One More Flight...

December 14th,

Dear Dad,

                       3rd circuit flown today. One more final circuit to fly with assigned instructor Capt. Chiam. If he clears me for Solo Check tomorrow, Friday will be my Solo Check. If all goes well, Sunday's flight will be my FIRST SOLO FLIGHT. What's a solo check you ask? Well, a solo check is A check flight to make sure you're good enough to go fly alone.  Our assigned instructors (in my case, Captain Chiam) will pass us to a senior flight instructor and then  will assess whether or not we are clear for our solo flight. Once we get the GREEN LIGHT from them, we're good to go. Quick info: ALL CADETS LOOK FORWARD TO GETTING THEIR FIRST SOLO. ITS A GREAT FEELING AND IT MEANS ALOT TO PILOTS WHO HAD JUST STARTED FLYING.

                              Back in our 'Flight Operations' room . Me, Captain Chiam, and Hong  was spotted by Captain Mani (a senior instructor). He asked Captain Chiam how is me and Hong progressing. After knowing we require one more flight or a little bit more to go on for our Solo Check, Captain Mani instantly 'booked' me and Hong to fly with Him the Solo Check. He expects us to be ready by Friday, and that means I will be flying the Solo Check with Captain Mani if my instructor clears me tomorrow! Rather than feeling 'ohhhh noooooooooooooooo!', I actually look forward for the Solo Check flight. If everything goes well, then its GOOD TO GO for sunday. Can't wait.

                              Back in the hangar, I had an interesting situation, Still in the Flight Ops room, as Captain Zeenu was leaving the room, he said....... I read your 'Diary'. Diary.... What could that mean? Did he meant this blog? If He is then.. WELCOME TO MY BLOG CAPTAIN ZEENU! Hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy updating about my flying experience here!


Oh, during one small part after take off today, Controls were handed over to Captain Chiam as he wanted to demonstrate a low level circuit (if im not mistaken). During the initial climb after take off, I did the checks and flip a few switches,whereas Captain Chiam did the flying, I'd like to point out at that moment, I had a brief moment of what it feels like to be a co-pilot in the airlines. It was a very similar situation to what goes on in the cockpit in the Airliners. Great experience!


TO SOLO FLIGHT AND BEYOND!

Quotes of the day,

-... I read your 'diary'- Captain Zeenu
-... I want to see you this Friday- Captain Mani
-... Choose Judgment  over Feelings while  flying...- Captain Chiam
-... You think when you judge, but you don't think when you feel- My good friend, Hong

The 10th Hour!

December 13th,

                       And after 9 days of flying (not consecutively), I finally collected my 10th hour of flying! Weather was crystal clear, horizon was visible. The ideal weather for aviators is finally back! Hopefully for sometime. Here's how it looked like.

 
Not everytime we'll get this kind of scenery at our hangar.

                       And so , for today's exercise me and Captain Chiam flew our 2nd circuit. Not easy, but not difficult too. With just the right amount of mental flying and being prepared for the flight will get you off to a good start. Here's the usual things we do before take off.

Going through checks on engine instruments.

Continuing on with reference pages.

And off we go taxi-ing to holding point Bravo. Here in this picture we're on taxiway Echo.
I can't help but say I am quite proud of being able to keep the the yellow line (centreline) in the middle of the plane. Think I finally am prepared to taxi the aircraft comfortably on ground already.

Lining up on Runway 10. Getting clearance for take-off. 

After take off checks, Landing and Taxi lights off,flaps retract check speed change to 80 knots (160km/h).

And here we are at crosswind. Picture deliberately enlarged to show the runway.

At late downwind carrying out the 3 wing chord check ( checking the spacing of our aircraft before commencing our descending turn. )

And here we are at base leg.

           And after the base leg, we continue with our final approach. 

           Apologies for not being able to show my landing and final approach picture. My cameraman sort of forgotten to take pictures of it because he was too 'excited' to see my final approach and landing technique!

And so we continued with 5 more touch and go's ( landing and immediately after that taking off). Capt. Chiam demonstrated a Flapless Circuit. Which means no flaps required during approach, meaning to say a higher landing speed. Simple. Throughout the exercise today, i felt more comfortable with the aircraft, and i hope from today's flight, my chemistry with the Diamond aircraft will grow and throughout the lesson today will my techniques be perfected.


To be continued...

One of those wet days.

12th December,

                      Latest weather report for today.

      We update our latest METAR report. A report on the latest weather. 

(Ignore the word 'night flying', this one's not updated YET)

We look at the Airliners taxi-ing past us. Most of the time we wave at them.

Going into the engineering section of our hangar to take a look at our aircrafts.

Most of the time trying to understand our aircrafts better inside out.

This here is the Diamond DA-40, and this it looks like INSIDE THE WING.

For the cadets who were gonna fly for their PPL (Private Pilots Licence) test.
This board shows them the course they have to fly and throughout performing what kind of exercises.

For this particular photo. Its meant for me. Yesterday, I was asked by Capt. Chiam to draw

15 Normal circuits and 15 Flapless circuits on papers. Not a punishment though,he said its for us to remember our circuits and knowing it better. A technique which I must say is Super Effective for me. Highly reckoned for circuit flyers. Circuit flying is basically flying around the airport and throughout the flight, numerous things had to be done . Things like checking Instruments, making radio calls, maintain constant visual with the airport and to get used to doing go-arounds when any failures happens.

       Aside from these. We had a few special guests who came to the hangar today. A group of AFRS (Airport Fire and Rescue Services) officers came to our hangar today. Motive was to teach them how to remove us cadets from different aircrafts should anything happen *touch wood. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. 

The AFRS rides.

The officers going through the instruments in the Diamond Aircraft. 

(don't their uniform looks similar to ours??)

And here comes Hazwan, our first demonstrator to 'How to remove a passed out cadet from a Diamond Aircraft'.

And now the officer's turns to remove 'poor' Shaiful.

And our rainy day for today just passed us like that. Hopefully it'll be another productive day tomorrow. Heard its good weather is coming in tomorrow. 

To update on next flight!

First Self Take Off!

December 2nd,

                       Woke up to a wet morning with a wet nose,preparing a wet trip on the wet roads of pengkalan chepa to our hangar. Weather seems to be unsteady today. Looks windy and wet at the same time. Slight drizzle. METAR (Aerodrome Meteorological Conditions) reported light rain with only 6000 metres visibility and with base clouds at 1200 feet.

                       Guessed my flight was going to be cancelled. Thought of going back home early, but was put on STANDBY by Captain Ramesh. I was scheduled to be the SECOND pilot to fly today in aircraft 9M-NRC. So rather than rotting in the flight planning or briefing room, me and maxim ( friend ) took a sit into the Diamond 40's cockpit. Showed him how things work in the Diamond. He's a Piper Warrior flyer, so our Diamond is a little alien for him. After explaining everything to him , he was very impress with our 'baby', and said he would'nt mind flying 'her' too.

                      As we continue to chat in the cockpit, a couple of seniors were calling my name saying Capt. Ramesh wanted to see me in the Flight Operations room. As I entered the room, without me saying a word, he immediately asked me to prepare the aircraft ( MEANS I AM FLYING!!! ) But there was a few people scratching their heads, I was scheduled to fly second to my batch mate Joshua, but he was kind enough to let me fly first when Capt. Ramesh asked who wants to fly first. THANKS AGAIN JOSHUA ...

                   Anyway, during preparations of the aircraft, there was a minor fuel leak at the fuel draining hole on the left side of the aircraft,under the wing. Luckily Capt. Ramesh could solve the problem just with the help of a screwdriver. Hoping not too much fuel was lost during the leak, I checked the fuel quantity and it was still at a safe flying quantity. And so we proceed. Today's back-sitter ( passenger in backsit of aircraft ) was another one of my batch mate, Ralphael from Sabah.

                 

 What's so special today was, I finally have a picture of me in the cockpit in the Pilot-In-Command's sit, only thing was I was still on ground.

            Me at holding point Bravo awaiting a Boeing 737-400 of Malaysia Airlines to land.
                                                    ( Credits to Ralph for taking the picture.)


             Other than the picture, another great thing happened today, I took of the plane MYSELF !!! Taxi-ed the aircraft a little bit better today compared to previous attempts to taxi. A little unsteady of course for a starter, but basically I lift the plane up myself.

               Rotated ( Pull stick backwards) at 59 knots ( 118 km/h) waiting speed to increase 70 knots and continue climb to 500 feet. 200 feet press on brakes to prevent wheel from spinning, 300 feet after take-off checks ( Landing and Taxi lights off, Flaps retracted fully), 400 feet lookout (right clear, front clear, left clear, all around clear, fuel sufficient, engine temperature and pressure's are in green zone) , 500 feet, make right turn to Bachok and continue with our usual practice.

               T'was an AWESOME feeling to do all those by yourself. Especially when you're still new. Won't forget today.

December 2nd, rotated aircraft on my own in aircraft 9M-NRG with instructor Capt. Ramesh.

Straight and Level

November 29th,

                        Today is a good day. Finally done with Straight and Level flight with our Chief Flying Instructor, Capt. Zeenudin or Capt. Zeenu, of Capt. Zee as some other instructors might call him. Some cadets might call it 'not-so-very-fortunate' to be assigned under him because of his strict-ness and his 'perfectionist' ways of being a pilot. But I think its a blessing and a privilege to fly with him. This is my second time flying with him only, but already I'm learning to develop good piloting habits. Only in my second flight with him, I learned how to maintain a cool head before proceeding into a pre-flight checklist and how to do the necessary paper work checks.

                        Today's flight was on straight and level and we flew around the Coastal Areas of Bachok, Kelantan. It was slightly windy, and visibility was not at its best, but lucky for me, Capt. Zeenu had no problem teaching. We were still able to make a rough picture of the horizon and carry out the practice. Throughout the flight, everything went smooth. I was the only one having the problem in memorizing ONE
thing . The meaning of 'P', in the abbreviation 'ALP'. For Straight and Level flights, one has to

A- Attitude of Aircraft (making sure attitude is straight and wings are level with the horizon, selecting a reference point as a guidance to fly straight and besides that  checking the sufficiency of fuel , temperature and pressure of fuel.)

L- Lookout. ( make sure left of aircraft is clear, make sure front right of aircraft is clear, make sure right of aircraft is clear, and all around aircraft path is clear.)

P- Performance.( make sure aircraft is level at the height we want and at the same time the vertical speed indicator is 0 [to make sure aircraft is not climbing or descending], maintaining heading , and making sure ball is centered [under the turn and slip indicator , there's a ball that shows whether the aircraft is in balance flight or not.] )

              In order to practice this, Capt. Zeenu would put the aircraft into a 'not-a-straight-and-level-flight' position, and I as the pilot have to do the corrections to make it straight and level. To fly it back to straight and level is a piece of cake, or as some others say 2 piece of cake, BUT, it is the procedures and saying out the procedures and maintaining them at the same time is 'not-so-easy'. I had a tough time remembering what did the P stand for. I kept thinking it was airmanship for some reason. As Capt. Zeenu see me having difficulties in remembering what that P stand for, he did this....

                                                This is not a randomly selected photo from Google,

this is my arm. And on my arm, is written the word PERFORMANCE

by Capt. Zeenu himself. And yes, it was written while I was flying and when I 

was in control of the aircraft. Instantly, This word gets sticked into my head from then on.

(picture slightly dark due to attempt on emphasizing on the words written on arm)

And so we proceeded to carry out the lesson on how does power affect an aircraft's attitude, and throughout the practice, Capt. Zeenu even pointed to me a Rainbow (was slightly raining at certain areas) just below our aircraft. A beautiful sight indeed. Just a pity no pictures can be taken as I was busy flying. We continued on for 1hour 20 mins.

Whatever people said about Capt. Zeenu might be true, being strict and all, but I CAN ASSURE ALL CADETS WHO WANT TO BE GOOD AND TO BE CALLING THEMSELVES WORTHY PILOTS, CAPTAIN ZEENUDIN IS THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR YOU GUYS SHOULD FLY WITH!        

'... know your stuff well'    - Captain Zeenudin                   

... and then, I took off.

November 17th ,2011


                                  After 4 failed attempts of getting my first flight (due to weather, changes in schedule, and aircraft availability) , I'm finally proud to say I finally took off. Before the 17th, signs of bad weather were all over the place. It was merely impossible to fly for aviators, no matter experienced or not..  I'm not gonna talk much, I'll just let my pictures do the talking.

                                         Me getting ready to go through the interior Checklist.

                                           
                                         Captain Chiam going through the checklist with Me.
                                       
                                         Very nice young man, skillful. And to the ladies, HANDSOME.

             
                                          Getting tucked into the comfy sit of a Diamond.

                                           
                                         And here we go.. All set and go, *shouts CLEAR PROP!
                                         And the props started roaring and rotating.

                                         And after start up, we taxi-ed onto our holding point,
                                         which was holding point C .

                                          .... using the rudders to steer the aircraft on the ground.

       
                                          *APAC 31 , lineup backtrack runway 10..

    *APAC 31, READY!
    * APAC 31, climb 1000 feet ,turn right, clear for take off.
    *Climb 1000 feet, turn right, CLEAR FOR TAKE OFF, APAC 31


... And then, I took off..

What are Ups , When there are no Downs?

Tuesday , 8th November:

                            Batch 47/11 (My batch), got the biggest news that made us put the widest smiles on our faces so far. We were first told we were going to fly a Piper Warrior 3. Which looked something like...

THIS.

But after an instructor's discussions with our Chief Instructor, they decided to let us fly the Diamond DA-40. Which looked something like...

THIS!

I must admit our batch has got one hell of a luck as not many batches can get to fly this baby. She's beautiful and she's elegant. And ! She's has a glass cockpit! ( Not literally a cockpit made from glass but defined as a system of cathode ray tubes or LCD flat-panels that display key critical infos about an aircraft's flight,situation,position , and progress) AND it has a GPS. Short to say: Rather than looking at seperated intruments on the cockpit panel, all intruments are now in ONE SCREEN ! So one does'nt have to go looking all over the place for an instrument. As an example, it looks like ...

THIS!

Compared to the usual ...

THIS.

As if this does'nt fire up our spirits, we were also told we were going to fly in Ipoh! Traffic ( on air ) is quite quiet, and plus we can get to fly more there. Fly more = gain more hours = gaining licence faster= graduate faster. We were all fired up and ready to go for Ipoh. UNTIL...

Yesterday, the day before yesterday, and today, there were clear signs indicating that our hopes to Ipoh has been dashed and cast aside. Due to CERTAIN management problems, we are not going to Ipoh anymore. I must say its really hard to hide our disappointment , especially for one of our batch mate, Ben. He desperately wanted to go to Ipoh and he was the was optimistic about it because he could've been closer to home, and of course the variety of food  we can have there and many other reasons a cadet pilot WANTS TO FLY IN IPOH. But, oh well...

Of course automatically , in a cadet pilot's mind, he won't be able to fly too much back in base due to MANY other of his compatriots flying as well, and Yes, a longer time to graduate. 

Then yesterday, we had a briefing with our Chief  Flying Instructor, and he said that we could now fly , if permit, 3 times a day ( 1 time = 1 hour) . Which was fantastic, but tiring. therefore lets say if one decides to fly 6 days a week and at least 2 hours a day, within 5 weeks or 6 , one can obtain enough hours in time to qualify for a PPL (Private Pilot's Licence), obtaining a CPL ( Commercial pilot's licence) would eventually be quicker and of course, it takes us closer to the ultimate licence a frozen ATPL ( Airline Transport Pilot's Licence) . To unfreeze it, one has to clock in around 1200 hours to 1500 hours of flying to have a full unfrozen ATPL.

Oh well, guess that was the only good news (to me) to cool our dismay over the cancellation of our Ipoh plans. And what do you know, I'll be flying for the first time ( with an instructor) this Sunday. I'm the first to fly too. And the instructor assigned to me is Captain Nay ( a burmese international, qualified commercial pilot).  Well sir, I do hope we can get along well, and I certainly hope I can gain enough knowledge from your experience sir. Till then see you on Sunday Sir!

Downs: Disappointed about Ipoh.

Ups: First to fly, can fly more in a day/week, stay in own beloved room blessed with Wi-Fi.

If there are no Downs in life, how are you going to have Ups?

Day 2 at hangar

Day number 2 well spent with batch mates at Hangar. Sadly, no picture to upload. And no flights to back-sit today.. Thought it was going to be a boring day at hangar. But kept myself busy reading ....

Pretty interesting to read though. Memorizing them makes flying more awesome and fun. Like , SERIOUSLY. 

After that, one of my senior (Maxim Omar Van Haeran, yeap, thats this name) was kind enough to show me how to go through a check list. Was able to sit in the Pilot-In-Command's sit, which is on the LEFT. And got to familiarize with placements of buttons and switches in the cockpit. Pretty cool I must say. The reason why I said kind enough, was not only because he was kind but also he took a time out from his preparation from his First Solo Check Test. He was very nervous but I wish him all the best. He's too brilliant to be nervous anyway!

                                                           
                                                   Introducing: Cadet Pilot Maxim Van Haeran.
                                                              ( A mix of Belgian blood and Malay)

Alrighty, gotta prepare for tomorro's class on flying and Mass Brief if there is. Long day tomorro! Ciao Peeps!

First Taste A Single Engine Flight!

...And finally, after 4 months being in Asia Pacific Flight Training, I finally got the chance to be in a Piper Warrior ( more precise: Piper Warrior 3). I was lucky today as one of my senior (Yu Beng) was going to do his General Navigation today. So I 'Popped-The-Question' ( asking for permission from the instructor in charge ), and got the green light! Aside from reminders not to disturb a senior when he's doing his pre-flight checklist externally, I could'nt help but kept asking about things to check and how to check outside the plane. Soon after, we finally boarded the plane and along came the co-pilot ( Instructor: Captain Chiam ) .

As Yu Beng was doing his normal startup checklist procedure, Captain Chiam was caring enough to ask if I bought a plastic bag. He was concerned that, I, a zero hour experience cadet pilot,boarding the plane for the first time will get nauseatic during odd maneuvours  and experiencing a rather 'never-felt-before-by-a-normal-person' g-force. I was rather confident I'd be well and good. Prior entering the runway, I noticed how relax Captain Chiam was throughout the whole flight. I was determined to be like him when i finally got to fly the plane myself.

We took off at approximately around 1139hrs on runway 10. Weather was rather clear, and it looked like a good day for aviators. As the plane took off, I could'nt help but smile as we starting climbing to 3000 feet. I finally got to experience a first full takeoff ,complete with full R/T (radio telephony) with Kota Bharu's ATC (Air Traffic Controller) .

Receiving further instructions from ATC to climb further to 5000 feet, I noticed the air has gotten cooler. I felt like I was at Genting Highlands. Certainly this is my first time feeling the air OUTSIDE of an aircraft. And so, we continued flying, as Yu Beng did his usual navigation with Capt. Chiam, I kept myself busy by PRETENDING I know what they were doing, by looking at them pointing at the map, and looking outside below the aircraft to search for landmarks. Honestly I have no clue what they were looking for and the only similarities I see from the map and the ground beneath the aircraft is the river. Other than that, I just kept looking at instruments and listening to other R/T calls made by other cadets and airline pilots. T'was a great experience!


We touched down around 1245hrs, and I kept thanking Captain Chiam for giving me the opportunity to back sit. Before leaving the aircraft, I held back Yu Beng to teach me how to go through a checklist. Pretty simple though. But ,better said than done of course. Thanks Yu Beng!


This is my first post in this Blog, and I hope to keep everyone I know updated each time I fly. 

P/S: A BIG BIG THANK YOU TO LEE JOSHUA FOR GIVING ME THE CHANCE TO BACK-SIT BEFORE HIM. YOU'RE NOT ONLY A GOOD FRIEND BUT YOU'RE ALSO MY COMPASS, THANK YOU FOR LEADING ME IN THE WORLD OF AVIATION FOR THE PAST 4 MONTHS. 

Joshua's my batch mate and a fello Subang mate so yeah. Gotta be thankful to be in the same batch as this buddy!

Till then, Cheerio!