Need me to explain how bad the weather here? Picture says it all.Need me to explain how bad the weather here? Picture says it all.The Blog Following feature is cool, isn't it? I started by following The Bitter Stickgirl. And now there are 12 people in my list. It shows everyone's updates instantly in one page and cut down the trouble to click the links one by one to check out my friends' blog.
A few must-see links for aviation lovers:
-http://yellowherbie.blogspot.com (got this from flydamnit.com)
-http://flightlevel390.blogspot.com
-http://viewsfromtheleftseat.blogspot.com
Anyway, yesterday the school sent another aircraft for us! Muahhahhahha..That means now we have 4 aircrafts to fly!
And also means more hours to clock in a single day! :)
But..like what I said in the chatbox, monsoon is here already. You don't need me to tell you what's gonna happen next.
********
Why the school suddenly so kind to us to provide us another aircraft? We heard that a senior batch (flying Single Engine) has been grounded until they pay another fuel surcharge of 50K! So there are extra aircrafts for us, at the moment.
2 of the ex-senior batches are suing the school while two more are planning to do the same soon. All are private batches.
The school is very smart. It's mentioned in the contract that its content are not to be read by 3rd party.
Which means that if you let your lawyer to read the contract, the school has the right to sue you back! I wonder how are the seniors gonna win the case.
This is why I mention time and again that any of you who is going to sign any kind of contract, PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY!
I bet you saw the evening news yesterday that AK eliminates fuel surcharge for all her flights! Good news for all budget travelers like me! =)
How did AK manage to cut the fuel surcharge? I am not sure about that, but I am pretty sure Mr Tony and his crews are doing a great job to put more pressure on their rivals (especially MAS).
PS: Please don't ask me why AK can cut fuel surcharge while the school cannot. I am as blur as you.
Navigation 5 - Dual
Route taken:
WMKL - Kuah - K.Perlis - K.Kedah - Sala - Pendang - Nami - Jeniang - K.Ketil - Kedah Peak East - Sala - K.Kedah - Simpang Empat - Kuah - WMKL
Weather was not very good with visiblity less than 5km at certain places in the mainland. It was raining heavily during the Pendang - Nami leg. Big CB cloud could be seen overhead K.Perlis too.
We had to divert quite a few times to avoid flying into the "big momma".
It was fun going out of the 'jail' once in a while. :)
So it was the Mekkhala Storm in Vietnam that brought continuous rain at the north region.
If I have the chance to fly today, I think I need to keep a lookout of turbulence. Landing may be tough! Crosswind landing, perhaps. But I haven't really mastered the de-crabbing-in skill.
*Selamat Hari Raya to everyone!! =)*
It has been raining since yesterday evening until now. Yesterday was torrential rain with visibility reduced to less than 1km. Aerodrome was closed for 2hours or so.
Today is at least better. Just intermittent rain. Cloud cover 8 octas (total cover of cloud in the sky).
The non-muslims including me are scheduled to fly today. But weather does not allow us to do so.
Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS)
Output produced by METARs form (0733 UTC 30 September 2008)found at http://adds.aviationweather.
WMKL 300700Z 15001KT 9999 -RA FEW005 FEW016CB SCT025 OVC200 26/24 Q1009
WMKL 300300Z 300606 34006KT 9999 FEW017CB SCT140 BKN270
TEMPO 0610 4000 TSRA FEW015CB SCT018
*WMKL is the ICAO 4 letter codes for Langkawi International Airport*
If you don't understand and want to know what the are the codes, continue reading.
If not, I'd advise you to close this window ASAP. You will fall asleep.
| METAR text: | WMKL 300700Z 15001KT 9999 -RA FEW005 FEW016CB SCT025 OVC200 26/24 Q1009 |
| Conditions at: | WMKL (LANGKAWI INTL AR, MY) observed 0700 UTC 30 September 2008 |
| Temperature: | 26.0°C (79°F) |
| Dewpoint: | 24.0°C (75°F) [RH = 89%] |
| Pressure (altimeter): | 29.79 inches Hg (1009.0 mb) |
| Winds: | from the SSE (150 degrees) at 1 MPH (1 knots; 0.5 m/s) |
| Visibility: | 6 or more miles (10+ km) |
| Ceiling: | 20000 feet AGL |
| Clouds: | few clouds at 500 feet AGL few clouds at 1600 feet AGL scattered clouds at 2500 feet AGL overcast cloud deck at 20000 feet AGL |
| Weather: | -RA (light rain) |
| | |
| Forecast for: | WMKL (LANGKAWI INTL AR, MY) |
| Text: | WMKL 300300Z 300606 34006KT 9999 FEW017CB SCT140 BKN270 |
| Forecast period: | 0600 UTC 30 September 2008 to 0600 UTC 01 October 2008 |
| Forecast type: | FROM: standard forecast or significant change |
| Winds: | from the NNW (340 degrees) at 7 MPH (6 knots; 3.1 m/s) |
| Visibility: | 6 or more miles (10+ km) |
| Ceiling: | 27000 feet AGL |
| Clouds: | few clouds at 1700 feet AGL scattered clouds at 14000 feet AGL broken clouds at 27000 feet AGL overcast cloud deck at 20000 feet AGL |
| Weather: | no significant weather forecast for this period |
| Text: | TEMPO 0610 4000 TSRA FEW015CB SCT018 |
| Forecast period: | 0600 to 1000 UTC 30 September 2008 |
| Forecast type: | TEMPORARY: The following changes expected for less than half the time period |
| Visibility: | 2.49 miles (4.01 km) |
| Clouds: | few clouds at 1500 feet AGL scattered clouds at 1800 feet AGL |
| Weather: | TSRA (rain associated with thunderstorm(s)) |
| | |
Bloody hell...
Yesterday IF2 sortie was cancelled again. If you guys have been following my posts all these while, you may have guessed the reason of the cancellation. No idea? Clues. Two words. B_ _ W_ _ _ H _ _R.
After cancelled the sortie at 1700hours, me and my batch mates went for navigation briefing to learn about how to fill in the Flight Plan, Nav Log, Load&Balance sheet and calculation of Take-off & Landing distance. The briefing went on for two hours, and we straight went back to school for another briefing for RTOL examination.
Correction regarding RTOL acronym. RTOL actually stands for Radio Telephony Oral License.
By the way, I think I mentioned in my previous blog that the RTOL exam is probably on the 15th Mac, right? But hey, guess what, it's today! D-A-M-N. And we only had the briefing yesterday!! According to the briefing, the exam is actually a simulation of RT calls for a navigation sortie from Lgk to Alor Setar. I haven't done my Navigation sortie yet, and that is the same happens to my other batch mates. Now you know why the LAST MINUTE BRIEFING was done.
The RT calls for navigation are a little different from what I did previously as they involves new things such as reporting positions, establish communication with different control towers, the procedures to be followed in the air, the distress call, the urgency calls, transmission blind calls, etc. Alot to be done!
But luckily I prepared early by asking the seniors and my instructor about the RT calls. Although until this very minute, I am still a little confused here and there, but I think it shouldn't be a problem to pass. Sounds confident, eh? Passing marks is 70% by the way. Time check now is 1145hours. My exam will start around 1300hours or 1400hours, with nearly 2 hours to prepare.
And I am still here blogging? =P
After exam still got solo sortie, hopefully the weather gonna be fine. Gotta go now, guys. Wish me luck! =D
Adiós!! ~Spanish word for "goodbye"~
For many days my sorties were cancelled due to weather, so I didn't blog at all for that period. Yesterday my batch leader told us that there would be a meeting at the common room at 2000hours. So after dinner I went straight to the room, still in my full uniform, and waited for others to arrive. 15minutes passed and no one was to be seen. Batch leader came and told me that it was postponed to 2030hours. I went back to change into my full uniform first. While changing, I heard there was a commotion outside my room (my room is just next to the common room by the way). After changing, I went straight outside. As I opened the door,
*Baappp* An egg was smashed on my body.
*Piiaak* Another one on my back.
*Bllaapp* Another one on my head.
I was like !#@$#!@. What the hell are you guys throwing and smashing eggs on me?!! And they shouted back: Happy Belated Birthday!! Hell broke loose.
Haha. Now I know why. They were planning all this while was not for meeting but it was to celebrate me and four other friends' birthday. Not just me the only one were thrown with eggs, other birthday boys faced the same fate too. Haha. Some were given 'flour shower' too! It was damn fun, running away to evade the egg attacks and at the same time running after the others for revenge! And of course, the common room and our corridor turned from clean to...ermm..you know how dirty a place can be after egg war. Haha.
My batch mates bought a cake, some snacks and drinks. We had the party at the same place and took a group photo too (still in our dirty clothes)! =D After that we cleaned up the place but the common room IS still smelly. Haha.
The birthday celebration at here is very different to what I had last time. Last time back in secondary school, we would beat up the birthday boy. At here, we throw eggs on them. Haha.
Anyway, today got a big accident happened. One of our trainer aircrafts encountered with an engine failure and had to make an emergency landing at a nearby swamp. My friends and I rushed to the scene as soon as we got the news. Just wanna be a busybody sometimes. Both the instructor and the student pilot are safe and sound. Thank God. The plane was damaged quite badly, especially the left wing. The left wheel was 'tercabut'. The firemen found the wheel at the other side of the swamp which was pretty far away from the site. Why the engine failed during flight, I can't give any answer for now because it will be more appropriate to wait until the relevant authorities release the investigation result. Maybe tomorrow's newspaper will have a report on it.
Seniors said that the hangar should be closed for at least a week to allow for investigation. But hey, now I see got students doing night flying. Haha. I thought I gonna have a week holiday! Hopes dashed. I am scheduled to fly tomorrow. One sortie with instructor and two solo sorties. All three in the late evening. Haizz. I am afraid my sorties have to be cancelled again. One, weather is getting hazier due to the paddy farmers conducting open burning. Two, rainy season. Three, more aircrafts are under maintainance. Four, many big airlines are coming in and out at late evening causing my delays.
With so frequent engine problems happening to the single engines aircrafts, I can't deny that I am feeling a little scared when I go for flying solo. You know, I start to wonder whether I can safely land the aircraft in case of such emergencies happen to me. Haha. I have been practising emergencies simulation in my mind every time every day. Just to prepare myself mentally first and don't want to shit myself out at the critical point of time.
Well, if I can't make it, I suppose I can't do anything but to leave everything to god and pray for the best.
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.