Mayday Mayday, we are going down...

Mayday mayday, we are going down. Mayday Mayday we are going down. Have reach the threshold that I can tolerate with regards to work.

Wahahaha

For all boys in green.. a couple of spoofs on the latest army ads.







NSFs like to bitch about all this...but i wonder wat will they say when they are so overburdened by work like myself.

army = safe haven...
(for now)grin...

Back from School camp

Have spent the past three days at Labrador adventure camp with the sec 1 kids, as the student leaders did most of the work. The teachers were able to pretty much relax there.

Spent an afternoon and a morning siting at the lighthouse facing the sea with two student leaders while manning a games station. Had a good chat with them. It was great talking to them. But they somehow were rather puzzled about why the army recall me back to camp every so often. That I cant really answer too because all of a sudden my reservist unit has became very active. Thus their Mr Hoo is often away in the jungle while the students had their free periods.

In fact last evening I had to go away from the school camp and report back to camp for a physical training session. It was a strenous session, with lots of push up, squats, starjumps and a myraid of other exercises. And last but not least a 30min run, I was surprised I could still take all the beating. But in a way it was relaxing because I knew i was doing it for my own good.The instructors were not harsh or anything, they were very encouraging in fact.The national service boys from the 6th Infantry Regiment were looking and laughing at us from their bunks while we (the reservists)were doing out physical training on the parade square. But if course, we have the last laugh, cos we get to go home while those boys have to continue staying in camp..lol.

Somehow during the school camp, I thought back about the two weeks reservist that I have jus completed. I actually missed the two weeks spent there in Tanjong Gul camp. While stages of it was dangerous and tough, the time spent with the brothers was good fun and it also reminded me of the fact that no matter how difficult work or love gets. It is not because i was useless and incapable. It is because the conditions isnt right. I have survived so many tough deals and crisis while in green, so I should hold my self esteem high and be confident.

Things I did today....

1.Made time and met up with little "mei mei" for breakfast before my supposed flight. But since I have not the little one for a long time. Tried to squeeze it in before. The gal was my first baysitted baby, before all my nephews and niece came. She has grown up alot but it already quite a chore to carry her Lol.

Flight was cancelled as my instructor had fallen ill. So this week is really not a good week for flying. After breakfast, drove mum home and then spent almost the whole afternoon in the carworkshop. Some minor maintainance need to be carried on the van. Got tempted and splurge money on a new radio and cd player for the van. Quite a cool unit comes with super bright displays and even a remote control. The sound is good of course.Brand? JVC.

After that brought mum and dad to watch "The Terminal". Even thought they are not too good with English, they jus enjoy Tom Hanks's movies, especially Forrest Gump. Tom Hanks is affectionally known as Ah Gump to them.

So no work is done today but is a real family day.
Alright got to sleep...now..army again tomorrow morning and flying in the afternoon. That is if DS is recovered...

A letter to an airport kid

I was once or rather still very much an airport kid at heart. Reading aviation books, saving money to buy aviation magazines during my primary school days till i got gastritis. This is because I refuse to buy any food during recess time so that I could buy the fortnightly magazine "Take Off". Memorising lines in movies such as Top Gun, building model planes. Staring at the sky constantly, love going to Changi airport and now the Seletar airfield. I sigh..whenever I look at the thinkness of my eyeglasses.And when it came to choosing my career path I know I will never even get close to the creatures that I love so very much; The airplanes.

But of course all that have changed now...I am no longer the kid gawking out of the Changi Airport's viewing mall windows looking at the airliners. I walk on a regular basis out onto the airfield's apron, towards my training airplane with its keys on my hand. I no longer jus smell the fumes of aviation gas from a distance, instead it stain my hands as I do my fuel checks around the aircraft before flying.

Below is an article about a professional pilot meeting an airport kid and his message to the aspiring junior flyer.It was his way of passing on the wings to the young. Maybe one day, I will do the same too...

enjoy..
Click here...Letter To an Airport Kid

Drove alot today...and saw a Cessna Caravan today!!

Drove alot today, drove sis to work. Drove her and my old colleagues out for lunch. Fetch sis home after her work.

Spent a quiet time at the airfield this morning. Flight was cancelled in the morning as both aircraft and instructor returned to Singapore at 3am yesterday. Thus, its down time for both man and machine. So drove down to the airfield after sending sis to work, spent a quiet time alone with my beloved Cessna 172s namely 9V-BoQ and N5348E. Walking past the hangar, I saw a Cessna Caravan, standing tall on its rugged landing gear. It is huge and its engine was massive compared to the C172s that I fly. Both the club's Cessna 172 looks like dwarfs when compared to the Caravan.

This is the first time I see a Caravan in real life, had practiced flying it on the simulator all the time, always thinking that it is a just a rugged little plane. But now up close, it is truly a different creature all together. Also saw a Cessna Skylane, parked next to the Caravan, it was large but not as huge as the Caravan. Wondered if I will ever get a chance to really fly the single turboprop engined Caravan. Perharps when I eventually get my commercial pilot license.

The Caravan is often seen as a saviour for many starving children in poor countries in Africa and South America. This is because it is often used to deliver food and medical supplies to places where they are no proper runways. It's rugged nature allow it to operate from almost anywhere.

I wonder as I look at the gleaming Caravan which had just rolled out from the hangar. If it could speak, I wonder how many stories it will tell of its adventures. Of landing on dirt tracks to access a drought stricken village. Of desperate children clawing at its fuselage and wings in the hope in getting some food to satisfy their long starved stomachs. Of transporting the sick and wounded citizens to safe havens in a country caught in civil strife.

The Caravan said nothing of course...lol...it jus looked on to the field as if staring at the windsock....the whine of the turbine caused by the technician starting up its engine is the only sound it makes. It is ready once again to take flight and go on its adventures again....


A FedEx version of the Caravan. :P

Click Here to view the photo

A song for the heartbroken and the misunderstood in relationships.

陈奕迅 -兄妹

曲：徐伟贤 词：林夕 编：
对我好对我好好到无路可退
可是我也很想有个人陪
再不愿把你得罪 一时那么依偎
一时进一时退保持安全范围
这个阴谋让我好惭愧
享受被爱滋味 却不让你想入非非

就让我们虚伪 有感情别浪费
不能相爱的一对 亲爱像两兄妹
爱让我们虚伪 我得到于事无补的安慰
你也得到模仿爱上一个人的机会
残忍也不是慈悲 这样的关系你说多完美

人看你 看著我 看得那么暧昧
被爱爱人原来一样可悲
为什么竟然防备 别人给我献媚
不能推不能要要了怕你误会
让我想起曾经爱过谁
我所要的他不给
好像小偷一样卑微

就让我们虚伪 有感情别浪费
不能相爱的一对 亲爱两像兄妹
爱让我们虚伪 我得到于事无补的安慰
你也得到模仿爱上一个人的机会 残忍
也不是慈悲 这样的关系你说多完美

Heartbroken dudes

In a span of less than a week, have had two cases of dudes running into emotional storms. One is a break up, one is a case of the lady becoming somebody elses girlfriend.

Both of them are close friends of mine, one is a fellow flyboy, one is my army buddy. Sigh.. Now I understand no dude no matter how calm and steady they are. Can ever tolerate the storms created by relationships. As one of them put it in aviation terms, You are flying an aircraft with two engines, the engine on the left is yourself and the engine on the right is the lady. The aircraft is the relationship.

The aircraft took off, all the checks done, fuel feeding for both engines, and all is fine. You begin a climb to altitude. You taught you were going somewhere, unpredictable as most ladies are, the engine on the right (lady) suddenly decides not to go on running and quits.

You are left with one engine running, the aircraft goes out of control, yawing dangerouly to one side. You break out in cold sweat, calling for help, the aircraft going all over the place. The aircraft tumble and yawed, straining against the beligerent controls. You are afraid, you are lost, you are helpless. Tears come easily to your eyes. But because you are a guy you have to be in control. You hold back your tears, and concentrate on finding a place to put the airplane down. Eventually you found the place and u return back on to the ground with a controlled crash...damaging everything that you have.

And then you wait, for repairs to be done (if they can be repaired ) and to wait for another chance to take off into the air again. Cant help it, but agree, feel exactly the same way.

The sky, the cessna and the cartoonist.

An interesting and funny article on a disney cartoonist student pilot's first flight. In cartoon and text format written for the average joe who knows nuts about flying.

http://www.avweb.com/news/avtraining/188005-1.html

Radio Transmissions (RT)

Practicing my RT speech.

Taxiing (after engine start up)
Myself: Seletar Ground, November five seven four eight echo, request taxi for circuit, detail 4, endurance 5 hours POB 2 over,

Ground: November five seven four eight echo, Seletar Ground taxi to holding point whisky 1, runway 21, QNH 1010

Myself: Whisky 1, runway 21 QNH 1010, november four eight echo.

Take off

Myself: November four eight echo, changing to tower

Ground : November four eight echo

(push the switch channel button, to switch from 121.6 to 118.45.)

Myself: Seletar tower, November five seven four eight echo, ready for departure, ready for 21.

Tower: november four eight echo, hold position

Myself: november four eight echo.

Tower: november four eight echo, line up 21

Myself: Line up 21, november four eight echo

Myself: november four eight echo, ready.

Tower: november four eight echo, surface wind 5 knots, clear for take off.

Myself: Take off, november four eight echo.

Downwind
Myself: November four eight echo, downwind to land

Tower: November four eight echo, number 2.

Myself: number 2, november four eight echo

Landing
Myself: finals, november four eight echo

Tower: november four eight echo, surface wind 10 knots, clear to land

Myself: clear to land, november four eight echo.

Landed
Tower: november four eight echo, whisky 2 to vacate

Myself: whisky 2, november four eight echo

Myself: november four eight echo, changing to ground.
(push button to switch frequency to 121.60)

Parking
Myself: seletar ground, november five seven four eight echo, request taxi to bay 8.

Ground: november four eight echo, approved

Myself : november four eight echo.

Aircraft is parked.

Bullets whizzings...

Am finally back at home, Typing on my PC. Out processed this afternoon, lugging my tons of gear, finally managed to get home on a heavily oveloaded cab. Trust me, four troopers has lots of gear when they get home for the last time for this reservist stint. The band of brothers have finally went their separate ways again

It has been a a tiring and but refreshing 2 weeks for me. tiring physically of course but mentally relaxing and in a way inspiring. Made me realise how I unhealthy my life has been going both mentally and physically. All the vulnerability that I felt when things went wrong emotionally, on hindsight really doesnt matter. The two weeks has made me realise that I am still as capable and independent as I was when I was serving army.

Once again the army has grabbed me from emotional ruin and converted me into an independent and effective soldier. It did it once in 1997, when I was collasping from the loss of YX, the army grabbed me by the collar and forced me to be a high performing trooper. This time in the midst of my overstressed career and ruined emotional state, the army has thrown me a brand new rifle and made me perform things that I never thought I was still capable of doing.

There were so many activities that has happened in the last two weeks. It is so difficult to put in words. Lets jus say the trainers assigned to us has high expectations towards us old soldiers. So high that it is even higher than the expectations put onto us during our operational days when I was still nineteen.

It was dangerous work too... there was a new combat shooting test which my infantry unit was trying out. Most of the equipment, safety procedures and rules were not established yet. But we old boys took it in our stride amidst our curse and swears.. We were supposed to run down a target course as a team of seven man, doing our section movements, shooting life rounds. That means to say your team will be shooting behind you as you run towards the target. Running, shooting, running again... It was pretty scary because bullets were whizzing jus past you as you run like nobody's business. A stray round, a misaim shot from your buddies, and i would be gone forever. I was lucky..I had great ear plugs, one of those special retarded foam types ..so I never heard the bullets that whizzed past me. All I hear is the muffled shots of my own rifle as i shot at my own targets. Nevertheless my adrenaline was at an all time high, while I went through the course three times in both day and night.

WH wasnt quite as lucky, a stray round from another trooper landed jus in front of him, and he got pretty shocked up by the experience. I am sure he saw his whole life flash him by during that moment. One of my platoon mate, EK dropped out of the exercise after he was caught between two firing zones when the computerised target system went crazy. He lied flat on the ground, and heard the bullets whizz him by. He wasnt hit but got too stressed out after that we all deem that it would be better for him to dropped out altogether. My platoon sergeant RS got deafed for quite a while because he forgotten to put on his ear plugs during the run. During the post shoot briefing, we all got real pissed off with the system. Our lives were on the line..and we shot off complain after complain on the system during the briefings.

Alright getting a little tired now..more later.