TSC Heart of a Champion

13 DEC 2011

1130PM

Transformation Super Challenge

20 pull ups
50 push ups
3 mile jog

6 packs in 70 days, 50 days visible


Esok bangun 630am, telefon Wan, cargas Taman Bandar

AMC

05/12/2011
0650

Bangun pegi keje. Setelah sekian lama.

Petite Amie Francais

Had a good talk with a long lost girlfriend from France :)











and Google translator fucks my words around.

zedwantauzen

10/11/2011 - 1545

Kepala gua da kelam kabut, kepala gua da serabut!

Gua da jatuh hati sama ini moto, diri sendiri masa depan, make sure lu dapat moto ni sebijik. Sekarang ni lu belom keje lagi, duit pon makin menipis, wiken ni lu nak pegi turun kL pegi welly's dan nazabike kot, nak pegi tengok moto bagi lepas gian. Asalkan dapat pegang-pegang dan gesel-gesel pon jadila. Kerja! Mana kau?! Gua da serabut duduk rumah dengan takde duit ni. En. Rosli ni da gaya takda belas kasihan dah dekat akaun bank gua ni, membuatkan gua rasa lagi cepat nak berambus dari rumah ni. Penghuni rumah ni, gua rasa semua da macam takde mulut da nak berborak dengan gua kecuali ibunda gua. Mungkin sebab gua ni failure kot, ye lah, sorang tu bekas manager, sorang lagi bakal jadi doktor, gua ada apa? duit pon takda, awek takda, pangkat pon takda, mak bapak nak cerita kat kawan-kawan diorang pasal aku pon mungkin wujud perasaan malu.

"Eh, anak sulung awak tu kerja apa sekarang?" tanya jiran.

"Emmmm.. Dia tak kerja lagi." Kata ibunda.

"Oh yeke, teruknya makan duit mak bapak lagi. Dia tu hisap dadah ker? Ada masalah sosial ker? Dah la selalu keluar malam balik lambat.. bla bla bla? bla bla?" leter jiran tetangga.

Gua saspek, skrip-skrip macam ni pasti berlaku di kalangan rakan-rakan ibunda dan ayahanda gua. Gua dah tak heran dah sekarang, yang penting, gua dapat kerja, gua nak kumpul duit banyak-banyak. Sekarang ni, menda yang boleh buat ak waras lagi, solat, tengok series and layan movie. Semua ni gua boleh buat dalam bilik terperuk gua ni.

6NOV2011-1725

Mood: Raya Haji (Cuaca Mendung Tengkujuh)

Kepada diriku di masa hadapan,

Hari ni terbukak hati nak bagi peringatan sket kat diri sendiri masa depan, kot-kot ada terbaca balek ker. Time ni, masih melepak di rumah tanpa sebarang arah tuju. Raya Haji kali ni agak suram, ayahanda demam 4hari tak baik-baik lagi. Ibunda pulak masak kuah kacang je dengan nasi impit, walaupun sedap, tapi selera perut ni nak daging or ayam juga. Macam biasa, subuh 630 pagi aku bagun lepas ibunda ketuk pintu, solat, sambung tengok HIMYM S6 sampai orang takbir raya berkumandang. Time ni kaki kanan wat hal sakit, jalan terhencot-hencot sebab apa pon tak tau. So, malas nak pergi berentap kat masjid berebut saf, nak tengok lembu kene sembelih pon tak boleh sebab ada rasa kesian, takut jatuh hukum haram pulak makan daging lembu tu. Pukul 1130 terbarai atas katil sampai ke 1530, rasa macam orang dungu pon ada, raya tapi bantai tido. Time tu family belah ibunda pon nak datang umah dengan budak-budak kecik. Habis je diorang balek, da asar da, solat dan sampai la depan laptop ni tengah buat peringatan.

Gua nak taip ni pon bukan apa, gua nak kasik ingat sikit feeling time ni, feeling tak bekerja dan melepak di kalangan rakan-rakan yang dah bekerja. Masing-masing dah start cerita nak kahwin la, beli rumah la, tapi aku ni masih terkangkang lagi kat rumah macam orang takde masa depan. Walaupun sebenarnya sekarang ni tengah tunggu HR Keppel siapkan offer letter, tapi ni da nak masuk minggu ketiga dah. Memang ternyata HR Keppel ni buat kerja agak slow sepanjang recruitment gua ke dalam company. Seingat gua, first time dia contact time bulan 7 dulu, sekarang da bulan 11, dah nak dekat 4bulan punyer proses. Orang-orang Singapore ni suka tak bekerja lama-lama ke? Aku pon tak tahu. Terus terang time ni, perasaan hati tu nak call je terus si Tienye ni sebab lama sangat menunggu. Si Paan pon tengah tunggu pasal proses interview dia, semalam je baru dia call bagi tahu yang 10hb Nov ni baru pegi interview. 3-4minggu punya proses juga tu, member da gigil-gigil da tunggu. Ni baru Paan yang tengah keje kat UEM tu, apetah lagi gua yang tengah keje dalam bidang pengangguran ni, lagi la bergoyang sana sini. So, gua harap, Tuhan dengar rayuan gua lepas tiap-tiap kali solat mintak keje yang sebaik-baiknya untuk gua.

Dengan ketibaannya offer letter dari Keppel FELS ni (sekarang ni belum sampai lagi), gua akan bergembira juga la sikit. Sebab gua tengah look forward dekat satu benda ni, da hampir 2-3bulan mengidam tak tentu hala nak beli mende ni. Semenjak dua member baik gua dekat Kuantan ni si Wan duduk bakar aku tiap-tiap hari pasal superbike ni, gua da mula terpikat. Masa mula-mula dulu, gua buat tak heran je sebab dalam kepala gua, gua nak aim Volkswagon Scirocco. Tapi lepas selow-selow si Wan ni duk racun kat sebelah telinga gua tiap-tiap malam, hati gua ada termakan pancing beliau. Mula-mula tu ada la minat nak usha-usha gambar & video-video pasal motor-motor ni. Hati time tu terus terpikat dekat Yamaha R6, kategori motor ni dalam super sport, 4cylinder, 600cc. So, bawak tu kene ala-ala MotoGP. Memang time ni kepala tengah naik kemaruk dekat R6 ni, maklumla kepala tengah naik gila duduk rumah, tiap-tiap kali bukak video dengar bunyi ekzos naharam ni mengaum, specially bila da masuk Two Brothers. Slow punya slow gua usha, si Wan ni bukak topik pasal naked & touring bike, gua time tu tak berminat la, ada ke orang lain da gaya MotoGP lu nak duduk badan straight time riding, tak hensem langsung, "Baik aku naik EX5 je dengan abang dekat mamak tadi," kata awek-awek di bus stop. Tapi lepas slow-slow study balik, gua da terpikat pulak dengan sport bike satu ni, Kawasaki ER-6f / Ninja 650R model 2009-2011. Memang lawa beb, dah gaya super touring pon ada, super sport pon ada. Tapi riding style dia upright, so long distance memang tak lenguh badan macam super sport. Engine displacement dia agak gangster, 649cc, tapi 2 cylinder je, so bunyi tu memang tak garang macam R6 (4inline), but still, 200kmph memang tak dak hal. Gua punya pikir time tu, nak buat ulang alik Johor-Singapore tu hari-hari gua saspek ade jugak lah total distance 65-70km pegi balek kerja. Kalau naik kereta, confirm sesak dekat immigration especially dekat Tuas Checkpoint dekat 2nd Link HW. Tol pon confirm mahal macam kuda, so baik gua ride aje pergi kerja, parking pon free. Time ni gua da kemaruk tahap kuda da dekat motor ni, boleh tahan lama juga lah punya kemaruk, tapi gua ada ragu-ragu, adakah patut gua tunggu model 2012 punya sebab dah tentu lagi cun, ala super sport dah, meleleh air mata gua tengok. Tapi Malaysia masuk bila pon tak tahu lagi, tak pasal-pasal masuk 2013, meroyan gua dekat Singapore naik 125Z aje kang.

So, gua nak kasi diri gua masa depan peringatan tentang betapa kuda nya gua time ni, kemaruk motor & takda kerja lagi. Tahap kemaruk motor lu (diri sendiri masa depan) time ni memang kritikal da, asal lepak dengan Wan, konfirm lu buat bunyi starter sound pastu bunyi rem enjin pakai mulut tiap-tiap hari. Lepas seminit dua lu orang lepen, sekor-sekor mengeluh sebab tak tahu mana nak cekau duit nak beli motor, si Wan ni ada duit, tapi dia kene max out dua credit card and campur semua duit simpanan dia, boleh la dia nak bawak keluar FZ6R dia tu. Lepas tu dengan PPA dia tonggang langgang lagi dekat TOD tu, so dia pon duduk mengeluh macam aku.

Gua harap, diri sendiri di masa hadapan akan sayang moto lu kalau lu dapat beli lepas ni. Jaga moto, pakai protection, ride safe!

Grounded

Yep, GROUNDED!

Walaupun da dekat 4bulan gua da xfly, lupa lak nak apdet. Semenjak dua gua nak kejar cita-cita gua jadi pilot nih, macam-macam hal la jadi. Ada je rintangan dan halangan tak nak bagi ak bawak boeing or airbus. Kalau baru setaon jagung nak pulun jadi pilot gua xkesah la, ni dari kecik kot minat nak bawak kapal terbang.

Mula-mula lepas spm, ada masalah xboleh nak dielakkan iaitu halangan dari bapak gua, malas la nak cerita coz xelok sgt pon. So gua accept la, then gua pulun la bantai wat mechanical degree. Gua da aim baik da nak shoot academy abes 5 taon gua pulun nk dpt degree. Abes2, gua buat la PPL kat flying club, then masalah family lagi, tp xdak la gua putus asa. Tgh-tgh gua syok flying, kuar news airport tu nak tutup da operation. Apefak, dalam banyak-banyak senario, airport tu siap tutup punya nak halang gua jadi pilot. Gua tiga kali pikir, ni Tuhan xnak aku jadi pilot kot, buat la apa pon mungkin xkan dapat. Maybe untuk skarang la, xtau masa depan cam mana.

Sepanjang karier gua sebagai student pilot, gua dapat offer keje kat Keppel FELS Singapore. Gaji SGD konpem. Pintu rezeki gua bukak kat engineer la kot, gua pulun abes kat pilot cmne pon sikit punyer payah nak dapat, si Keppel ni ntah mana datang je tros call gua soh pi interview kat sana. Siap member-member PIB datang tolong kasik sekolah sama gua pasal itu piping ngan pipeline punyer line of work. Pegi interview siap kene puji and teros dapat on the spot. Peh, bukan nak belagak ke ape, tapi tang menda yang bukan pilot ni, sikit punyer senang nak dapat. Kalau gua buat bodoh kat Keppel ni kang, ada kene panah petir kes tak reti-reti Tuhan da bagi rezeki kat situ tapi buat keras je.

Minggu ni offer letter gua bakal di siapkan, gua xkesah la dia nak letak berapa gaji gua pon, janji xkurang dari 2000 sgd la, butuh apa engineer gaji xsmpi 2k.

Gua pon da merasa kekeringan duit ni semenjak dua benti keje, haih. Teros rasa nak keje bila tengok member-member dok cita pumpang nak beli itu ini. Jeles tu konpem la ada, tp jeles gua paham la gua xdak duit. Tapi paling pundek member-member stail nak belagak ngan gua tu, gua pon da xpaham, cerita lebat nak beli bmw la hapa la. Member-member yang melawak tu gua xkesah la, tp member yg muka nak serius ketat tahap berak keras punya. Siap tanya spec apa suma, lu ingat gua promoter bmw ker?

Tapi paling pundek member buat janji hin la. Tu memang panas abes, time nak mintak tolong ayat skit punya cam kuda, "gua belikan lu itu ini la" "gua belikan lu banglo sebijik siap ferari ngan orang gaji mandikan lu dalam bilik mandi la" hapa shit lagi la. Time gua da tolong bagai nak rak, dengan gangster je lu ckp terima kasih, bagi ludah je kat gua. Bukan la gua nak ungkit harta lu ke apa, dah kalau xnak bagi tu, tak payah la lu buat janji manis ladu kat gua. Ingat gua kedarah sangat ke kat lu punya duit, dah sebab lu janji time mula-mula nak bagi. Bagi ajela, toksah la buat dono ke apa, toksah la lepas tu buat janji ladu lagi lepas tu bagi ludah balek. Gua cukup emosi betol ngan makhluk Tuhan macam ni. Taknak bagi xpa, gua boleh tolong lu seikhlas hati, tapi lu jangan janji lebey2, gua jenis manusia yang tunggu orang tunaikan janji. Dah kalau lu tak nak tunaikan, tak ke sampai kiamat pulak gua nak kene menunggu.

Tapi pape pon, gua xdak hard feelings ngan member-member gua, apetah lagi famili tercinta. Sebab duk umah lama sangat, otak pon da weng. Dumbell gua xreti pulak nak jadi makin berat, skang ni 10kg gua buat lambung-lambung je, da xdak perkembangan da otot-otot jantan kat badan ni. Haih, nasib-nasib.

Stall

Stall - is a reduction in lift coefficient (fixed-wing aircraft) generated by the aerofoil (wings) as angle of attack (angle between the chord line and the relative airflow) increases.

It was a cloudy day but clearing up. I had a friend along with me, Mr. Billy. Well, this good friend of mine manage to travel a mass distance from up north of the country down here to my place just to get a ride in the good ol' Cessna 172. Fortunately, my generous instructor allowed him to backsit the lesson.

Today's lesson is going to be 'Stall', in which case whom I presumed that doesn't know what stall is, read the above. If it is still unclear, go and thank Google for creating a superb search engine. Actually, I have booked a 30min on the Cessna for a city tour for this good friend of mine because I don't want someone to paint the inside of the aircraft with some chewed up fried chicken and fries. But it seems that Billy was keen on backsitting earlier than planned.

It was while I was doing some inspection on the outer side of the aircraft where Billy was busy following me to see what the hell I was doing. He was keen on learning I presumed, but in the other hand, he was just awe looking at the mini beast behold upon him. Once I was done with the exterior, I entered the cockpit and did some checks. My instructor, well not really my instructor, he is the Resident Flying Instructor whom was assigned to check my progress. Some people said that I did my flying a bit too fast, so he wanted to check either I was doing alright or I was just fucking aroud in the cockpit.

"Do you want to follow now or later?" The instructor asked Billy.

"Eh, if possible, I would like to follow the training as well." Billy said.

"Ok, hop in."

I was quite starstrucked at my instructor's question, but nevertheless, it was alright since Billy can have a good long ride in the aircraft. Adding to that, this is Billy's first flight ever since he was born. Eventhough successfully working as an Industrial Engineer in one of the big companies, he never did try to get on a plane. So it worries me a bit since the last passenger I had managed to hold his food in his stomach up until we landed. Well, I guess everyone have different tolerance towards altitude and attitude change, especially when you know that the metal thing that you're sitting in can fall out of the sky anytime and anywhere it wants. Even thinking about it really fucked my mind up sometimes, but the sky is the aim, nothing to be scared about.

We received clearance for start up, taxi and enter RWY 22.

"9-FC, sir we're ready for take off." I told the ATC guy after done all the necessary pre take off checks.

"9-FC, left turn clear for take off."

"Left turn clear for take off, 9-FC," I replied.

Power 2000, brakes holding, temperature and pressure within limit, suction good, compass and DGI synchronized, hatches and harness secured, full power, release brakes and off we go.

"40kts, 45kts, 50kts, and 55kts, rotate," I pull the control column back causing the aircraft nose attitude to pitch up and the tires to slowly leave the hard ground. We were climbing at 75kts with a climb rate of 500ft/min. I level off at 1000ft before establishing the training area, R236.

Once arrived, we received clearance to operate there without any traffic. My instructor asked me to climb to 2000ft for ground clearance and I did that without hesitations. Once reached the desired altitude, my instructor asked me to do the HASELL check and 1 clearing turn.

Well, HASELL is a pre-stall check:

H - Height

A - Airframe

S - Security

E - Engine

L - Location

L - Lookout

Once everthing is done, I did one clearing turn of 180degrees and hand over the controls to my instructor. He told me to observe and follow through. He put the power to idle and hold the aircraft at a straight and level attitude. I can see the speed start to drop super fast causing the stall horn to scream aloud. My instructor pulled hard on the control column to make it pitch back and maintain level. Suddenly, I can feel the aircraft starts to shake a bit (buffet) and the nose suddenly dropped down causing the aircraft to plunge towards the ground. My stomach shrunk as if I were sitting on a roller coaster. But this roller coaster is a different one, imagine having a roller coaster rushing towards the ground but without any tracks in front, yeah, imagine having to cope with that.

"Yahhooooooooo!!" Opps, I screamed out loud on the microphone. To be honest, I'm totally sucked at riding roller coasters and riding one without any tracks make it worst. I tend to scream half of my lungs out. My instructor laughed at me while he maintained the nose down towards the earth attitude of the aircraft. As the airspeed passed around 60kts, he pulled back hard and level off the aircraft. We lost about roughly 200feet of altitude which is normal if no power was added. Yep, a lot if you don't have enough sky to recover, bad enough if this happens during final approach.

We tried a different exercise next, where power is being added once the nose drops. Once again with the checks and clearing turn, we brought the aircraft to a stall state and once the nose drops out of the sky, full power and right rudder to counter the slipstream effects. This time, we loose about 50 feet only which is good. This exercise is called SSR or Standard Stall Recovery. This is practised if stall happens on cruise flight or normal flight.

The next practise is the SISR or Standard Incipient Stall Recovery. On the verge of stall, usually when the stall horn starts to make the anoying 'screeching' sound, full power is being apply and right rudder while maintaining the the level attitude to avoid the aircraft from loosing any height. Hell yeah, it kindda stayed at the same altitude which is damn good enough for me.

Once I managed to handle all of the stalls situation, we did a tour around the city for the good friend of mine behind whom I almost forgot his existence throughout the practice. We landed roughly, well considered a safe landing due to my amateur skills (mind you, without any bouncing up and down), just a rough smack down landing which keeps us on the ground for sure.

Once shutdown process had been done, chokes in, control surfaces locked, suddenly Billy asked me, "Can I follow again tomorrow? That was great!"

Mr. Billy

Butterfly Tummy

It was going to be a long flight for today, as expected. As for today, a good friend of mine (Mr. K) is going to backseat my flight. I'm going to practice climb and descend, and a bit of steep turns due to my imperfections during the last session. Last session, I did medium and steep turns which seems to be fine when I relaxed. The first run I did was wobbly and imbalance due to me tensing up since I did not expect it to be a bit complicated comparing to the simulator (thank you Microsoft for creating such a great program). So, in order to compensate for the last time, my instructor asked me to practice a bit more on the steep turns. I did okay and my instructor was satisfied.

Next, he showed me on how to do a cruise descend. In this case, it's a descend at cruising speed which is usually ranging from 100-90kts. As for Julia, the throttle was set at 1900rpm in order to maintain 100kts while having the nose pitching downwards with a descend rate of 500 ft/min. It was damn easy since I managed to master the technique with the first try with me gleefully smiling to the instructor as he complimented me.

Then, came glide descend. Almost basically the same where I need to put Julia in a descending attitude, but this time, I need to make her fall out of the sky slower at approximately 75kts with idle power. Yep, idle power which makes it a bit tricky. Adding to the problem, the control gets super sloppy, not forgetting the turbulence from the uneven grounds down below. At first, while holding a straight and level attitude, I cut the power to idle letting the airspeed drop. During this phase, I need to pull back and trim the aircraft to avoid the nose from pitching down (to ensure the speed drops faster). Slowly, Julia started to wobble a bit as the speed drops to 80kts since there're less lift. 80, 77, 75, "Pitching down, Attitude - maintain pitch down attitude, Lookout - left clear, front clear, right clear, Performance - rate of descend 500ft per min, and 75kts." Saying it out allows me to remember these stuffs better.

"Level off at 1500ft," the instructor told me.

"Yes sir, 1500ft."

"1700, 1600ft.. Nearing level off altitude.. 1500ft, level off."

I yanked the control column backwards causing Julia to pitch up like a horse being pulled on the rein.

"Wooo wooo. Ease off a bit. Don't try to stall the aircraft, see your airspeed is 55kts already."

Oh crap. I thought Julia won't jerk at that rate since we're at low speed. But I forgot that the propeller is still spinning, causing the rudder and elevator to be more responsive compared to the ailerons. My instructor climbed Julia to 2000ft and asked me to do the practice again. This time, it is a much smoother glide. Nearing 1500ft, I slowly pull the control column backwards and apply cruising power plus the right rudder to counter the slipstream effect. Bingo, I hit the sweetspot and there we are, cruising at almost 200kmph at an altitude of 1500ft.

"Okay good. Now climb the aircraft, full power, right rudder, pitch up, trim, and maintain attitude for a speed of 75kts."

It was pretty easy.

"Now, request for city area for a tour since your friend is getting bored."

I turn around and I get what my instructor meant. There was my friend at the back, sleeping soundfully. I was suprised to see him in that state even after a lot of bumps here and there due to the turbulence. Maybe it was super boring I guess, going round and round for a whole hour.

"Simpang Tower, 9M-HAN, request rejoin for city area." I requested from the ATC.

"9M-HAN, track to Ampang, 1500ft."

"Track to Ampang, 1500ft, 9M-HAN." I replied back.

I asked for my instructor to fly the plane. I turn backwards and tap my friend on the knee. He woke up with a blurry face. I told him we're going to city area for a tour. He shrugged his shoulder with a finger pointing towards his headset signing that it was not working. Oh, no wonder he's bored. The headset is broken and he can't hear a damn thing. I text 'We're going to city area for a tour' on my Blackberry and showed it to him. He nodded quickly. I take another look at him, and I sense that his face is almost white as paper. I guess he's just scared of heights.

We did a tour around the infamous twin towers and a few other places around the city. Julia was bucking up and down due to the hot weather and turbulence from the buildings below. We did a few rounds above the city and my instructor asked me to request for rejoin.

"Simpang Tower, 9M-HAN, from city area request rejoin for full stop sir."

"9M-HAN, rejoin approve, runway 22, QNH 1010, report on final."

"Runway 22, QNH 1010, report on final, 9M-HAN."

The instructor positioned Julia for long final and he said the most exciting thing I've heard in ages, "Now, you do the landing". I almost crap in my pants once I've heard that. I asked him wether he is sure, and he said yes. I gulped a few times and pray to God that everything will be fine. Did the downwind checks:

BUMFFH

-Brakes off

-Undercarriage fixed

-Mixture rich

-Fuel selector both

-Flaps stage one

-Harness and hatches secured

On final, "Simpang Tower, 9M-HAN, on final".

"9M-HAN, beware chopper hovering, surface wind calm, clear to land."

"Copy traffic, clear to land, 9M-HAN".

I shook myself for a bit the release the tensions, pray a bit and prepare to land.

"Power to 1500rpm, flaps stage 1, nose down, aiming point threshold, trim a bit, airspeed still high, flaps stage 2, power to idle, flaps stage 3".

We were on a high decend, I can see the whole length of the runway. I thought that we're going to overshoot but my instructor asked me to relax. Slowly, the airspeed started to reduce to 65kts and we're on the correct glide path. I apply a bit of power to avoid Julia from stalling. Julia slowly descend towards the runway smoothly, suddenly the left wing dropped drastically. My quick mind reacted yanking to the right to avoid Julia from running off course. At the same time, I pressed hard on the right rudder to allign back for the centreline. Julia was wobbling roughly was in control. Slowly I descend to the runway, flare and let Julia to gently touch the runway. Screech went the tire and I apply the brakes to slow down.

"9M-HAN, vacate via Charlie".

"Vacate via Charlie, 9M-HAN".

I look at my instructor and he gave thumb up.

"THAT WAS A SUPERB FIRST LANDING!!" I scream in my heart.

Mr.K before the flight.

Effects of Control 1

Position: Approaching R236.. Altitude: 2000 feet.. Equipment: Cessna 172.. POB: 3 person..

This time, I brought along a Friend of mine whom I presume had seen me grow up for a duration of 5 years. We're college friends and had been closed buddies ever since, not to say that he is the only close buddies I have, but I have this speacial feeling of ease when he is around.

I also managed to grab a new Indian instructor who seems like a good guy, with good looks and attitude. He seems like a more chilled person compared to the last one, which makes me more relaxed and concentrate on my flying rather than concentrating on each and every single curses that I'm exposed to.

"You have control," the instructor said.

"I have control, sir" I took hold of the control collumn, throttle and feet on the rudder before saying this. Eventhough the instructor is a few months younger than me, I look up upon him due to respect as a teacher and a pilot with higher ranking than me. Some people say it's the 'respect on the left seat', but in this case, I'm on the left seat.

Julia swayed a bit to left and right due to some updrafts but I managed to ease her down and making the flight more pleasant. We are enroute to R236 (training area) and the weather seems nice except that it is a bit humid and hot, but still not hot enough to give us a horse ride.

"Simpang Tower, 9-FC established Romeo 236, 1500feet," I managed to blurt out once we've established the training area.

"9-FC, clear to operate 2000 feet and below, report ops normal at time 35."

"Clear to operate 2000 feet and below, report ops normal at time 35, 9-FC."

Basically, the tower wants us to fly not more than 2000 feet, which is yeah a bit too low and boring I guess, because we won't fly any higher than the base of the clouds. And at the same time, the tower wants us to report back to him when the minute hand of the watch is pointing to 35 within the same hour.

I glanced at my watch and it shows 1105 and its going to be noon soon, so the instructor brief a bit regarding the exercise to make sure that I remember all of the stuffs that had been briefed earlier. What we did was some exercise on the effects of aileron (banking/rolling), rudder (yaw where the aircraft nose pointing to the left or right) and elevator (pitch up or down). It was super basic and I guess my grandmother could do that.

The instructor then told me to maintain 'datum attitue', this is where I need to ensure Julia is flying straight where it doesn't bank or yaw to the left or right and fly level. Because it was getting hotter, the updrafts were strong adding more to my difficulty in maintaining the 'datum attitude'. But after like 12 years of flight simulator training, I managed to get the hold of Julia controls within seconds.

Once I'm satisfied, the instructor asked me to do some trimmings in order to maintain the attitude. At first, Julia was flying like a snake, but in this case, it was snaking up and down. This is due to Julia having only elevator trim. So, it takes off the load from the pilot when maintaining level flight. It was quite bad trimming for the first time, I keep on chasing the attitude making Julia pitch up and down non-stop. The instructor told me to use the 'SHOT' technique or 'Select HOld Trim'. I select the pitching attitude of Julia, hold it there and trim her until the load eases off from the column. Julia was behaving under my control and I gave her a lil pat on the column, thanking her of course. The instructor gave me a few more runs but this time without any aid at all and he was smiling which is a good sign.

"Ok well done, I thought it was gonna take us the whole hour but I guess we can go back now, good job." The instructor was happy.

"Thanks sir, so shall we go back?"

"Yes, call the tower and fly the airplane, I want to enjoy the view"

I pressed the radio button and do the radio call, "Simpang Tower, 9-FC request rejoin."

"9-FC, rejoin downwind, report above north of Bukit Besi, 1500 feet."

"Report north of Bukit Besi, 1500 feet, 9-FC"

I flew Julia maintaining her level at 1500 feet towards Bukit Besi. The flight was a bit rough since it was almost noon. It was getting bumpier by the second but I kept a hold on to Julia making sure she doesn't drop us out of the sky. I managed to think to myself imagining how would my passengers feel if I fly the airplane in a bumpy situation like this. Suddenly I remembered, I turn around and there was my friend, almost white as sheet.

"Dude, you okay?"

He smiled a sheepish smile.

"Don't worry dude, this baby is strong, we won't dive to our graves"

He looked at me smiling the most stupidest full of fear and confusion smile ever.

Life on the column continues.

Familiarization

Position: Flying Club Dispersal

Altitude: 89 feet Equipment:

Cessna 172 Person on board: 2

Departure: WMKF

Destination: R236

Me,"Fuel check, Pitot tube check..."

The Teacher,"Dude, where's your checklist? Don't tell me that you managed to remember all the checks."

Ah shit, I managed to give my first instructor the first bad impression on a first flight. Well, nobody said anything about the checklist is being so important for the monkey behind the stick. Scrambling around in the cockpit, I managed to find Julia's checklist (Julia is not the name of a person, but a mere nickname I gave to the aircraft, hoping that she'd behave more under my amateur piloting skills). Julia's checklist is old and almost unreadable due to the oil and stains from previous abuse. I managed to do all the external checks after 15 minutes of missing this and that. Not bad for a first timer I thought.

I managed to pull myself up into the cockpit, secure harness and closed the door. It was pretty damn hot inside the tiny cockpit. In front of me were numerous unknown clocklike looking dials and meters. I know it'll be harder once in the airlines and these are just toddler's toys for those 4000 hours captain. Slowly I get myself accustomed to all of the instruments inside, trying hard to remember which one is which. It looks almost the same, with numbers and stuffs, but I know it is well damn different from each other.

"Stop staring at the instruments so long, it will popout if you continue like that for another 1 minute", The Teacher complained. "Now, call for startup."

My butt froze for like 2 seconds. I never practised radio call at all before and now The Teacher is looking at me with a 'WTF are you waiting for' look.

"Simpang Tower, 9M-RFC (pronounced Niner Mike Romeo Foxtrot Charlie), how do you read?" I managed to blurt out. After like half a minute, no answer. I tried again, this time, much slower. But to no avail, no answer. I was damned confused, guessing maybe the ATC guy is taking a nap or just had a bad stomach.

"9M-RFC go ahead, ya right go ahead and fly now.. Why are you asking clearance from me? Press the damn radio button, not just say things out. They can't hear you if you don't press the button.", The Teacher said.

I was smiling like a lost goat about to be slaughtered. How much stupid I can be.

"Simpang Tower, 9M-RFC, how do you read?" this time I speak with the button pressed.

"9M-RFC, reading you strength 5, go ahead", the ATC guy replied.

"9-FC, request engine start for.. errrrr.. Romeo236... errrr... POB 2... ummmmmm... endurance... errr how much was the endurance (with The Teacher holding up 3 fingers at me) ah yes 3hours."

"9-FC, engine start approve... bla bla bla.... yadda yadda yadda.."

Yep, I didn't get any of what the ATC guy said. It was damn fast and gibberish. I looked at The Teacher with a super blank look and immediately he understood. While snickering, he replied the radio call with another gibberish sound and words. Well amazed thinking on how the hell did he managed to get what the other guy said over the radio.

Quickly, The Teacher splats a few switches here and there, cranking the ignition and magically, Julia woke from her beautiful sleep with a roar which then slowly becomes a steady humming rythm as her engines started to warm up.

The Teacher taxied Julia with super ease while muttering all the nonsense to me which I actually didn't get 90% of what he really talks. The next thing I know is, we were on the runway heading of 220 with Julia screaming due to the full throttle.

"45 knots, 50 knots, 55knots and rotate"

We rotate at 55knots due to The Teacher setting a 10 degree flaps on Julia's wings. It was an out of this Earth experience seeing the runway becam smaller and smaller by each feet that we fly. Julia, still screaming loudly was climbing fast but steadily. The Teacher steadied her out at 2000 feet above mean sea level once we established R236, which is about 5minutes from the aerodome.

R236 will be my new training area which is above Kajang, Sg Long, Ulu Langat and a few other place that I can't remember the name. We did a few rounds, remembering all the boundaries and places to remember in case I got lost. The flight was smooth due to the rain which had been showering the earth earlier. After I managed to remember all of the points and places. The Teacher request rejoing from the ATC and we track back to Simpang Airport.

Julia landed on the runway with a small 'thud' which is totally smooth. Amazed at The Teacher's skill on handling the aircraft, I kept in mind to remember all of the techniques he used for each run.

"Simpang Tower, 9-FC, shutting down for now, good day."

"Good day"

Julia's mixture and throttle was set to idle and her propeller slowly come to a full stop. She sits there quietly as I disembark from her belly. Thinking to myself, yes I'm grabbing the sky baby. Soon, and yes soon.

Life on the propeller goes on.

1/1/2011

Having the ability to start earning big bucks with my Mechanical Engineering Degree wasn't really a liking to me. Well, not currently. It wasn't really a dream come true situation where I managed to grab a piece of white rolled up paper from the hand of an old man which in this case being throned to become the person who seemed like the hope of a prosperous life and 'cha-ching' among my batchmate, or in other word, the chancellor. Yeah go ahead, I do sound like a guy who's taking things for granted and should be given a beating for a consecutive of 5 painful years.

Well, to be honest, I've already taken the beating quite enough and unpleasantly for approximately 5 years before I managed to earn the scroll. Ups and downs was my life, helplessly knowing that my long childhood dream is fading away to until just a mere dot of hope. And, hope it is that lead the twinkling fading light of dream to become brighter and brighter ever since. I don't want to dwindle much on how I was crawling on all fours before I manage to break the dream bubble and make it a touchable reality. 1/1/2011 marked the date where I am now starting a path, a path that'll lead me to not merely a few feet of the ground, but to FL410 and maybe more in the foreseen future.

Yeah, the dream of many is now slowly becoming a reality to me. Thanks to the people I love, Mom, Dad, my lil sis, my friends and all others who seems endlessly pushing and shoving me into the dirt of aviation. The dirt that I've been waiting to bask, be carressed in, and stay in it since 24 years back.

I was born to be one, taught to be one, dreamt to be one, and hell yeah I'm growing to be one.

A driver for non other of an 'air bus'.

Under the wings of the Royal Selangor, I'll get my PPL this year!

PS: And to those who think that I'm just another wannabe who'll subsequently fail during my journey thinking that I wasn't prepare for it. Screw you, oh, and here's a screwdriver to help you with it.