There is no sortie for me today as the instructor is on leave. But I will be going to the hangar to practice pre-flight checks and RT communication on my own. Until now we are not given the necessary publications of DA-40 and Local ATC procedures, so I borrowed the books from one of my seniors for few days. The Flight Operation Room has a speaker (more appropriately a receiver) to allow the cadets to listen to the RT communications between the tower and the pilots.

Based on the RT subject I did in PPL and DCAT stages, the theory is somewhat a little different from practical. For example, pilots normally have to request for start-up but at here at this aerodrome, we cadets do not need to do so. Reason? I am not sure. But I guess this is our home ground so we are not required to request start-up. Well, after I master the RT stuffs already, probably I will post an example of RT Communication next time. Not really that tough to remember. But after some time, I should be able to memorize everything and before long it will become a habit. For now, I just need to get used to the slang, intonation and the speech speed of the control tower staffs during transmitting message. There was one staff who transmitted a message so fast that even the Firefly pilots have to ask him to say again.

Now gotta go to the hangar after lunch! =D

Effects of Controls 2 (EOC2) today was basically understanding the usage of flaps (take-off flaps and landing flaps), taxying to holding point, revising back what we did yesterday and also learned how to trim the aircraft. The word trim in this context means to relieve the pilot's load on the joystick. For example, if the joystick is constantly needed to be held forward, the trim will come into use by trimming it forward until the forward pressure of the joystick is lost. If the aircraft is not trimmed, by the time the pilot landed, his/her hand gonna be so stiff and tired! =D

You must be guessing whether I got vomit or not today. Haha. Yeap. You bet I did! But this time I managed to last for 40mins compared to yesterday's 20mins. I did almost all the things required except for landing part. However, after landed on the runway, the instructor gave me the chance to taxy back to the apron after seeing me feeling much better. Haha.

I think I am getting the hang of it. Even limbs also didn't feel numb. SO........


TOMORROW WILL BE A BETTER DAY! =D


I think I did not mention my callsign in the previous post right? My callsign is MAHA 943. During RT communication, I will pronounce it as MAHA Niner Fower Tree.

Yesterday's sortie was fun! The instructor let me did some RT to ask for clearance from the control tower and allowed me to taxy out to the holding point! Whooo! The wind was strong from one side causing the right rudder to be not so effective. So I had quite a hard time maintaining the aircraft in the straight line (it is a yellow line on the ground that follows to the holding point). After take-off, we flew through the valley of Simpang Gunung Raya. The weather was getting hotter and the wind too getting stronger. At some point of time, I felt like the aircraft loss the lift and "dropped" suddenly. And it was like a very bumpy ride, you know. Sort of like traveling in a bus on a road full of potholes. That time my stomach felt a little not comfy.

After passing through the valley, we saw the light house (it is a reference point that separates the two training area called Langgun and Datai) and flew into the Langgun Training Area. For this particular sortie, I revised back on how to keep flying straight and level based on the datum point (two to three fingers from the dashboard to the horizon). And then, before the instructor showed me the adverse effect of rolling the plane and the adverse effect of yawing the plane, he asked me to 'follow through'. I put my limbs lightly on the controls and had a feel on how he maneuvered the aircraft.

When the aircraft rolls to the left, it will yaw to the left too. Ditto when rolls to the right.
When the aircraft yaws to the left, it will roll to the left too. Ditto when yaws to the right.
The total effect is the aircraft will start spinning downwards to the same direction. Sort of like a spiral spin but it happens slowly.

My turn to perform the manoeuvre. Well, not much problem with controlling the aircraft. I only had problem with my stomach again. Felt wanna puke and dizzy again after finishing my task. I couldn't stand the it anymore and hence I asked for permission to vomit. Haha. But you know what, I forgot to bring my airsick bag along with me. Shit. Luckily my friend, who was the observer sitting behind me, brought his airsick bag. Thank god. And I vomited the meal I had just now.

Need me to describe the colour and the contents of the stuffs I threw up? I think better not. Haha.

Anyway, the instructor requested to land as he saw me couldn't cope with the sortie. However, to fly back to the airport needs around 15mins and we needed to fly past the valley again, which AGAIN we encountered turbulent wind. Err hemm..So...

You don't need me to explain what happened after that.

By the time, we landed safely, I found that I threw up quite alot! One whole plastic bag was full! Damn! Haha. Anyway, my instructor said that it is normal for some people to vomit during their first few sorties and I will get used to flying after throwing up some more. Practice makes perfect, right? I guess the more I fly, the faster I can cure my air sickness. I hope I will not break my instructor's record of vomiting more than 10 times during his first 10 sorties.

One of the seniors advised me that I should not eat too full two to three hours before flying and that will somehow reduce my chances of vomiting in flight. Another thing is that I have to learn how to relax my whole body and enjoy when flying. I did not realize I was so focused on controlling the joystick and so tensed up until my limbs felt numb! Goodness.

By the way, my next sortie is today at 1500hours, called Effect of Controls 2. Maybe today gonna learn how to trim and do some pre-taxy and pre-takeoff checks. Well, there is a pre-flight briefing for me at 1230 hours later. So gotta go have lunch soon.

Flying HIGH!!

And hope I gonna vomit less today. =D