Yet more rest and recreation

Being faced with another week off courtesy of the administration's strict adherence to the innumerable Malaysian public holidays I decided it may be time to breathe some cool fresh air, see some familiar faces and eat something not containing rice or noodles.

I flew back to Stansted last Monday for a surprise 7 day visit. Only one person knew I was coming, and magically appearing at friends' houses saying "surprise!" was great fun. The weather was brilliant too, crisp clear blue skies and a lovely 18-23° during the day just the way it should be. I got the chance to go sailing again in Portsmouth, wander around London, play with a model aeroplane near Kingston and have a very lazy week-end in Bournemouth.

Alas the break is over and in less than 24 hours I'll be back in the A340 headed for the tropics... I really don't want to leave so soon but the holidays are over and the administration should have whatever papers I'm still waiting for ready upon my arrival.

Thanks to everyone who entertained me and reminded me what home was like during my short stay.

S.

Rest and Recreation

Some friends flew over from the UK for a few days, and as it was getting on 2 full weeks since my last holiday-by-the-sea I decided it was time to take a few days off again.

Photos and narration here: http://bit.ly/45OwoC

S.

Lest we forget, 8 years later

September 11 2001, the day aviation as it was meant to be died, and the world took a decidedly sharp turn for the worse.

Let us never forget the days of flying before this planet was plunged into this terror age. I have fond memories of visiting flight decks (cockpits as they were called), bringing bottles of water or toothpaste through security and not having to unpack laptops and remove shoes/jackets/belts/watches/etc. Everyone seemed happier back then.

I now have the priviledge of being (ocasionally) allowed into the flight deck again but not being able to share the magic of that little room with others really bothers me.

Maybe the world will come back to it's senses one day, but I don't feel optimistic about it happening - it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse...

S.

(Yes I know some aircraft crashed, towers collapsed and people were killed as well, but in the grand scheme of things I feel the legacy of the day is far far worse than the actual event ... how many people have died since?)

Windshear

We were on final for runway 32L. The the radar picture on the navigation display looked like a child's colouring book, with greens, yellows, reds and even some purple here and there.

There was a nice sploch of red (thundercell) on the approach path about 3 miles from the runway and it was producing the most powerful rain I have ever seen.

The wind was 320/25 gusting 30. Strong, but right down the runway.

We saw the approach lights about 2 miles out, and the swimming pool of a runway shortly afterwards. We already knew this would be an interesting landing and we were all psyched up: positive touchdown, full reverse, pay close attention to directional control and braking at all times.

"Two Hundred - Minimum" - "Visual, continue"

"One Hudred"

Then it happened, like magic the wind shifted 30° left and we shifted 50 feet right so that we were approaching the runway edge lighting rather than the centreline. It was too late to make a heroic sideslip and continuing could have meant putting one wheel in the mud. Captain called "go-around" and we did, as the radar altimeter read 75 feet.

We went around, calmed down and landed 10 minutes later without further ado. The aircraft ahead of us and behind us didn't feel anything.

There's a saying in aviation that you haven't committed to a landing until the airplane is too slow to fly. How true.

S.

Pictures - 2

Have been flying around in the jumpseat, officially observing, since about a week. The first flights were interesting but watching other people fly is getting tedious. Sometimes they'll have me do the radios or pre-flight setup, other days there's barely a word exchanged and the day feels very long.

Some pictures...

Kuala Lumpur at night.

Final approach to Kuala Lumpur.

A 777 coming straight at us, 1000ft below.