

This "law" sounds so familiar right? Because nearly every Malaysian has "memorized and practiced" the law in their heart whenever they are driving. Agree?

Now 1730 hours. Later 1800 hours will have another mass briefing again about Stalling. Tired! But I'm loving it! =D

For anyone who listens to Chinese music most probably will know who is the singer for this song the moment he/she sees the title above. This lyric is taken from www.jaychoustudio.com and with english translation included. And of course, his upcoming movie called "Kung Fu Dunk" (Directed by Yen-ping Chu. With Jay Chou, Charlene Choi, Bo-lin Chen.) is scheduled to be released on 7th February 2008 in Hong Kong.


Composer: Jay Chou (周杰倫)
Lyricist: Vincent Fang (方文山)

這 zhe 街 jie 上 shang 太 tai 擁 yong 擠 ji
太 tai 多 duo 人 ren 有 you 秘 mi 密 mi
玻 bo 璃 li 上 shang 有 you 霧 wu 氣 qi 誰 shui 被 bei 隱 yin 藏 cang 起 qi 過 guo 去 qu
妳 ni 臉 lian 上 shang 的 de 情 qing 緒 xu
在 zai 還 huan 原 yuan 那 na 場 chang 雨 yu
這 zhe 巷 xiang 弄 long 太 tai 過 guo 彎 wan 曲 qu 走 zou 不 bu 回 hui 故 gu 事 shi 裡 li

這 zhe 日 ri 子 zi 不 bu 再 zai 綠 lü
又 you 斑 ban 駁 bo 了 le 幾 ji 句 ju
剩 sheng 下 xia 搬 ban 空 kong 回 hui 憶 yi 的 de 我 wo 在 zai 大 da 房 fang 子 zi 裡 li
電 dian 影 ying 院 yuan 的 de 座 zuo 椅 yi
隔 ge 遙 yao 遠 yuan 的 de 距 ju 離 li
感 gan 情 qing 沒 mei 有 you 對 dui 手 shou 戲 xi 妳 ni 跟 gen 自 zi 己 ji 下 xia 棋 qi

還 hai 來 lai 不 bu 及 ji
仔 zi 仔 zi 細 xi 細 xi
寫 xie 下 xia 妳 ni 的 de 關 guan 於 yu
描 miao 述 shu 我 wo 如 ru 何 he 愛 ai 妳 ni
妳 ni 卻 que 微 wei 笑 xiao 的 de 離 li 我 wo 而 er 去 qu

這 zhe 感 gan 覺 jue
已 yi 經 jing 不 bu 對 dui
我 wo 努 nu 力 li
在 zai 挽 wan 回 hui
一 yi 些 xie 些 xie
應 ying 該 gai 體 ti 貼 tie
的 de 感 gan 覺 jue
我 wo 沒 mei 給 gei
妳 ni 嘟 du 嘴 zui
許 xu 的 de 願 yuan 望 wang 很 hen 卑 bei 微 wei
在 zai 妥 tuo 協 xie
是 shi 我 wo 忽 hu 略 lüe
妳 ni 不 bu 過 guo 要 yao 人 ren 陪 pei

這 zhe 感 gan 覺 jue
已 yi 經 jing 不 bu 對 dui
我 wo 最 zui 後 hou
才 cai 了 liao 解 jie
一 yi 頁 ye 頁 ye
不 bu 忍 ren 翻 fan 閱 yue
的 de 情 qing 節 jie
妳 ni 好 hao 累 lei
妳 ni 默 mo 背 bei
為 wei 我 wo 掉 diao 過 guo 幾 ji 次 ci 淚 lei
多 duo 憔 qiao 悴 cui
而 er 我 wo 心 xin 碎 sui
妳 ni 受 shou 罪 zui
妳 ni 的 de 美 mei
我 wo 不 bu 配 pei

This street is too crowded
Too many people have secrets
There is condensation on the glass, who is concealed in the past?
The emotion on your face
Is restoring that period of rain
This alley is too warped, we can't get back into the story
These days are no longer green
Mottled with a few words again
Leaving me behind with empty memories in the big house
The seats in the movie theatre
Are separated very far apart
Feelings without scenes together, you're playing chess with yourself
Still it's too late to carefully write down things about you
Describing how I love you
Yet you smile and leave me
This feeling
Is already not right
I try my best to save it
Some of the
Considerate feelings that should have been given I didn't give
You pout
The dream you made is very petty and low
We're compromising
I neglected you
All you wanted was someone to be with you
This feeling
Is already not right
I only understand at the very end
The pages of the
Plot I can't bare to turn over
You are very tired
You recite
You cried for me a few times
You're so languished
And I'm heartbroken, you're suffering
Your beauty
I'm not worthy of it


RATING: 5/5 stars

COMMENT: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!



Gotta go for pre-flight briefing in ten minutes time! =)
*By the way, just wanna add that in my FLIGHT DAY 5 AND 6, I did not vomit! *