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 ...
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?
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