Solo Nav and cheating death

Ah the same cheesy, shit-eating grin came up on my face the moment I went airborne. The feeling of solo flying is always good.

Same thing, Fly to Kulai then Benut then Batu Pahat then Simpang Renggam then to Kulai and then back to Senai. Took out my camera and began snapping. After that I practically enjoyed the scenery, toyed with the GPS and started relaxing. No problems in finding checkpoints.

Then, I decided to have some fun. Gs and -Gs. Its real easy. Just pull the plane into a nose up attitude then shove it back down fast. gives u -1G or more easily. My camera floated up and I floated up. Not enough. This time i pulled the plane up into a 2G climb then shove it back down. Wah!! everything not strapped in the plane went flying. The first aid kit flew out of the shelf, the fuel drainer, my maps, camera and my bag. As for me, I smacked the ceiling with my head. Ow. Fun! I also put more power during cruise flight and had ground speeds of over 100kts. This would make my journey faster. This is one thing I did randomly that probably saved me from accident. Why? You' see.

Then, coming back and asking for rejoin to land, Johor Approach says "Be advised strong winds 060 at 25 knots." I was like "Holy shit! That's way too much! How am I gonna land?!" Another plane a Police Cessna caravan. was in front of me. Both of us decided to give it a go. I thought since he had a larger plane, if he could make it, there's a chance i can make it too. I told Johor App that if I could not make it I'd hold west of the airfield. But Cpt Muk came up on e radio and said to take RW34 instead of 16.

Seemed that the Caravan went missed approach. I decided to go RW34. While on Right downwind, I knew why I could not hang around in the air anymore. Bloody thunderstorm sweeping across the area. The large grey curtain looked like a solid brick grey wall of rain. I only had time for ONE approach before it was over Senai. If I failed to land, chances were high that I may crash as I would have gone IMC. Either that or try to divert to Singapore. The wind was 050 at 18knots at this time. STill very strong and beyond tolerated limits. But just maybe I may make it. So then again, Chances were high that I may crash.

Excellent!.. I was thinking... First time solo on the C152 and first time I am solo in such strong wind conditions. Lucky me.

The aircraft was shaking like crazy on the base leg. I was both praying to land safely and cursing my luck at the same time. No way to crab wind too strong. Have to slip. I have not done slip landings before. The plane was still shaking and bumpy. I felt sick and excited at the same time.

OK about 80kts and real low...Gotta drag her in...still shaking really hard ..Wish I was in my C172 its sturdier...Ok line up ..keep it there, Cut the power NO! she's sinking fast...put back power...ok...roll right keep her from turning Right Wing low now....rudder left to line her up with the runway....ok that's it..easy easy...God! I'm left of the centerline...No time to correct...Just get her down on the runway....easy...c'mon colin! easy... Jesus Help me....Power down slowly...Ho! one wheel touched down.;...get the other down....YEaaaaahhhh! I'm down...I made it!!!

I felt really high and euphoric. Cheated death again. I was thinking its a good thing I was wearing my lucky red shirt and lucky underwear. Perhaps, they may have helped a little in the luck factor... I mean I was lucky to get the C152 down in one piece.

What an experience. Capt Muk said I should not even attempted to try RW16. He landed 16 and he landed nearly at full power. Shit...He could have easily crashed. What about me man? Maybe I could have made it, maybe not. Anyway RW34 was a little better but not by much. Still could have easily crashed or run off the runway. Not bad at all.

First Solo in a C152 , First Nav Ex and First attempted slip landing. Now i've read about slip landings before but never actually attempted it before. Who knew the first time I did it would be for the purpose of saving myself from accident? Now that I've done it successfully, I think its a pretty good idea to learn it well.

Funny thing. I did not go cruise power of 2200rpm all the way. I put in about 2300 to 2400rpm at times to speed up my journey. Why if I hadnt, I probably would not even be able to land and be caught in the thunderstorm. The difference was about 5 to 10 minutes of travel time. Thank God I did what I did.

Perhaps this would not be such a big deal if I was more experienced. I'm just over 80 hours in my logbook. Anyway, this is a new experience and if I find myself in such a situation again. I'll know what to do.

Ok... Flying's not all smooth sailing but the fun of it is sure worth it.
Its good to be alive and in one piece.

C152 2nd Nav

Its real hard to book the Piper. So I decided get a checkout in the C152. Its the little brother (or is it sister?) of the C172.

Flying with Capt Muk. This guy did not really gave me a good first impression. He's former RSAF. I was told I would be flying with him as Buck's license has lapsed. I was thinking "Oh God....flying with an air force zoomie. He's gonna be like DeWitt and do funny things and flip airplanes and other funny things." He also struck me as a guy who's gonna be looking for my mistakes in order to say me. But as the day wore on, i found he's ok actually. Pretty professional and nice. But he's still strict somewhat. But he's ok. Found out he's Catholic too. He taught me how to use the Garmin GPS. SO he's ok.

Cessna 152. 9M-ALB. Flies seem to be attraced to it I dunno why. Problems in the beginning. After start up, Parking brakes got stuck so had to call Mechanic to fix it. delayed for 30 mins. So after that take off.

This plane is rather similar to the C172. But, very sensitive. The brakes, the elevators, the ailerons. All very sensitive. u can load Gs very easily. ALB has a 160 hp engine (or is it 150?) and is quite fast. Heavier though. She even has a fuel pump. I was a little blur in the beginning but towards the end, was quite proficient in the general handling. Landing was ok. But the airplane really has issues as the gear really swerves easily. Dangerous to people who may overcontrol.

2nd Nav was pretty much like the first. There's GPS to help here though. I did not get lost. That's all that has to be said. Muk was quite chatty in the cockpit. I was feigning attentiveness a few times when all I wanted to do was to fly and admire the scenery. I acknowledged with grunts and "Uh-huh I see Ok" But when things like flying were concerned I paid full attention. The landing was flapless and was quite ok. Next would be solo Nav.

1st Nav training

I found out that I've got to take another person along in the plane. Some lady from Elite Flying club. Since Zhi Chen is already coming along. Well this means I'm gonna be flying the Piper at full gross weight. Ah well. Let's try it.

So me and Ang were picked up by Mr Lee Buck Choon and Dr June at Lakeside MRT. the trip to senai was pretty fast. About 40 minutes. Then we sat down for the briefing on Navigation. It took about 3 hours. Gawrsh... So many things: Dead reckoning, Flight plans, plotting maps alot of other things. As interesting Buck was...3 hours of classroom lecture is still enough to put a person to sleep (Not that I did).

After that I submitted my flight plan to the Tower and then went to have lunch before flying. The food was good but so damn many flies and it was super spicy. The chicken wing had a firebrand sauce or something. Wondered if I was going to get a stomachache in-flight.

9M-JMV had the same problem again. Bad contact with the starter and prop. Took a long time to start the engine. Nothing like the trusty Cessna 9v-BOQ. Finally we lined up on the runway. At full gross the airplane climbed real real slow. My goodness! Its a good thing Senai has a 9000ft runway. I wonder how on earth I'm gonna bring a full gross Piper or even a Cessna for that matter to Tioman.

Did a touch and go and we set of for Kulai. The route was first to Kulai then to SImpang Rengam and then to Batu Pahat on to Benut and finally back to Kulai and back to Senai. Not much to say about the Navigation flight except it went pretty well. Some points to take note of though.

There was heavy rain at Batu Pahat and the 2 mountains surrounding the place were covered with clouds. Now I know why CFITs (Controlled flight into terrain) occurs so easily. The pilot didnt think that thre was anything behind the clouds and flew too near the clouds and didnt see terrain until it was too late. Bang! dead meat. Small mountains kill you as dead as a big one. Interesting to see.

IFR means I Follow Roads.

Zhi Cheng should have listened to me and sat on the left side. The right side headset plugs were out of order and he couldnt hear anything except engine droning through out the flight. Poor guy fell asleep on the flight.

Turbulence makes you go up or down real quick I gained 100ft in a second after hitting turbulence.