tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74663479126288377452024-03-13T15:09:29.887-07:00Cosmic TravelerFlying and everything related to flying and aviation.warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-14312903897949040662019-02-28T06:57:00.000-08:002019-02-28T06:57:59.497-08:00HOME COCKPIT COMPONENTS FOR SALE TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">HOME COCKPIT COMPONENTS
FOR SALE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<table align="left" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
</table>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red;">MINIMUM BID RM150 FOR ALL THE ITEMS TOGETHER. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red;">(No bid for individual items will be entertained.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Shortage of space is forcing me
to dispose all my home cockpit components.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7KITOVp4YRk/XHfnvjbs8vI/AAAAAAAAQ0Y/XhycwhKmofMTl7FSi5lVqTNycuf6PEKIQCLcBGAs/s1600/Cockpit%2BItems.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7KITOVp4YRk/XHfnvjbs8vI/AAAAAAAAQ0Y/XhycwhKmofMTl7FSi5lVqTNycuf6PEKIQCLcBGAs/s320/Cockpit%2BItems.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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The items are:</div>
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<br /></div>
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1. One unit GoFlight module GF-45. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
No longer in production, the new version is named GF-46 and now priced at USD159.00.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://goflightinc.com/product-category/airliner/">https://goflightinc.com/product-category/airliner/</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qw5F7cvEdfo/XHfo3-yEo5I/AAAAAAAAQ0g/wZOpFatUN4Iug3k665HnAn2uvy6tVHWSACLcBGAs/s1600/GF-P8%252C%2BGF-45%2Band%2BSaitek%2BX45%2BThrottle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qw5F7cvEdfo/XHfo3-yEo5I/AAAAAAAAQ0g/wZOpFatUN4Iug3k665HnAn2uvy6tVHWSACLcBGAs/s320/GF-P8%252C%2BGF-45%2Band%2BSaitek%2BX45%2BThrottle.jpg" width="240" /></a>3. </div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-MY; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
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<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">2. </span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->One
unit GoFlight module GF-P8 (see above picture). The current price is USD99.00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://goflightinc.com/product-category/airliner/">https://goflightinc.com/product-category/airliner/</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">3. </span></span></span>One unit GoFlight module GF-LGT. The current
price is USD224.95.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://www.fspilotshop.com/goflight-lgtii-landing-gear-trim-control-module-p-2306.html">https://www.fspilotshop.com/goflight-lgtii-landing-gear-trim-control-module-p-2306.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W7yGsr4dyr4/XHfpPOdzJ6I/AAAAAAAAQ0o/yRKxeQve7hYUYZsWHqe8CiYrCIOjMHjVQCLcBGAs/s1600/GF-LGT%2Band%2BGF-MCP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W7yGsr4dyr4/XHfpPOdzJ6I/AAAAAAAAQ0o/yRKxeQve7hYUYZsWHqe8CiYrCIOjMHjVQCLcBGAs/s320/GF-LGT%2Band%2BGF-MCP.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
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<o:p> </o:p> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">4. </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->One
unit GoFlight module GF-MCP (see above picture).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
No longer in
production, the new version is named GF-MCP Pro and now priced at USD159.00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://goflightinc.com/product-category/airliner/">https://goflightinc.com/product-category/airliner/</a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">5. </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->One
set Saitek X45 Joystick and Throttle. The current price is USD159.95.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Saitek-Digital-Throttle-Stick-Windows/dp/B00005TOTG">https://www.amazon.com/Saitek-Digital-Throttle-Stick-Windows/dp/B00005TOTG</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<u><span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY; mso-no-proof: yes; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_3" o:spid="_x0000_i1032"
type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:401pt;height:276pt;visibility:visible;
mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image007.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6-mXtkXdf4s/XHfrTV4x0mI/AAAAAAAAQ00/oOIe1iMf43Ueogb3b_jRmF5tpFqyK2nWgCLcBGAs/s1600/Joystick%2BConsole%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="640" height="220" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6-mXtkXdf4s/XHfrTV4x0mI/AAAAAAAAQ00/oOIe1iMf43Ueogb3b_jRmF5tpFqyK2nWgCLcBGAs/s320/Joystick%2BConsole%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u66poKpk-xo/XHfsqU2ANMI/AAAAAAAAQ1Y/qWH2BXf57QQs2Q73lmkRM-glhzsdVuckgCLcBGAs/s1600/Throttle%2Bon%2BCentre%2BConsole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="640" height="221" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u66poKpk-xo/XHfsqU2ANMI/AAAAAAAAQ1Y/qWH2BXf57QQs2Q73lmkRM-glhzsdVuckgCLcBGAs/s320/Throttle%2Bon%2BCentre%2BConsole.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">6. </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->One
unit CH Pro Rudder Pedals. The current price is USD211.00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.chproducts.com/Pro-Pedals-v13-d-716.html">http://www.chproducts.com/Pro-Pedals-v13-d-716.html</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5fM7CIDhuFE/XHfsqKeJ_hI/AAAAAAAAQ1U/KWJuNDXe1MgoMWUcEwTt4YWvQ8JHojqKACEwYBhgL/s1600/Rudder%2BPedals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5fM7CIDhuFE/XHfsqKeJ_hI/AAAAAAAAQ1U/KWJuNDXe1MgoMWUcEwTt4YWvQ8JHojqKACEwYBhgL/s320/Rudder%2BPedals.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<u><span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY; mso-no-proof: yes; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_6" o:spid="_x0000_i1030"
type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:403pt;height:302.5pt;visibility:visible;
mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image011.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">One
unit Hagstrom Keyboard Encoder KE-USB36. The current price is USD89.95.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
(Keyboard
encoders enable you to use switches to enter commands into the PC instead of
key presses on your keyboard). This emulator operates the A320 Overhead Panel
(see Item 11 below).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.hagstromelectronics.com/ke-usb36-keyboard-encoder-shp.html">https://www.hagstromelectronics.com/ke-usb36-keyboard-encoder-shp.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.hagstromelectronics.com/pdf_files/KEUSB36_Manual.pdf">https://www.hagstromelectronics.com/pdf_files/KEUSB36_Manual.pdf</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">8. </span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Two
units Hagstrom Keyboard Encoders KE-18. The current price is USD 49.95 each.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.hagstromelectronics.com/keyboard-encoder-ke18-shp.html">https://www.hagstromelectronics.com/keyboard-encoder-ke18-shp.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.hagstromelectronics.com/pdf_files/KE18_Manual.pdf">https://www.hagstromelectronics.com/pdf_files/KE18_Manual.pdf</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FqnVThz7_zQ/XHfsob3M7JI/AAAAAAAAQ1o/Cr9FzzQOI48J-LevvsfZVDi560LCELawACEwYBhgL/s1600/2%2Bx%2BHagstrom%2BKE-18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FqnVThz7_zQ/XHfsob3M7JI/AAAAAAAAQ1o/Cr9FzzQOI48J-LevvsfZVDi560LCELawACEwYBhgL/s320/2%2Bx%2BHagstrom%2BKE-18.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-MY; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="Picture_x0020_9" o:spid="_x0000_i1029" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:403pt;
height:302.5pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image013.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">9. </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->One
unit A320 Main Instrument Panel (MIP - First Officer side). Self-built. Giving
away for free. See picture at the top of this document.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Many of the knobs and switches directly
activate the respective instruments in the simulator software’s cockpit as I
have wired them via one of the Hagstrom KE-18 keyboard emulators.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
10. One
unit A320 Mode Control Panel (MCP) with EFIS. Self-built. Giving away for free.
See picture at the top of this document.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Many of the knobs and switches directly
activate the respective instruments in the simulator software’s cockpit as I
have wired them via one of the Hagstrom KE-18 keyboard emulators.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">11.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">One Unit A320 Overhead Panel (OHP). Self-built.
Giving away for free.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Many of the knobs and switches directly
activate the respective instruments in the simulator software’s cockpit as I
have wired them via the Hagstrom KE-USB36 keyboard emulator.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-MY; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="Picture_x0020_10" o:spid="_x0000_i1028" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:406pt;
height:304.5pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pVVH4zZrPSM/XHfsonAeI3I/AAAAAAAAQ1k/Vc7JCaBUHwYbItXiTBtvrGNYTN10mknfwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Back%2Bof%2BA320%2BOverhead%2BPanel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pVVH4zZrPSM/XHfsonAeI3I/AAAAAAAAQ1k/Vc7JCaBUHwYbItXiTBtvrGNYTN10mknfwCEwYBhgL/s320/Back%2Bof%2BA320%2BOverhead%2BPanel.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-MY; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p> </o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">1</span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">12. </span></span></span>One
unit GoFlight Joystick Console. The current price is USD374.95.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://www.fspilotshop.com/goflight-fdc-flight-deck-console-rack-p-480.html">https://www.fspilotshop.com/goflight-fdc-flight-deck-console-rack-p-480.html</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8w1B92lsKg/XHfsphmxanI/AAAAAAAAQ1o/upVcip2-POwA9wNRSHPQM9zhBxlrmDFEgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Joysrick%2BConsole%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8w1B92lsKg/XHfsphmxanI/AAAAAAAAQ1o/upVcip2-POwA9wNRSHPQM9zhBxlrmDFEgCEwYBhgL/s320/Joysrick%2BConsole%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<u><span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-language: EN-MY; mso-no-proof: yes; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_12" o:spid="_x0000_i1026"
type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:400.5pt;height:304pt;visibility:visible;
mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image019.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="text-align: center;"> 13. </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Two imported felt covers with “Remove Before
Flight” flags for the Joystick and Throttle. Giving away for free.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gzYmj6IRsks/XHfspu9Xa2I/AAAAAAAAQ1c/psCv714xz64lVvnoF9Y-5lye1yv7RuP5gCEwYBhgL/s1600/Felt%2BCovers%2Bfor%2BJoystick%2Band%2BThrottle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gzYmj6IRsks/XHfspu9Xa2I/AAAAAAAAQ1c/psCv714xz64lVvnoF9Y-5lye1yv7RuP5gCEwYBhgL/s320/Felt%2BCovers%2Bfor%2BJoystick%2Band%2BThrottle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 115%;">TERMS OF PURCHASE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">1. </span></span></span>All
the items were in good working condition when I last operated my FS9 two years
ago. I do not guarantee that any or all of them are still in good working
condition as of the date of <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
this offer which
is 28 February 2019.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">2. </span></span></span>The items are sold on an “as is” basis.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">3. </span></span></span>Bids
are to be made to me<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->via email at <a href="mailto:attanakmar@yahoo.com">attanakmar@yahoo.com</a> or<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->via SMS at 011 1224 0572.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">4. </span></span></span>Bids
can be changed at any time before the closing date and time stated below.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">5. </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The
bid price must be at least RM150.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">6. </span></span></span>The
successful bidder must collect all the items in exchange for cash <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">within 15 days </b>after being notified
that his/her bid has been successful.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">7. </span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Collection
must be made during daylight at the car park directly in front of Starbucks,
Ampang Point on a date and at a time to be agreed upon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">8. </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The
seller is under no obligation to provide assistance to the buyer with regard to
the installation of the buyer’s simulator and the sale is strictly a
merchandise sale with no after-sales support and no warranty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">9. </span></span></span>The
decision of the seller on which is the highest bid received is final and no
conversation or correspondence relating to the auction will be entertained
after the closing date and time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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10. Queries
on the items on auction may be made to the seller on or before the closing date
via telephone at 011 1224 0572.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">11. </span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">The closing date for bids is </span><b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">Friday, 15 March 2019 </b><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">and the closing time is</span><b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"> 11:00 pm</b><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"> on that day.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Happy bidding.<o:p></o:p></div>
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..<o:p></o:p></div>
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Attan Akmar<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-56407658161276577932016-10-20T03:06:00.003-07:002016-10-20T03:13:44.569-07:00100 Sqn RAF<div style="text-align: justify;">
Got hold of this badge of 100 Sqn RAF based at Leeming, UK. The squadron was established in 1917 flying the FE2Bs and moved to various locations around the world including Singapore in 1933/34 where it was flying the Vildebeest. It was during this posting that the squadron motto was changed to "Sarang Tebuan Jangan Dijolok". The squadron was again posted to Singapore in 1941/42 still operating Vildebeests but was decimated by the Japanese Zeros in the Battle of Endau. Today it operates Hawks in training and support roles. Am now awaiting the arrival of another RAF Squadron's badge where the motto is "Rajawali Raja Langit"</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kK2D7abc_5I/WAiVsHmTPlI/AAAAAAAAIY4/EeJIjZKbOiAK1bC6_XRCm2Hd4Cd-_SzTACLcB/s1600/100%2BSqn%2BRAF%2BBadge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kK2D7abc_5I/WAiVsHmTPlI/AAAAAAAAIY4/EeJIjZKbOiAK1bC6_XRCm2Hd4Cd-_SzTACLcB/s400/100%2BSqn%2BRAF%2BBadge.jpg" width="313" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">References:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">https://www.squadronprints.com/item/1180_HawkT1ASpecialTail_0_0_1823_1.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">http://www.lancaster-ed559.co.uk/100-squadron.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Factory_F.E.2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_off_Endau</span></div>
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-13705319040031467762014-12-14T02:58:00.004-08:002015-08-21T17:44:09.011-07:00Building The Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Plastic Model (Plasmo)<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is my third plasmo since I resumed building in mid-2014 and follows the F-86F and the Spitfire Mk 24. I continue to stick to the 1/32 scale for size comparison.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eUOtHWAZ-Js/VI1NUIQI3hI/AAAAAAAACck/opGOGkml5xE/s1600/Bf109%2B(01).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eUOtHWAZ-Js/VI1NUIQI3hI/AAAAAAAACck/opGOGkml5xE/s1600/Bf109%2B(01).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE REVELL GERMANY BOX</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VkpnWBaWC9c/VI1NlrelLoI/AAAAAAAACcs/aiWFK_RThsg/s1600/Bf109%2B(02).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VkpnWBaWC9c/VI1NlrelLoI/AAAAAAAACcs/aiWFK_RThsg/s1600/Bf109%2B(02).jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE INSTRUCTION SHEET</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zzQQTotol-s/VI1N2lp7fcI/AAAAAAAACc0/6aCUVGijmY4/s1600/Bf109%2B(03).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zzQQTotol-s/VI1N2lp7fcI/AAAAAAAACc0/6aCUVGijmY4/s1600/Bf109%2B(03).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">SOME OF THE PARTS ON THE SPRUES</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q2ylCowBCZc/VI1OOll8TBI/AAAAAAAACc8/Js8QmzAOsts/s1600/Bf109%2B(05).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q2ylCowBCZc/VI1OOll8TBI/AAAAAAAACc8/Js8QmzAOsts/s1600/Bf109%2B(05).jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE VERSION THAT I CHOOSE TO BUILD</span></div>
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I have opted for the aircraft flown by Hauptmann Franz Dorr of Stab (HQ Flight) 3 JG 5 based in Gossen, Norway in 1945 who had a kill record of 128 aircraft.</div>
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A MORE DETAILED MODEL</div>
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This time round I decided to add a bit more realism and accuracy instead of simply building out of the box (OOB). There are several guides on the net for this adventure of mine, so I could count on those who had gone through the process before. One source was a detailed and well-researched article by Matt Low and Mike Offutt on the inaccuracies found in this Revell Germany model. Another was a detailed step-by-step account of a Group Build project for Large Scale Modeler forum by the above two together with DoogsATX and Rick using the Alley Cat replacement parts which addressed the inaccuracies to a large extent.</div>
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Encouraged by the above and other tips found on the net, I ordered several after-market (AM) parts:</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4NcC5vnCfgo/VI1brs2wSRI/AAAAAAAACdM/0SKiGkNo4uw/s1600/Bf109%2B(06).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4NcC5vnCfgo/VI1brs2wSRI/AAAAAAAACdM/0SKiGkNo4uw/s1600/Bf109%2B(06).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A BAG OF REPLACEMENT PARTS FROM ALLEY CAT OF A2Z MODELS, UK</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xIrdWK6Vsjc/VI1ctOqiczI/AAAAAAAACdc/qOUGw3ehKRI/s1600/Bf109%2B(07).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xIrdWK6Vsjc/VI1ctOqiczI/AAAAAAAACdc/qOUGw3ehKRI/s1600/Bf109%2B(07).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">MONTEX MASKS FROM POLAND FOR PAINTING THE COCKPIT CANOPY FRAMES</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4vQhr6kbqU/VI1dN_ePD5I/AAAAAAAACdo/6gPbzIvFTdY/s1600/Bf109%2B(08).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4vQhr6kbqU/VI1dN_ePD5I/AAAAAAAACdo/6gPbzIvFTdY/s1600/Bf109%2B(08).JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">RAISED RIVET DECALS FROM HGW, CZECHOSLOVAKIA</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sunk rivets were used by modelers previously but these new raised rivets are more like the pop rivets used on most aircraft.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KxOx9XYV3sU/VI1clK7K05I/AAAAAAAACdU/1vCW2SFHU-E/s1600/Bf109%2B(09).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KxOx9XYV3sU/VI1clK7K05I/AAAAAAAACdU/1vCW2SFHU-E/s1600/Bf109%2B(09).JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">BASE WHITE IS REQUIRED TO TREAT THE SURFACE FOR TAKING ON THE DECAL RIVETS</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AzQpOw5J2AI/VI1hFhkkGhI/AAAAAAAACd0/jAOHnb0fpPw/s1600/Bf109%2B(10).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AzQpOw5J2AI/VI1hFhkkGhI/AAAAAAAACd0/jAOHnb0fpPw/s1600/Bf109%2B(10).JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">CLOTH CONTROL SURFACES RESEMBLING THOSE USED ON THE REAL AIRCRAFT</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(FROM HGW, CZECHOSLOVAKIA)</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LN7cHgxpoek/VI1hilfh1oI/AAAAAAAACd8/PNokt7R_dZc/s1600/Bf109%2B(11).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LN7cHgxpoek/VI1hilfh1oI/AAAAAAAACd8/PNokt7R_dZc/s1600/Bf109%2B(11).JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">WET TRANSFER DECALS FROM HGW, CZECHOSLOVAKIA</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">With this new invention, only the markings are stuck onto the aircraft skin. Previously used dry transfer decals cannot be moved if placed incorrectly while the conventional wet decals have a visible carrier film.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UpYvT5k3leo/VI1kvcORVRI/AAAAAAAACeI/EeRkLUoUkwI/s1600/Bf109%2B(12).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UpYvT5k3leo/VI1kvcORVRI/AAAAAAAACeI/EeRkLUoUkwI/s1600/Bf109%2B(12).JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">FABRIC SEATBELTS WITH PHOTO-ETCHED METAL PARTS</span></div>
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COMMENCING THE BUILD</div>
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As usual paint colours recommended by Revell are almost impossible to find in Kuala Lumpur, so I have to find colours that are not too far off and from other brands. For some colours, I would have to mix what I already have in my paintbox.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-33jrIENBTbw/VI1ngZLL8wI/AAAAAAAACeU/PJ4cDnAmI_E/s1600/Bf109%2B(13).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-33jrIENBTbw/VI1ngZLL8wI/AAAAAAAACeU/PJ4cDnAmI_E/s1600/Bf109%2B(13).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE FOOTPLATE PAINTED AND WITH WEAR MARKS</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4JyvWzGQZEE/VI1oBoRk8BI/AAAAAAAACec/zf44iD7oRs8/s1600/Bf109%2B(14).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4JyvWzGQZEE/VI1oBoRk8BI/AAAAAAAACec/zf44iD7oRs8/s1600/Bf109%2B(14).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE JOYSTICK FROM ALLEY CAT</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I broke the stem while sanding but managed to glue it back.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKCTsRCNSUY/VI1pOrIBlWI/AAAAAAAACes/4X8FZB9GqbA/s1600/Bf109%2B(15).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKCTsRCNSUY/VI1pOrIBlWI/AAAAAAAACes/4X8FZB9GqbA/s1600/Bf109%2B(15).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">FOR THE WIRING ON THE COCKPIT SIDEWALL, I RIPPED THE WIRES FROM AN IDE CABLE</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JdRWCiO5LCs/VI1pxcwhVjI/AAAAAAAACe0/U94e1ZyU8nI/s1600/Bf109%2B(16).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JdRWCiO5LCs/VI1pxcwhVjI/AAAAAAAACe0/U94e1ZyU8nI/s1600/Bf109%2B(16).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">FOR THE BIGGER WIRES, I USE TELEPHONE WIRES</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-02u0CVEzcwY/VI1qNgRidYI/AAAAAAAACe8/aiRB801kJx0/s1600/Bf109%2B(17).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-02u0CVEzcwY/VI1qNgRidYI/AAAAAAAACe8/aiRB801kJx0/s1600/Bf109%2B(17).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE WIRES GLUED INTO PLACE</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2co9lMyLnVE/VI1rQvunGsI/AAAAAAAACfE/5LJliL8HPq0/s1600/Bf109%2B(18).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2co9lMyLnVE/VI1rQvunGsI/AAAAAAAACfE/5LJliL8HPq0/s1600/Bf109%2B(18).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE MK108 30mm CANNON COVER WITH A BIGGER STRAP MADE FROM TELEPHONE WIRE</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DZAwnOwRiZc/VI1sH1ozUvI/AAAAAAAACfM/b9x70R-g8HM/s1600/Bf109%2B(19).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DZAwnOwRiZc/VI1sH1ozUvI/AAAAAAAACfM/b9x70R-g8HM/s1600/Bf109%2B(19).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">SEAT, CANNON COVER AND COCKPIT FLOOR PAINTED AND WITH WEAR MARKS ADDED</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OIFDX3Igvdk/VJZBFHFvr7I/AAAAAAAACjE/J8S-kuSUoks/s1600/BF109%2B(20).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OIFDX3Igvdk/VJZBFHFvr7I/AAAAAAAACjE/J8S-kuSUoks/s1600/BF109%2B(20).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">RUDDER PEDALS INSTALLED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The pedal straps were made using kitchen aluminium foil and then painted.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pv4UYNQf6eQ/VJZB3ubXg1I/AAAAAAAACjM/Teieb_BCth0/s1600/BF109%2B(21).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pv4UYNQf6eQ/VJZB3ubXg1I/AAAAAAAACjM/Teieb_BCth0/s1600/BF109%2B(21).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">CANNON COVER, FLOOR PLATE AND JOYSTICK INSTALLED</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D_A9lNvexzU/VJZCRlghGNI/AAAAAAAACjU/cMnqdSUn56M/s1600/BF109%2B(22).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D_A9lNvexzU/VJZCRlghGNI/AAAAAAAACjU/cMnqdSUn56M/s1600/BF109%2B(22).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE FABRIC SEATBELTS WERE INSERTED INTO THE PHOTO-ETCHED BUCKLES AND ANCHORS BEFORE PAINTING THEM</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ym50TPg2JiI/VJZDaMc4B_I/AAAAAAAACjc/cA_cx1xkoLE/s1600/BF109%2B(23).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ym50TPg2JiI/VJZDaMc4B_I/AAAAAAAACjc/cA_cx1xkoLE/s1600/BF109%2B(23).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">.THE SEATBELTS WERE INSTALLED ONTO THE BUCKET SEAT</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8_RFHjNVluQ/VJZD1MIKBhI/AAAAAAAACjk/W8V67NI21xE/s1600/BF109%2B(24).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8_RFHjNVluQ/VJZD1MIKBhI/AAAAAAAACjk/W8V67NI21xE/s1600/BF109%2B(24).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE INSTRUMENT PANEL BASE WAS PAINTED AND INDIVIDUAL INSTRUMENT DECALS AFFIXED</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OMxtGZSDePo/VJZEnmTTXuI/AAAAAAAACjs/qQ1Y--dprUE/s1600/BF109%2B(25).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OMxtGZSDePo/VJZEnmTTXuI/AAAAAAAACjs/qQ1Y--dprUE/s1600/BF109%2B(25).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE DECAL SHEET FROM WHICH THE INDIVIDUAL INSTRUMENTSB WERE CUT</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pRxhNNbUK94/VJZFBoqa8mI/AAAAAAAACj0/SNJzD0LofLs/s1600/BF109%2B(26).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pRxhNNbUK94/VJZFBoqa8mI/AAAAAAAACj0/SNJzD0LofLs/s1600/BF109%2B(26).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE TWO COCKPIT SIDEWALLS WERE PAINTED AND CONTROLS AND HOSES FIXED INTO PLACE</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDqQk1BUaqQ/VJZFjHR-3_I/AAAAAAAACj8/gSB1b5yo_yU/s1600/BF109%2B(27).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EDqQk1BUaqQ/VJZFjHR-3_I/AAAAAAAACj8/gSB1b5yo_yU/s1600/BF109%2B(27).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE YELLOW FUEL HOSE WITH CLEAR GLASS INDICATOR INSTALLED. THE FLOORBOARD WAS THEN AFFIXED ONTO THE MAIN WING SPAR.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BACr1St2A7I/VJZGKBPUIJI/AAAAAAAACkE/qD44i4Xgh8Q/s1600/BF109%2B(28).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BACr1St2A7I/VJZGKBPUIJI/AAAAAAAACkE/qD44i4Xgh8Q/s1600/BF109%2B(28).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE LEFT COCKPIT SIDEWALL WAS INSTALLED WHILE THE INSTRUMENT PANEL WAS GIVEN A COAT OF CLEAR SATIN FINISH</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R4sDkWc__RI/VMNq6nVLEBI/AAAAAAAACo8/Pw2BENsCC-M/s1600/Bf109%2B(29).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R4sDkWc__RI/VMNq6nVLEBI/AAAAAAAACo8/Pw2BENsCC-M/s1600/Bf109%2B(29).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE RIGHT COCKPIT SIDE PANEL WITH THE GUNSIGHT INSTALLED</span></div>
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The gunsight shown above is the ReVi C12 used on earlier versions of the G6. I had accidentally broken the glass parts of the ReVi 16 (which is the correct gunsight for the late version of the G6) while trimming it, so I was forced to use the earlier version of the.gunsight instead.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5o3BntdWP1Q/VMNzhIQP47I/AAAAAAAACpI/uPv8-07oFXM/s1600/Bf109%2B(30).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5o3BntdWP1Q/VMNzhIQP47I/AAAAAAAACpI/uPv8-07oFXM/s1600/Bf109%2B(30).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE FUSELAGE HALVES ENCLOSE THE COCKPIT</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0W_AvLmD2SA/VMNz-AcrCwI/AAAAAAAACpQ/7YtsaI0iMcM/s1600/Bf109%2B(31).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0W_AvLmD2SA/VMNz-AcrCwI/AAAAAAAACpQ/7YtsaI0iMcM/s1600/Bf109%2B(31).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">ENGINE COWLING AND MG131 13mm MACHINE GUNS INSTALLED</span></div>
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The machine gun cover is a more realistic substitute from Alley Cat but the engine cowling panels from Revell did not merge well with the part leaving a large gap and a protruding edge from each panel. After much filing, sanding down and filling with a putty made from talcum powder and Pledge, I managed to create some sense of smoothness though the result is far from satisfactory. The putty crumbled easily when dry, so I had to add several coats of Mr Base White 1000 to complete the filling job. In the full scale aircraft there is only one cowling panel each side with the hinge being on the centreline between the machine guns.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QLOeGxmNohk/VMN4vPI_m9I/AAAAAAAACpc/M-KjcRK3r90/s1600/Bf109%2B(32).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QLOeGxmNohk/VMN4vPI_m9I/AAAAAAAACpc/M-KjcRK3r90/s1600/Bf109%2B(32).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">NEW LOCATION FOR THE COCKPIT AIR VENT CREATED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The template for the vents on both sides of the cockpit is from the Alley Cat pack. The original vents were sanded away.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NCucgLgjYyc/VMN5s4_FJxI/AAAAAAAACpk/Y07lbCjIgGU/s1600/Bf109%2B(33).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NCucgLgjYyc/VMN5s4_FJxI/AAAAAAAACpk/Y07lbCjIgGU/s1600/Bf109%2B(33).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE FUEL CAP RE-SCRIBED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The original shape and location of the Revell fuel cap is inaccurate and was sanded down. The re-scribing template came in the Alley Cat pack.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MRw4RsBxzNs/VMN-n9uCR9I/AAAAAAAACp0/57HA8s9hfNg/s1600/Bf109%2B(34).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MRw4RsBxzNs/VMN-n9uCR9I/AAAAAAAACp0/57HA8s9hfNg/s1600/Bf109%2B(34).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE RADIATOR INTAKE AND TWO MACHINE GUN BREECH COVERS WERE ATTACHED</span></div>
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The three parts from Alley Cat, though more accurate, fit poorly with the Revell fuselage. My home-made putty and Mr Base White had to be used to close the gaps found. Again I could not do a good job on this.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9ExPbm5_NK8/VMO9jBBKzJI/AAAAAAAACqE/_rGDtoFazm8/s1600/Bf109%2B(35).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9ExPbm5_NK8/VMO9jBBKzJI/AAAAAAAACqE/_rGDtoFazm8/s1600/Bf109%2B(35).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">ALLEY CAT AIRSCOOPS REPLACE REVELL'S SOLID VERSION</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6q31tzvUXYc/VMO-BtE960I/AAAAAAAACqM/gFr55XeoA-o/s1600/Bf109%2B(36).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6q31tzvUXYc/VMO-BtE960I/AAAAAAAACqM/gFr55XeoA-o/s1600/Bf109%2B(36).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">OIL COOLER RADIATOR UNIT INSTALLED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I accidentally installed the Revell version instead of the Alley Cat's,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">the latter being slightly bigger and more accurate.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M_wDjoYe86g/VOmQQnGvmLI/AAAAAAAAC0E/HEwap-uvqNY/s1600/Bf109%2B(37).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M_wDjoYe86g/VOmQQnGvmLI/AAAAAAAAC0E/HEwap-uvqNY/s1600/Bf109%2B(37).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">LEFT UPPER WING PANEL WITH HGW MODELS' RAISED RIVET DECALS APPLIED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The wing tip on the left shows the completed rivets while the main wing panel to the right shows the clear carrier film still in place. Once dry the fim will be peeled off.</span></div>
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By this time I had just purchased my airbrush set after sighting an anniversary sale on the net. The wing panel above had been sprayed with a coat of Mr Base White 1000 which is required to ensure adhesion of the rivet decals. I had to dilute the Mr Base White for the airbrushing as my original intention was to hand paint the model.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V_pGRaJi9c0/VQ12RZ56JwI/AAAAAAAAC4o/kNZV7TLA1rk/s1600/Bf109%2B(38).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V_pGRaJi9c0/VQ12RZ56JwI/AAAAAAAAC4o/kNZV7TLA1rk/s1600/Bf109%2B(38).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE FUSELAGE LOOKS AGGRESSIVE WITH RIVETS ON</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6jf9I34e7Rc/VQ12u2iOHSI/AAAAAAAAC4w/L9a9OC1wW5Q/s1600/Bf109%2B(39).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6jf9I34e7Rc/VQ12u2iOHSI/AAAAAAAAC4w/L9a9OC1wW5Q/s1600/Bf109%2B(39).JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">INBOARD UPPER WING SHOWING THE UNDERCARRIAGE HOUSING</span></div>
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Having applied the raised rivet decals on all surfaces, I commenced spraying first the fuselage. When the forward fuselage airbrushimg was completed and as I moved on towards the tail, the airbrush started malfunctioning. Paint was being spewed out from the cup instead of being sprayed out through the nozzle. It was a really messy affair with a lot of cleaning required. This went on for a few days as I washed and washed the airbrush until it was squeaky clean. The result was no different and there was paint ending up on my wall. I finally decided to handpaint the model including over the previously sprayed parts. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oQ63KMHiTXs/VYgP0h01LFI/AAAAAAAADHg/JxZo6mAWZio/s1600/Bf109%2B%252840%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oQ63KMHiTXs/VYgP0h01LFI/AAAAAAAADHg/JxZo6mAWZio/s400/Bf109%2B%252840%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE FUSELAGE AFTER REPAINTING WITH BRUSH</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The rudder seen here was painted at a later stage but I used the wrong colour instead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note the missing propeller shaft which I broke accidentally.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FjSdVg4ZFqA/VYgUsANJvLI/AAAAAAAADH0/52tvX48kIu8/s1600/Bf109%2B%252841%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FjSdVg4ZFqA/VYgUsANJvLI/AAAAAAAADH0/52tvX48kIu8/s400/Bf109%2B%252841%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">UPPER OUTBOARD WING HALVES</span></div>
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I made another discovery here. When I airbrushed the surface of the fuselage and wings, all the raised rivets disappeared under the paint. It was as if there were no rivets at all. Postings in various fora on the net too mentioned this failure of the HGW Raised Rivets. Modelers be warned.</div>
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The painting of the exhaust stacks was a challenge as the space was narrow and deep inside. Naturally some of the metallic black paint ended up on the periphery of the exhaust stack, so I had to later repaint the affected areas. Here I made a mistake and used the wrong colour (aircraft blue) which can be seen below. I wrongly assumed that it was the right colour (Aircraft Grey) that somehow changed after applying it over the previously sprayed surfaces. I continued to use this aircraft blue on the rudder subsequently and on some other surfaces where repainting was required.</div>
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The exhaust stack came from Alley Cat and have hollow exhaust pipe openings instead of Revell's solid ones. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EQ9OJgU7ULw/VYgVIE7kH6I/AAAAAAAADH8/Y6P3zC9w2ZE/s1600/Bf109%2B%252842%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EQ9OJgU7ULw/VYgVIE7kH6I/AAAAAAAADH8/Y6P3zC9w2ZE/s400/Bf109%2B%252842%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE EXHAUST STACK BEFORE INSTALLING THE EXHAUST OUTLETS</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bvcW2CxJFfI/VYgWthIKsYI/AAAAAAAADII/BDmFxe9BBqw/s1600/Bf109%2B%252843%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bvcW2CxJFfI/VYgWthIKsYI/AAAAAAAADII/BDmFxe9BBqw/s400/Bf109%2B%252843%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE EXHAUST OUTLETS</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">These have to be installed individually</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WtGSPpjcM6s/VZdaR_mjYXI/AAAAAAAADLU/uBt4K8xdDTQ/s1600/Bf109%2B%252847%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WtGSPpjcM6s/VZdaR_mjYXI/AAAAAAAADLU/uBt4K8xdDTQ/s400/Bf109%2B%252847%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE EXHAUST PIPES IN PLACE</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The stencilled area with Aircraft Blue background is discernable against the surrounding Aircraft Grey scheme</span></div>
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Upon completion of the exhaust stack installation, I began to apply a satin cote to all surfaces before affixing the HGW Wet Transfer Decals (Stencils) beginning with the fuselage surfaces. I experimented on some unused Revell parts to see if the stencils stick better on the painted surface below the satin cote or on top of it. There was no difference, I found, but applying the satin cote above the stencil gives the stencil a glossy appearance, which reduces the realism. So all the stencils are applied after the satin cote.</div>
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At this point, I realised the mistake I made about the Aircraft Blue paint colour. So I decided to repaint those affected surfaces with the right (Aircraft Grey) colour. That also meant repainting the Blue-Grey mottles onto the Aircraft Grey background on the rudder and other affected surfaces. A problem arose in the areas under the exhaust stacks as I had already affixed the stencils onto the previous wrongly painted surfaces. I was forced to leave the stencilled areas alone and as seen above it is not what you will find in a real Luftwaffe Bf109.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U2ArYRnTtoQ/VZdj01JNDRI/AAAAAAAADLs/KJGDuv2oZm0/s1600/Bf109%2B%252848%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U2ArYRnTtoQ/VZdj01JNDRI/AAAAAAAADLs/KJGDuv2oZm0/s400/Bf109%2B%252848%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE RUDDER AND OTHER AFFECTED PARTS REPAINTED</span></div>
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The propeller assembly is from Alley Cat consisting of three propeller blades, a spinner, a back plate, three retainer brackets (in two halves each) and three locking lugs. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dn05GYN9tlw/VZdvxDTItoI/AAAAAAAADL8/9mQgjDa-TcQ/s1600/Bf109%2B%252844%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dn05GYN9tlw/VZdvxDTItoI/AAAAAAAADL8/9mQgjDa-TcQ/s400/Bf109%2B%252844%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A PROPELLER BLADE, LOCKING LUG AND BACK PLATE</span></div>
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The bracket halves were cemented together on the inside of the back plate creating a hole for the stem of the propeller to slide into.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n2VsK1A1JZs/VYgXRE84ACI/AAAAAAAADIQ/u2E0jbpAwnI/s1600/Bf109%2B%252844%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n2VsK1A1JZs/VYgXRE84ACI/AAAAAAAADIQ/u2E0jbpAwnI/s400/Bf109%2B%252844%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE PROPELLER RETAINING BRACKETS</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This assembly will end up inside the spinner</span></div>
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The back plate is then lodged into the base of the spinner.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T_EaAinUKhg/VYgYE5f7cvI/AAAAAAAADIc/QJKUYcc_kr8/s1600/Bf109%2B%252845%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T_EaAinUKhg/VYgYE5f7cvI/AAAAAAAADIc/QJKUYcc_kr8/s400/Bf109%2B%252845%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE SPINNER ASSEMBLY</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">There are three holes on the sides for the propeller blade stems and tiny holes on the back plate for the locking lugs</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7qdrqSn2bZo/VYgYbJ5ejNI/AAAAAAAADIk/oEui2xt-D6k/s1600/Bf109%2B%252846%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7qdrqSn2bZo/VYgYbJ5ejNI/AAAAAAAADIk/oEui2xt-D6k/s400/Bf109%2B%252846%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE PROPELLER BLADES</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The hole on each stem is only on one side and will accommodate one end of the lug</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">inserted</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> through the back of the spinner. </span></div>
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The holes in the spinner (through which the propeller stems had to be inserted) however were not accurately aligned with the holes in the retaining brackets. Therefore it was impossible to insert the locking lugs into the holes in the stems. Furthermore the diameter of the lugs was too big for the stem holes. With the three stems in place inside the brackets, I drilled through the three tiny holes in the back plate and into the stem holes to enable the lugs to be inserted. The lugs were also too long and I had to truncate them to be flush with the back plate.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gyryDW8HI_Q/VZd3l97CFLI/AAAAAAAADMM/wsEtA9ep6oM/s1600/Bf109%2B%252848%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gyryDW8HI_Q/VZd3l97CFLI/AAAAAAAADMM/wsEtA9ep6oM/s400/Bf109%2B%252848%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE COMPLETED PROPELLER ASSEMBLY</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The flush ends of the three locking lugs can be clearly seen on the back plate</span></div>
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As the fuselage was fully painted by now including a top satin cote, I began to affix the Wet Transfer Decals (Stencils) from HGW. On smooth surfaces they came out well as seen below. However I found it necessary to keep the top layer of protecting paper intact over the stencils when affixing them and remove it together with the carrier film only after six hours. Without the top protecting paper the markings just came off the carrier film when wet rendering them unusable. On some spots, the carrier film did not peel off easily thus requiring some careful extraction. There was good adhesion on smooth surfaces such as that of the wing seen below.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5WZaaXWwCxk/VZzjpdySSrI/AAAAAAAADM0/yBB9avOxd6w/s1600/DSCF4834.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5WZaaXWwCxk/VZzjpdySSrI/AAAAAAAADM0/yBB9avOxd6w/s400/DSCF4834.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE HGW STENCIL ON THE UPPER WING SURFACE</span></div>
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On roughly overpainted surfaces such as on the lower surface of the wing below, parts of the markings remained stuck to the carrier film.leaving bare patches on the markings.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oDMqRTiOgPA/VZzpz3YshKI/AAAAAAAADNE/JGLnnSvOsyc/s1600/DSCF4835.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oDMqRTiOgPA/VZzpz3YshKI/AAAAAAAADNE/JGLnnSvOsyc/s400/DSCF4835.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">POOR ADHESION ON THE ROUGHLY PAINTED LOWER SURFACE OF THE WING</span></div>
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Mr Mark Setter is required to wet each surface where the stencil is to be affixed to ensure good adhesion and minimise bubbling. However Mr Mark Softer should not be used as it will make the carrier film stick to the surface. For really tiny markings, I used the Revell decals that came with the kit as the carrier film helps to keep them intact.</div>
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After the application of decals and stencils, the horizontal stabiliser and wing sections are then mounted.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NLJqOVonooQ/VaQn6M2TfsI/AAAAAAAADN4/Ex2jdR0IOvk/s1600/Bf109%2B%252853%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NLJqOVonooQ/VaQn6M2TfsI/AAAAAAAADN4/Ex2jdR0IOvk/s400/Bf109%2B%252853%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">MOUNTING THE HORIZONTAL STABILISER</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The joint gap is filled with home made putty</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7k5drH1NJjE/VaQpd0ZD2oI/AAAAAAAADOE/_HK0N8MIHS0/s1600/Bf109%2B%252854%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7k5drH1NJjE/VaQpd0ZD2oI/AAAAAAAADOE/_HK0N8MIHS0/s400/Bf109%2B%252854%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE LOWER WING HALVES AND UPPER WING SECTIONS MOUNTED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The joint gaps are filled with home made putty. I accidentally broke the original</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">propeller shaft and had to make one using a sprue part.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HdjyU6LzDXI/VaQp_4MIvkI/AAAAAAAADOM/LTgSwm-TqB0/s1600/Bf109%2B%252855%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HdjyU6LzDXI/VaQp_4MIvkI/AAAAAAAADOM/LTgSwm-TqB0/s400/Bf109%2B%252855%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">INBOARD SPLIT FLAPS, MAIN FLAPS AND AILERONS INSTALLED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The split flaps and main flaps are set to taxying configuration.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note the white lines where the joint gaps were filled with home made putty.</span></div>
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I found the main and tail undercarriage legs rather weak and while attaching them to the wings and fuselage, I broke one main and the tail legs. Somehow I managed to re-attach them with CA.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">MAIN UNDERCARRIAGE INSTALLED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I ran out of matt paint for the tyres, s</span>o a satin finish will do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">THE TAIL UNDERCARRIAGE</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">THE 300-LITRE DROP TANK CARRIED UNDER THE FUSELAGE</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">THE AILERON MASS BALANCES, THE RADIO ANTENNA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">AND THE PITOT TUBE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">I lost the kit's pitot tube after painting, so a replacement </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">made from</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">a telephone wire will do (shown here before painting)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">IMPROVISED PITOT TUBE, RADIO ANTENNA &</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">AILERON MASS BALANCE IN PLACE</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">CANOPY COMPONENTS & ADF LOOP ANTENA</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I have opted for the late version canopy manufactured by the ERLA factory. The open</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">canopy support bar is made of telephone wire. Revell wrongly instructed to place the lower</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">end</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> of the</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> bar on the cockpit sill. I have placed it in the middle based on studies made.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE ADF SENSE ANTENNA</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is made from a used IDE cable</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE PROPELLER ASSEMBLY INSTALLED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is the final part.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">VIEWS OF THE COMPLETED MODEL</span></div>
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-10604074085094200882014-12-01T01:40:00.001-08:002014-12-14T00:30:16.202-08:00The Dwindling Number Of Private Pilots<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: 35px;">
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<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b>This article, written by Prof. E.M. Beck and published in www.avweb.com's vol. 21 number 49A issue on December 1, 2014, fully explains the decline in the number of private pilots in the USA but equally applies to many other countries.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b>As a baby boomer, I too have been affected by the factors mentioned in the article. Obviously I am envious of Prof. Beck who still logs a hundred hours a year in his own Cardinal helping out in conservation.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b>Prof Beck writes....</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">GA's Difficult Climb Back</span></div>
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<span class="story"><br />
I am a 68 year-old Baby Boomer who got his private certificate in 1975 with the University of Michigan Flyers at the Ann Arbor, Michigan Airport. At that time, the Flyers had five Cessna 150s, a Skyhawk, a Piper Arrow, and a Citabria. Within a few months, a twin was added to the fleet—which continued to grow. There were some 200 University students, and some faculty, involved and most of the Club instructors were students at the U. There was an excitement about aviation.<br />
Every fall, club members taxied one of the Cessna 150s, with a police escort, into the center of Ann Arbor in the middle of the night and displayed it on the "Diag" for a few days to advertise the flying club. Students joined by the dozens. Today the Flyers has five planes and a hundred members. The club is doing well, partially due to its relationship with the U of M aero engineering program. Elsewhere the situation is not so encouraging.</span><br />
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Population Shrinkage</span></h2>
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The shrinkage in the private pilot population is real and has been dramatic: There were 357,479 people with private pilot certificates in 1980, the greatest number ever; yet by 2012 that had collapsed by almost half (47.4 percent) to the lowest its been since 1964. The decline was essentially linear over the 1980-2012 years. Between 1960 and 1979 there was an <em>average growth</em> of 11,481 private certificates per year. Between 1980 and 2012, there was a steady <em>average loss</em> of 4,457 per year.<span style="line-height: 1.4;"> </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 1.4;">Another way to view the situation is to consider the number of private certificates relative to the prime age group of potential pilots, 18-64 year olds. In 1970 that rate was 267.6 private pilot certificates per 100,000 persons 18-64 years old. By 2012, the rate had deteriorated to a mere 97.3 per 100,000—that's a whopping 63.4% decline in the age-adjusted rate of private pilot certificates over four decades. In fact, today's rate is significantly lower than it was in 1960.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.4;">Recently I read where some politician was preaching the feel-good line that if only the government would get off the back of aviation, private aviation would flourish. He speculated that the decline in the numbers of pilots was due to governmental over-regulation and bureaucracy. While that position may be the "politically correct" spin in some circles, it is naive and oblivious to the more salient issues that private aviation faces. Such simple-think ignores the importance of history, economics, demography, and cultural change, and how they are interacting to decimate private aviation as we knew it.</span><br />
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Mortality Among World War II Era Pilots.</h2>
The downturn in private pilot certificates that started in 1980 was likely initiated when many of the World War II and early Post-World War II era pilots began entering their late 50s and early 60s. That generation of pilots grew up during the Great Depression suffering the stresses of hard times and then a world war, and had lower life expectancy as well as lower survival rates (the percent surviving at a given age) than the more recently born.<br />
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Rise of the Boomers and the Allure of Aviation.</h2>
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The explosion of babies born between 1946 and 1964 had transformative effects on the U.S. Between 1960 and 1980 the percent of the population between 15 and 34 years old grew from 26.1% to over 35%, but has been declining since and is now down to only 27.4 percent, the lowest it has been in 40 years. The abundance of these young Boomers formed much of the foundation for the expansion of private aviation in the 1970s and early 1980s, as did the World War II generation in the 1950s. The Boomers are now our aging pilots and ex-pilots and there is no comparable cohort of young persons to fill their shoes. The decline in the U.S. birthrate has meant that the population is aging and that there are relatively fewer young persons in the demographic pipeline. But it is not simply about numbers alone.<br />
<span style="line-height: 1.4;">Like almost all my boyhood friends, I was fascinated with airplanes and the fantasy of buzzing around the sky mimicking John Wayne in </span><em style="line-height: 1.4;">The High and The Mighty</em><span style="line-height: 1.4;">, or leading a flight of B-17s to Berlin as in </span><em style="line-height: 1.4;">12 0'Clock High</em><span style="line-height: 1.4;">. We were mesmerized by the 1957 production of the </span><em style="line-height: 1.4;">Spirit of St. Louis</em><span style="line-height: 1.4;"> and inspired by the courage of Charles Lindbergh facing the Atlantic alone. The weekly episodes of </span><em style="line-height: 1.4;">Sky King</em><span style="line-height: 1.4;"> ripping up the western skies in "Songbird" portended the adventures a pilot could expect. Homer Hickham's West Virginian </span><em style="line-height: 1.4;">Rocket Boys</em><span style="line-height: 1.4;"> weren't the only Boomers who turned their dreams to rocketry, astronauts, and space travel. Even commercial aviation was a glamorous voyage romanticized by Hollywood and the airlines. That was then.</span><br />
Although I don't have the data at hand to prove the point, I'll bet that the sales of model airplane kits, aviation magazines, the frequency of and attendance at air shows, membership in aviation organizations, or other low-cost indicators of aviation interest have either fallen in absolute numbers over the past four decades, or not kept up with the growth of the population. In short, I argue that younger Americans, by and large, don't see aviation through the same rose-colored goggles the Boomers did when they were younger. Relatedly, I suspect that the relative lack of Post-Boomer enthusiasm for aviation is matched by their lack of interest in automobiles and car culture—something that was a core interest to many Boomers. Simply put, the interests of today's younger Americans don't parallel those of the Boomers when they were younger. Times have changed and there's no reason to expect the culture that was unique to mid-to-late Twentieth Century will return in the Twenty-first Century.<br />
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Economics I: Affordability.</h2>
Virtually every time someone asks about the cost of getting a license and owning or renting a plane, after I finish explaining the realistic costs the typical reaction is the incredulous eye-roll and simultaneous jaw drop. To say that aviation is a hard sell would be a monumental understatement, even to those who might have some latent interest.<br />
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It is quite reasonable to argue that the most recent 160 h.p. Cessna 172R, at $274,900, is a vastly superior plane to a 1967 Skyhawk which retailed for $12,750. However, that misses the essential question of affordability; in other words, the price of an airplane relative to prevailing incomes. Between 1967 and 1980, the price of a new Cessna Skyhawk averaged 162% of median white household income. In 2012 that $274,900 Skyhawk was 512% of median white household income. While airplane prices have soared, median white household income has grown since 1967 by only 20% in inflation-adjusted dollars—the big growth in income has been experienced only by the most affluent 5% whose real income has almost doubled since '67. If we use the average income for <em>all</em> households rather than just white households, the affordability comparisons are even more striking.<br />
<span style="line-height: 1.4;">It doesn't appear this has been lost on general aviation manufacturers: there's more profit in selling a few very expensive airplanes, made with a significantly smaller workforce, to the very richest and status-conscious persons and corporations than trying to sell many planes to a population with relatively stagnant income. Furthermore, the recent unprecedented and breath-taking hike in the costs of Cessna factory replacement parts would seem to signal an unwillingness to maintain legacy aircraft, or at least supply parts only to the most desperate and well-heeled aircraft owners.</span><br />
Certainly FAA requirements since 1950 for improved seat belts and shoulder straps, transponders, altitude encoders, ELTs, Part 23 Certification standards, myriad ADs on engines, airframes, and accessories, requirements for flight reviews, etc., and most recently the ADS-B mandate, have all driven up the cost of private aviation. Those requirements have been largely incremental over a long period of time and would seem to be insufficient by themselves to explain the steep increase in aircraft prices since the 1980s. In addition to the FAA other favorite whipping-boys of aviation pundits include engine, avionics, and airframe manufacturers, liability lawyers, the courts, petroleum and insurance companies, and FBOs and repair shops. Clearly all have had a role in the escalating costs of private aviation.<br />
It has been suggested that simplifying Part 23 Certification standards could promote innovation and yield significantly lower costs without reducing safety. Possibly, but it is not known what those changes would be, how airframe, engine, and accessory manufacturers will react, and in any regard, any rule changes are a long way off. Further, even if such changes reduce costs to the manufacturer, where's the guarantee that those will be passed along to the end user and not remain in-house as additional profit.<br />
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Economics II: Competing Expenditures.</h2>
Obviously acquiring a pilot's license and buying or renting an airplane has to compete against all other possible uses of disposable income. Consider just two of the many changes that have impacted that allocation of income: first, many Boomers (perhaps most) worked for employers who offered guaranteed benefit pensions and bore much of the cost of health insurance. That is rarely the case these days. Many (perhaps most) non-Boomers work for companies that don't offer that traditional pension and comprehensive health care coverage, so they are having to squirrel away money for retirement in 401k's as well as making more significant contributions to health insurance. Second, the escalating cost of higher education for one's children can't be ignored since most state colleges and universities have been forced to shift their revenue stream from state government support to tuition paid by parents. When one is worried about medical costs, retirement, the kids' education, and other high priority concerns, thoughts of private aviation have all the substance of a wispy pipe dream.<br />
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Bottom Line</h2>
The halcyon days of general aviation in the 1970's were the result of historically unique factors coming together: a relatively strong economy with a large share of well-paying jobs and a swell in the percentage of the population of young adults—many of whom came of age in an era when aviation, including military, commercial and private aviation, was adventurous, exciting, romantic, and very cool. Those days are past, and they are not coming back despite political speeches and wishful thinking otherwise. Demographics and economics rule.<br />
Given the very low U.S. birthrate, which is at or below replacement rate, the population will continue to age unless there is a dramatic increase in immigration (most immigrants are younger), and given the widespread hostility toward immigration, it's hard to see that happening. On the economic side, to increase the affordability of airplanes two things would have to happen simultaneously: (1) airframe, engine, avionics, and accessory manufacturers would have to make large price cuts in their products and services, and (2) prevailing wage levels for a large proportion of working Americans would have to increase to levels significantly higher in real, inflation-adjusted dollars than those of the 1970s in order to compensate for today's greater share of disposable income going for retirement, health care, and education. And lastly, on the cultural side, there would need to be a transformation causing young persons to change their attitude toward aviation and become as "hooked" as did many of the Baby Boomer generation. It is very difficult to envision, at least to me, those kinds of fundamental changes in demography, economics, and culture taking place, and so what can be said about the future?<br />
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<li style="margin-bottom: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 1.4;">As the aging Boomer pilot population becomes less able or interested in flying, either because of health or dwindling economic resources in retirement, the number of private pilots will continue to decline, possibly even more steeply over the next ten years. The big "die-off" of the Boomers will begin around 2025, and continue for more than a decade but most will stop flying long before then. One of the less obvious negative impacts of fewer older pilots will be on public interest flying such as animal rescue flights, angel flights, and conservation flights.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 1.4;">The current over-supply of used airplanes will expand further, and this trend will be exacerbated when private pilots realize the full costs of implementing the new ADS-B requirement. This will further depress the price of older airplanes although that possibly will make some of them more affordable; however, the continued high cost of operation and ownership may offset any reduction in the cost of acquisition.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 1.4;">The EAA and AOPA are adamant about the FAA either dropping or radically modifying the Third Class Medical requirement in a desperate attempt to cling onto their aging Boomer pilot membership. If this happens some pilots will continue to be active, at least in the short term, but the LSA market will be a casualty since one of its selling points was that a pilot could fly without a medical certificate. If the medical requirement disappears, what will be the comparative advantage of LSA's? It is certainly not their price or utility. Over the longer term, changes in the Third Class Medical will have no significant impact because its cost is negligible—roughly the cost of 15 gallons of av fuel every two years for us older pilots.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 1.4;">General and commercial aviation are heavily subsidized by the Federal Government and the airline lobby has argued that GA has not paid its fair share of the costs given the proportion of ATC services GA uses. For the past several years there has been a shortfall in the Aviation and Airways Trust Fund—which is supposed to pay for all FAA activities and is funded by aviation fuel taxes—and Congress has had to appropriate $2-$3 billion to cover the gap between fuel tax revenues and expenditures. Given that there is much public sentiment for a smaller, less expensive Federal government, and pressures from the airline industry for GA to pay more of the FAA bill, user fees will become a reality within ten years, or even possibly a more expensive privatized non-governmental system like Canada has had since 1996.</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 1.4;">In sum, private aviation has a future but it's not the return-to-the-1970s and 1980s future that many pilots pine for. There will continue to be a trickle of aviation enthusiasts but outside the relative few who can afford to own and operate a $700,000 single-engine twin-turbo gas guzzler, the rest of private aviation will likely look more like Europe does today with small numbers of persons owing their own older aircraft, others co-owing planes in flying clubs, and a smaller segment of hobbyists that build their own bird. Personally, I feel fortunate to have been part of mid-Twentieth century boom in private aviation. Had I been born more recently, it is unlikely that I would have had that opportunity.</span></li>
</ul>
<em>E.M. "Woody" Beck is a semi-retired professor at the Uniiversity of Georgia with 1900 flight hours who currently flies about 100 hours per year in his 1978 Cessna Cardinal. Much of it is public benefit flying with Pilots 'n Paws animal rescue and SouthWings, a conservation organization.</em></div>
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-78531522654201330952014-10-22T05:39:00.002-07:002014-10-24T04:02:37.643-07:00Building The Spitfire Mk24 Plastic Model (Plasmo)<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is my second plasmo build after the Italieri F-86F Sabre build posted elsewhere on this blog. It is also on a 1/32 scale making it my third 1/32 collection including the Me262. The manufacturer is Revell Germany and although Germans are known for precision, I found this kit very difficult to build as many parts did not fit properly. My earlier Italieri F-86F build was a breeze by comparison.</div>
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The model depicts the Mk24 version of the Spit which was built after the war and served with the RAF's No. 80 Squadron based in Kai Tak, Hong Kong. It was the first version that had a 24-volt electrical system. The powerplant was a 12-cylinder Rolls Royce Griffon 61 producing 2,050hp and capable of reaching 726km/h. The aircraft was armed with 4 Hispano 20mm cannons and could carry bombs and rockets under the wings.</div>
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As always, it is difficult to find the exact colours of the full scale aircraft for the model, so I searched in the local hobby stores for the nearest colours and blended them where required based on the instructions in the booklet.</div>
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The box is not what I would prefer as it opens at one end, so I moved all the contents to an Italieri box which has a top cover instead.</div>
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The instructions are in black and white and in a loose booklet.</div>
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The parts are on 5 sprews enclosed in separate clear plastic bags with a smaller bag that contains the clear parts.</div>
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I started by building and painting the Rolls Royce Griffon 61 engine.</div>
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The pilot and his seat came next.</div>
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I then installed the seatback bulkhead, instrument panel and flight controls into the port fuselage half after painting them all. I did not use the supplied decal for the instrument panel as it would look toyish, InsteadI painted the panel blak and touched the raised parts with aluminium. There was some difficulty inserting the seat into the cockpit. Some seat back parts came loose after I forced the seat onto the cockpit floor and I had to reassemble and repaint them before reinsertion. Even then, the seat is now slightly skewed to one side.</div>
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The starboard fuselage half was then glued onto the port half. Thinking that I would need a sense antenna linking the top of the vertical stabiliser to the back of the cockpit, I inserted a black thread before gluing the two halves.</div>
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The joined two fuselage halves had misalignments and gaps along most of the joint line. I had to insert putty, file them down and sand the joined surfaces.</div>
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Next, the two lower wing halves were glued onto the mid-fuselage bottom. Here again I had to fill the gaps but this time I did not use putty. I had by then learned from the net that a mixture of talcum powder and Future floor finish would do the job better and at much lower cost. I had bought Future earlier to make the F-86F's canopy crystal clear, to protect the paintwork when adding on an oil wash for weathering, to gloss a matt paint and to seal the paintwork when finished. There was only one store in the whole city that sold Future and the product is sold as Pledge in this market. I picked up the last bottle still sitting on the shelves. It was expensive but it's a big bottle that will last years. It will come useful later.</div>
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The Future-talcum compound is adaptable to both small and big gaps. The more talcum is added the harder the compound becomes, which is ideal for filling the large gaps. As the compound takes a longer time to dry, it is easy to wipe off any excess with a cloth. Cleaning up is also a breeze as the compound dissolves in any window cleaning liquid e.g Windex.</div>
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The fuselage was then mounted on to the bottom wing halves followed by mounting the engine on to the firewall. The exhaust pipes protrude through the slots in the arms that cradle the engine and are anchored to the firewall at the rear and the engine's front plate in front. </div>
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The Hispano 20mm cannons and ammunition were installed in the top wing halves, which were in turn glued onto the lower wing halves.The curved wing roots were then inserted between the edges of the top wing halves and the fuselage sides. Gaps were aplenty and much Future-talcum compound had to be added.</div>
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I then did some painting of the small parts such as the canopy and frames, undercarriage legs, undercarriage doors, underwing scoops, cannon barrels and the cockpit door.</div>
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Deciding to discard the starboard engine cowlings, I started to mount the port ones but this operation was the worst that I came across. The combined width of the upper and lower port cowlings was insufficient to cover the area required. A lot of Future-talcum compound had to be applied to fill the wide gap at the bottom end. At the same time the recess of the upper cowling was too narrow to accommodate the exhaust pipes. Much cutting of the upper cowling was done until the two cowling parts could be glued together.</div>
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After painting the whole aircraft's underside, the three air scoops were added on to them. The underwing air scoops were too wide to fit the recesses meant for them. I had to file away the sides until they fitted and then repaint the scoops.</div>
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The top surfaces were then painted with the camouflage scheme of No. 80 Squadron.</div>
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Decals were applied before the cannon barrels, undercarriage legs and doors and pitot tube were mounted onto the wings. The canopy had a visible scratch, so I wrongly assumed that a 2000 grit sandpaper would remove it. It was a big mistake as the canopy became a useless piece of frosty plastic. Again turning to the net, I learned that one had to continue sanding the plastic with progressively finer grit sandpapers as each finer grit smoothens away the scratches made by the previous coarser grit sandpaper. I ordered four pieces each of the 4000 grit and 6000 grit Micro Mesh sanding cloths from Rockler of USA and started to use them with water. They worked and the result was a fairly clear canopy. Again the net taught me that Brasso is yet a finer abrasive, so I polished the canopy with it and the plastic became much clearer. Finally, dipping the whole canopy into a bowl of Future resulted in a shining clear canopy as if it just came from the factory.<br />
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One excellent feature of the model is that the clear rear canopy is mounted onto a frame and the assembly can be detached or placed at any desired position along the grooves below both sides of the cockpit sill.</div>
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-24240115635494684212014-10-08T02:55:00.001-07:002014-10-08T02:56:45.712-07:00The Three Whom I Admire And RespectThere are great statesmen, great thinkers, great scientists and so on. Add to them the following....Reginald Mitchell, Kelly Johnson and Burt Rutan.warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-66132747517581150362014-06-18T01:43:00.000-07:002014-06-18T01:52:47.193-07:00Building The F-86-F Sabre Plastic Model (Plasmo)<div style="text-align: justify;">
The F-86 Sabre jet fighter was built by North American Aviation in the late forties. In the Korean War (1950 - 1953) it was claimed to have shot down Mig15s with a kill ratio of 1.8 to1. My interest in the aircraft started when in the late fifties the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) based two squadrons of the Australian-built version of the type at the air base next to my school in Butterworth . I saw the aircraft flying in, out of and around the school daily. On its base leg, the distance from a Sabre to me sitting in my classroom is so close that it fills up almost half the window. I could see the pilot turning his head in the half open cockpit. The interior of the sun-heated bubble cockpit was so hot that he slid back his canopy to let in some cool air. On one of the arranged school visits to the base, I was shown the cockpit controls and instruments. The memory lives on.</div>
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Fifty years later, I saw an Italieri plasmo kit in a hobby shop and decided that I must build one. The 1/32 scale was perfect as I already had a similar-scaled ready-built Messerschmitt Me262 Swallow in my "hangar". The two aircraft would make good size comparison. Below is a brief history of the construction process.</div>
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The last time I had built a plasmo was probably more than ten years ago. It was a 1/48 scale Airfix Panavia Tornado GR1 but I broke it when moving house. Brushes, paints and other equipment had long been disposed off, so I had to start buying afresh.</div>
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I opted for the F-86F-30 version depicting the aircraft known as "The Huff" flown by Lt. James Thompson of 39th Squadron operating in Suwon, Korea in 1953. A large dragon was painted on the right fuselage of his aircraft after he had shot down a MiG-15 which had a dragon painted on it.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE BOX</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE INSTRUCTION BOOKLET</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE JET INTAKE TUNNEL</span></div>
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The right and left halves of the jetpipe were glued together, joint lines filled with putty and sanded smooth to hide the line.</div>
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Forty grams of nose weight are recommended</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE INSTRUMENT PANEL, JOYSTICK & RUDDER PEDALS ADDED</span></div>
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Note the weathering done on the seat and floor.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">JETPIPE, WHEELS, MACHINE GUNS, ENGINE PARTS & SIDE CONSOLES PAINTED</span></div>
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The right and left halves of the jet exhaust pipe and compressor housing were glued together, the gaps filled with putty, sanded down to hide the line and painted. I had snipped off the axle for the nosewheel which I mistakenly thought was an injection channel, so now I had to glue the lower part of the nosewheel leg directly onto the side of the nosewheel with the hope that the assembly will later be able to take the aircraft's forward weight.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> THREE STARBOARD SIDE O.50" BROWNING M2 MACHINE GUNS</span></div>
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The pins behind the machine guns did not match the holes in the side panel. I had to truncate the rear part of the machine gun butts to align them.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">PORT SIDE PANEL WITH THROTTLE LEVER</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">BOTH SIDE PANELS INSTALLED & INTAKE PIPE PAINTED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE J47-GE-27 TURBOJET</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">FRONT VIEW OF THE ENGINE</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">CLOSE UP OF THE COMPRESSORS & COMBUSTION CHAMBERS</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">TOP & BOTTOM HALVES OF WINGS CEMENTED</span></div>
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I forgot to install the navigation lights in the wingtips, so I had to prise apart the two halves later on, inserted the nav lights and re-cement them.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">RIGHT & LEFT REAR FUSELAGE HALVES CEMENTED</span></div>
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The inside surfaces were painted prior to joining. The joint line was filled with putty and sanded down to hide the line.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">RIGHT & LEFT FORWARD FUSELAGE SHELLS CEMENTED</span></div>
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The joint line was filled with putty and sanded down to hide it. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">NOSE RING, SIDEWINDERS & TAILPLANES PAINTED</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE WING ASSEMBLY PRIOR TO PAINTING</span></div>
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The top and bottom wing halves were not properly aligned by me when cementing them together, causing obvious unevenness in the edges. I had to fill in the gaps and open ends with putty and then sand them down into smooth edges that leave no evidence of the joined halves. I left the flaps out at this stage to avoid them being detached accidentally when continuing to work on the wings.</div>
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NOSE INTAKE</div>
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After installing the nose ring, there were wide gaps in the joint and the inner wall of the nose was wider than the ring at the front. I used a lot of putty to smoothen the inside wall of the nose. Applying putty and then sanding down the wall was a difficult task due the restricted room available</div>
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. FLAPS & DROP TANKS</div>
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The flaps and underwing drop tanks came in upper and lower halves. These were cemented, the gaps filled with putty and then sanded down to hide the joint lines.</div>
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THE SCRIBER</div>
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Because the sanding of the various surfaces had also removed the factory-engraved panel lines, I had to put the lines back by rescribing. There are many manufacturers of this tool. I bought mine from RB Productions in Ireland. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-79688SVvqyY/U6AL6LlogjI/AAAAAAAABaA/45FZ6r1dWYs/s1600/F86F+(21).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-79688SVvqyY/U6AL6LlogjI/AAAAAAAABaA/45FZ6r1dWYs/s1600/F86F+(21).JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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PANEL LINES RESCRIBED</div>
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RIVET TOOL</div>
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Sanding down the model's surface also removes the rivets that hold aircraft skin panels in place. To put back these rivets onto the model, a rivet tool is used. It is just a wheel with sharp teeth on the edge that mark holes as the wheel is dragged in a line.</div>
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RIVET HOLES CREATED BY A RIVET TOOL</div>
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A poor job was done by me in restoring the rivet holes across the nose.</div>
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SIDEWINDERS & DROP TANKS WITH DECALS ON</div>
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SETTER & SOFTER</div>
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I have never tried the above products before, so it was a discovery indeed. The setter is applied on the surface where the decal will go. This is supposed to eliminate bubbles under the decal and also make the surface "suck" onto the botom of the decal. The softer is applied on top of the decal and softens it so that it will cling to the model's surface especially where there are indentations, protrusions, bends and corners. the result is that the decal will appear as if it was painted on rather than stuck on. When the softer is first applied, the decal will wrinkle considerably but after ten minutes or so it will shrink tight and blend with the surface.</div>
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To make the model appear more realistic, I decided to paint the aluminium panels in two different colours as seen below.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e90K_1jbkKc/U6EL4-HwQQI/AAAAAAAABbE/-5RT9xWYoOU/s1600/F86F+(26).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e90K_1jbkKc/U6EL4-HwQQI/AAAAAAAABbE/-5RT9xWYoOU/s1600/F86F+(26).JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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PAINTING THE CANOPY FRAME</div>
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THE MONTEX MASK INSTRUCTION SHEET</div>
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To paint the canopy frame in aluminium, I purchased a set of masks made specially for this model from A2Zee Models in UK. The self-adhesive masks are stuck onto the inner and outer surfaces of the canopy blocking the clear areas of the canopy from being painted on.</div>
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PAINTING THE INSIDE OF THE LEFT SPEED BRAKE COMPARTMENT</div>
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AND THE RIGHT</div>
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THE CANOPY & TURTLEDECK TOP PAINTED</div>
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REAR FUSELAGE DOLLY</div>
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The model comes with an option of separating the rear section for maintenance purposes. This requires that the section be mounted on a dolly. The dolly's parts are rather pliable, so I assembled them into two halves to achieve rigidity before painting and joining them together.</div>
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THE REAR SECTION WITH DECALS AFFIXED SITTING ON ITS DOLLY</div>
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The tailplanes' tabs were too thick for insertion into the slots on the fuselage. Having broken both in the process, I had to glue the tailplanes' inner edges flush with the fuselage sides, which then resulted in the dihedral angles being less than symmetrical. </div>
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REAR VIEW OF EMPENNAGE</div>
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ANOTHER VIEW OF THE REAR SECTION</div>
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THE FRONT BULKHEAD OF THE REAR SECTION</div>
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OVERLAPPING DECALS</div>
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The wings were painted in different aluminium colours for realism. The yellow bands on the wings are decals that are too long. I failed to trim them to fit the wing chord as a result of which the ends overlap. Painting the black ends yellow did not work as the paint was of a darker yellow.</div>
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PATCHED YELLOW BAND</div>
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Patching the overlapping black area with parts of a decal meant for an alternative livery was the next best solution.</div>
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SIMILAR OVERLAP ON RIGHT WING</div>
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OVERLAP COVERED WITH PORTION OF SPARE DECAL </div>
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"THE HUFF" DECAL APPLIED TO LEFT FUSELAGE</div>
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One thing I learned from this project is that it is better to cut long decals into short parts and apply them separately. The long ones tend to roll up into a mess or just tear off at the narrowest part when wet.</div>
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DECALS APPLIED ON THE RIGHT FUSELAGE</div>
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UNDERWING DECALS & ATTACHMENTS</div>
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The underwing decals were applied before joining the wings to the fuselage. After that the flaps were installed and painted. Decals on the flaps were affixed and then the undercarriage were installed followed by the Sidewinders and drop tanks.</div>
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THE FUSELAGE YELLOW BAND</div>
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The yellow band circling the mid-fuselage actually straddles both the front and rear sections. The band decal however came in only one piece, unlike the speed brake decals which came in two parts for each side. I had to cut the decal into three sections - one for the front fuselage and two for the rear fuselage. It was not precisely done by me ending with the rear fuselage portions being not symmetrical. The cockpit canopy is now in place.</div>
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THE REAR ENDS OF THE FUSELAGE YELLOW BAND APPLIED</div>
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REAR VIEW OF THE FORWARD SECTION</div>
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CLOSEUP OF THE GUN COMPARTMENT WITH ITS COVER ON THE GROUND</div>
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CLOSEUP OF THE RIGHT MAIN UNDERCARRIAGE</div>
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CLOSEUP OF THE NOSE UNDERCARRIAGE</div>
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THE DRAGON, SIDEWINDER & DROP TANK ON THE LEFT SIDE</div>
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VIEW OF THE AIRCRAFT & ENGINE IN THE HANGAR</div>
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-86276180824659636852014-04-21T20:53:00.000-07:002014-04-21T20:54:47.389-07:00What Happens To Excess Carry-On Luggage<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: 35px;">
The piece below was taken from Avweb.com's April 21, 2014 issue. I witnessed a similar practice when boarding a low cost carrier's aircraft on a domestic flight not too long ago. It looked like it was standard practice with this airline. If you bring in one luggage too many into the cabin, you will probably see it dropped from the cabin door to the tarmac below for stowage into the cargo hold.</div>
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<span class="title"><span style="color: #674ea7;">B</span><a class="title-link" href="http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Bag-Dropping-Workers-Face-Dismissal221886-1.html" style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">ag-Dropping Workers Face Dismissal</a></span></div>
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Air Canada says it will fire two baggage handlers caught on video dropping carry-on items from the top of a stairway into a bin 20 feet below last week. Passenger Dwayne Stewart shot the video last Thursday at Toronto's Pearson International Airport as he and his incredulous seatmate watched through the window. The flight was full and some passengers had been required to gate-check their carry-on luggage because the bins were full. Rather than carry the bags down a flight of stairs to the baggage cart, the two workers set up a relay with the ramp worker at the gate level tossing the bags into a bin where the second worker transferred them to the cart. Stewart told CBC News he and his seatmate at first didn't believe what they were seeing.<br />
"We were pretty shocked to see it happening. We actually laughed initially. We didn't think it was real," Stewart said. The baggage handler on the ground was not entirely without empathy for the fate of the contents of the freefalling bags. After several bags had tumbled onto those that had fallen before, the worker put a bunched up tarp in the bin to cushion the fall of the remaining bags. It probably won't be enough to save his job, however. Stewart, who was on his way home in British Columbia via Vancouver on the flight, posted the video, which has more than 500,000 views on YouTube. He said "embarrassed" Air Canada officials have contacted him saying their actions don't reflect the attitudes of the airline's other 27,000 employees. Air Canada issued a statement on Saturday confirming it is now in the process of identifying the workers so they can be given their walking papers.</span></div>
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-62757684260638911122014-03-14T06:43:00.001-07:002014-03-14T06:46:14.099-07:00Saving His Family Jewels From The Lion<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Here's an entertaining story from a pilot in South Africa which I have extracted from the February issue of the Global Aviator:</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;"><b>There I was. What now</b>?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">by Gary Wiblin</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold","sans-serif"; font-size: 19.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: HelveticaNeue-CondensedBold;">I packed away the family
jewels faster than the blink of an eye!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">It
was a gloomy morning as I took off from PE’s runway 26 and turned out right for
a game farm called wandwe, just 30 or so minutes to the North of PE. I was to
fetch a group of American tourists who had come to the end of their stay and
needed to begin the long journey back to the USA. I was flying a Caravan C208B and
I leveled off at flight level 070 and engaged the autopilot. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">This is always my
favourite part of a charter flight, when I am alone in the aircraft and sitting
in smooth conditions with the autopilot engaged. It is a time of reflection, a
time to be fascinated by flight and grateful to be a professional pilot. I
always love sitting up there in the sky, all on my own, in a multi million Rand
machine, with everything purring just as it should, watching the world slide </span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt;">by
below me. It is a feeling only we pilots know and we cherish it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">All too soon
it was time to begin descent into Kwandwe and I disengaged the autopilot and
flew by hand until overhead the field to ascertain the wind direction. It looked
like the Northerly runway was a good option and I flew the correct joining
procedure to end </span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt;">up
on final approach. It was then that I noticed a fully grown giraffe ambling out
of the bush nearby. Dang. Would he remain clear of the runway or would he
stroll in front of me? If he did stroll onto the runway, a go around would have
to be executed rather smartly to gain sufficient height to avoid getting a giraffe
head through the windshield. I decided to rather do a flyby and hopefully scare
him off. This I did and when I had repositioned on final approach he was
exactly where he had been before. A placid chap this giraffe was. In fact he was
now noshing on some foliage near the edge of the runway and I decided to
continue with the approach and landing and be on the alert for a go around at
any time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt;">All went well and my new tall friend never even glanced in my direction
as I landed, turned around, and taxied to the concrete block that served as a
dispersal area. All had gone well. Upon shutting down I opened the door and
hopped down to the pavement. I was by this time dying for a pee so I strolled
over to a bush about 100 metres away and began doing my business. I was about mid
pee when I noticed that under another nearby tree there was a large male lion
that was stirring</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">from
his slumber and was now taking note of the new intruder on his territory. Well,
I packed away the family jewels faster than the blink of an eye, covered the
100 metres in a flash and was up the Caravans ladder quicker than a jackrabbit.
The door though was still chained open (a Caravan has an annoying system of
keeping the pilots door open and if you forget to unhook the chain before
entering the cockpit you need </span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt;">to
exit again and unhook it). Double dang. I was now in the aircraft but with the
door stuck open. The lion </span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt;">had
by now sauntered a bit closer to take a closer look at his possible next meal
and I sat rigid in the </span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt;">cockpit
wondering what the heck to do next. Would he figure out how to hop up the
stairs for a quick snack? </span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt;">I’ve
never been so scared in my life. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Thankfully he merely strolled around the
aircraft, yawned loudly and sauntered off into the bush again and I lived to
fly another day. The passengers soon arrived and I had to get out and pack all the
baggage into the pod but I did feel a bit better knowing that the lion would
now have a wider menu to choose from should he return for another look. And I
was also now rather expeditious at </span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt;">climbing
those stairs speedily. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 9.5pt;">Thankfully
the rangers were on hand to chase the offending creature with their vehicles
and we soon got airborne and headed for PE where my pax would begin their
journey back home.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRomanPS-BoldItalicMT","serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-BoldItalicMT;">The life of a charter pilot
– it cannot be beat!</span></i></b></div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-56753821154777499812013-12-08T18:06:00.001-08:002013-12-08T18:09:29.129-08:00A Hole In The Cloud<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Fans of aerial combat
will remember how Allied bombers over Germany looked for holes in the clouds to
descend through and then looked for their targets. When flying in the early
mornings, I had to use the same
technique to reach some destinations. This manoeuvre is not without its risks,
so I avoid it as much as I can. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In the early nineties
the GPS for aerial navigation was still an expensive equipment, costing more
than RM4,000 each. We flew using only maps and the magnetic compass. As the
latter swings erratically and takes a long time to stabilise whenever an
aircraft changes direction, another instrument called the Directional Gyro
Indicator (DGI) is used. This is a more reliable instrument but the pilot has
to regularly feed in the headings that he reads from the magnetic compass into
the DGI which always "drifts" as time passes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I was flying from
Sempang (the callsign for the RMAF base on Jalan Sungei Besi in Kuala Lumpur)
to Taman Negara in Pahang one cool morning. Taman Negara happens to be my favourite
weekend destination whenever I fly. It is only an hour's flight away and yet is
a thick tropical jungle protected by law and had existed for 130 million years
untouched by glaciers. It had clean rivers, cool waters and many rapids.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The sky was clear when
we left. Our flight plan was filed for Batu Caves, Bentong, Jerantut and then
Sungai Tiang which is the laterite airstrip located about five kilometres
downstream from Kuala Tahan, our eventual destination. It is the site of most
tourist amenities in the area. After Batu Caves, we passed Genting Highlands on our left and was
overhead Bentong airfield which in reality is a fairway on the Bentong golf
course. Overflying Bentong at our cruising altitude of 3,000 feet, we tracked direct for Jerantut which took us
to the right of and below the peak of the majestic Gunung Benum. However we
found that the cloud cover below us was thick and had blanketed the entire
terrain ahead of us leaving no landmark for us to refer to. Jerantut was up
ahead somewhere and we had to find it somehow since our subsequent leg to
Sungai Tiang was by following the Pahang River northwards beginning from
Jerantut.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We had an instrument on
board called the Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) which can be used to track a
radio signal from any radio station. This instrument is usually unreliable as
it will point to any electrical source nearby such as a cloud with an
electrical charge or some unknown radio transmission. Knowing that Jerantut has
a radio broadcasing station, I tuned the ADF to the station's frequency but
this time there was nothing heard and the needle pointer was rotating all over
the gauge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There was no other
choice but to find a hole in the cloud below us and go down it to see what
landmark lay below that we could recognise. Comparing our elapsed flight time
and airspeed with our navigation log, we should have just passed Jerantut. Luck
was with us and a reasonably sized hole in the white substance below us was
nearby. We had to go through it quickly or it may close back leaving us
stranded in the sky. The C172 is not a fighter plane that can zip down a hole
just like that. I had no dive brakes. If I were to simply dive the plane
through the hole, the gravity would accelerate it to a speed beyond its limit
and rip its wings off. After checking with Air Traffic Control that no other
traffic was nearby, I put the plane into a shallow spiral dive with twenty
degrees flaps and kept the airspeed near the limit. Peeping through the hole I
could see flat terrain below, so there was no danger of hitting a hill or something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">After what felt like
hours, we finally were below the cloud which was just a thousand feet above the
ground. Visibility was good. I looked around and saw a river not far off,
headed towards it and from its size knew that it was the right river although
Jerantut was nowhere to be seen. We headed north along it confirming the layout
with that on our map. Further upriver there were familiar-looking boats that
added to my confidence that we were at the right river. Taking the correct
forks as we flew on, we finally saw the Sungai Tiang airstrip and landed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lU4B_cnHm9o/UqUlAu6NK_I/AAAAAAAABBo/Xwjs3GPjOak/s1600/A+View+of+Sungai+Tiang+Airstrip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lU4B_cnHm9o/UqUlAu6NK_I/AAAAAAAABBo/Xwjs3GPjOak/s400/A+View+of+Sungai+Tiang+Airstrip.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I locked the plane up
and we walked to the jetty to wave down a boat, as I used to do, to take us on
a one and a half hour ride to Kuala Tahan. The cool breeze that blew as the
open boat trundled through the rapids was very welcome indeed (the normal
passenger boats usually have a canopy above to ward off the sun).</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eDrkmkUQiQ4/UqUk4soTblI/AAAAAAAABBg/m9BIdeUbUxo/s1600/Upstream+to+Kuala+Tahan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eDrkmkUQiQ4/UqUk4soTblI/AAAAAAAABBg/m9BIdeUbUxo/s400/Upstream+to+Kuala+Tahan.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We lunched at
the usual cafe, walked around and then took another boat back to the
airfield. This time the warming earth
had pushed the morning's cloud layer up a couple of thousand feet to form fast
growing cumulus hills that will not only affect our visibility but also make
the flight home a bumpy one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-74579454237334099022013-10-28T06:30:00.000-07:002013-10-28T06:33:56.536-07:00The Red Bull Air Race Returns<div style="text-align: justify;">
The last Red Bull Air Race (RBAR) was held at the EuroSpeedway racetrack in Lausitz, Germany on August 8, 2010. The race was won by Hannes Arch but the season's championship went to Paul Bonhomme who scored 64 against Arch's 60 points. Arch won 4 races and Bonhomme 2 in the 6-race 2010 season.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I thought that was the last we would hear of the RBAR but now I am overjoyed that it is starting again in 2014 and the icing on the cake is that the second race of the season will be held in Putrajaya, practically on my doorsteps. Hopefully I can shoot some nice videos of thr race myself. Below is my collection of videos that I purchased off the net and which covered previous RBARs.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Oo-mojgGYxY/Um5ml-obGNI/AAAAAAAAA3A/uGqdS8YT4VA/s1600/RBAR+Videos.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Oo-mojgGYxY/Um5ml-obGNI/AAAAAAAAA3A/uGqdS8YT4VA/s400/RBAR+Videos.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For 2014, I am counting on Arch to be the champion as his performance since his first participation in 2007 has been impressive. He won in 2008 and was second in 2009 and 2010.</div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-20722831116682411392013-07-22T02:02:00.000-07:002013-07-22T02:14:03.123-07:00Fly-In To Phuket<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Fly-Ins are always fun and I
decided to organise one in November of 1988 but with a big difference. The
destination was to be in a neighbouring country, Thailand, which I had never
flown to in a light aircraft before. It turned out to be most enjoyable but at
the same time it put the travelers through some unsavoury experience.<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Having no experience in such
undertakings, I consulted those who had made cross border flights before and
began by applying through our Malaysian Foreign Ministry for a diplomatic clearance
by the Thai authorities. This was done two months ahead of the event and after
I had made all the interested participants place sufficient funds with my
flying club to cover the aircraft rental and fuel expenses. The aircraft
particulars, route details as well as the names and passport numbers of the
pilots and passengers were furnished together with the application.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One week before our
departure date, I enquired from the Foreign Ministry about the Diplomatic
Clearance and was told that no news had been received from Thailand. I then
visited the local Thai Embassy and was advised to pursue the matter with our
Foreign Ministry as our application was made there and not through them. I
called the Ministry daily until the day before our scheduled departure. On the
eve of our departure at 6.00pm a call came from the Ministry with the
Diplomatic Clearance number. I immediately filed the flight plan with the
control tower quoting the reference number. All the group members were already
on tenterhooks by then as it had been a long wait without any indication that
the fly-in would materialise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We had only two C172s
available and had to turn away many members. Only those who paid first were
given places. I however managed to rent a PA22 from a flight training school on
condition the aircraft PIC was an instructor from the same school and that we would
bear his lodging expenses. I agreed to this and we therefore were able to
accommodate three more individuals excluding the pilot into the party.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9H0U0HyFHGI/Uez0HY-xwvI/AAAAAAAAAu4/Sd0r5VHbEJU/s1600/WMKF-WMKP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9H0U0HyFHGI/Uez0HY-xwvI/AAAAAAAAAu4/Sd0r5VHbEJU/s400/WMKF-WMKP.jpg" width="270" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first leg took us from Kuala
Lumpur to Penang, a two-hour flight at 4000ft and tracking via Batu Caves,
Rawang, Tg Malim, Teluk Intan, Sitiawan and Bagan Serai. Flying in company and
with weather being excellent, the three aircraft's crews and passengers had
spectacular views of the morning sun throwing its rays from the four o'clock
position onto the hills and plains to our left. As planned, we descended after
Bagan Serai for Penang International Airport where we landed one by one, refueled
and had some refreshments. As it was our point of exit from Malaysia, we went
through Customs and Immigration before taking off for our destination Phuket (it
is pronounced “poo kate’ and not with an F).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ITigCKXnK14/Uez0ae3IMQI/AAAAAAAAAvA/_Ss8wCAY0T4/s1600/WMKP-VTSP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ITigCKXnK14/Uez0ae3IMQI/AAAAAAAAAvA/_Ss8wCAY0T4/s400/WMKP-VTSP.jpg" width="272" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We took off in turn from
Runway 04 Penang, taking us over the city of Georgetown with its Komtar
building dominating the skyline and then the scenic beaches of Tanjung Bunga from
where we began our island hopping legs. After about forty minutes, Langkawi
Island appeared on the horizon like a legendary tropical isle. Overflying it,
we approached the international boundary further north into Thailand, an
airspace I had not flown in on my own before. From then on numerous islands of
varying sizes passed below us, each with its own white sandy beaches and rocky
outcrops. Among the larger islands were, as we flew northwards, Ko Tarutau, Ko
Ta Li Bong, Ko Lanta Yai, the two Ko Phi Phi's and Ko Yao Yai (“ko” means
island in the Thai language) before we swung left to Phuket airport. The most
spectacular was Big Phi Phi (Phi Phi Don) with its two crescent lagoons that
glimmered in the sunlight. The smaller Phi Phi Leh was more rocky but had
hidden beaches below the rocks and was the setting for both the movies
"Blue Lagoon" and "The Beach". I then realised how
fortunate I was to be able to have such magnificent views of the islands which
not many can have unless they fly that low.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Throughout the flight into
Thai airspace, the ATC service was excellent and we had not much difficulty in
communicating with the controllers. We were cleared for Runway 27 Phuket and
taxied down the long undulating runway to the parking ramp to the end on our
left. Immigration, customs and health checks proceeded without fuss and we were
soon on our way to our hotel on the touristy Patong beach. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The next morning, we
obtained clearance from the friendly ATC personnel to fly on a circuit around
the island at 1,000 feet and so all three aircraft took off on Runway 09,
turned right and began our clockwise journey over the several beautiful beaches
that ring the island. The flight was most exhilarating and soon we were back to
the airport for a landing. We stayed another night in Phuket partaking in the
delicious local cuisine and shopping for some clothing items.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sunday morning came and it
was time to head for the airport for our return flight. Upon arrival, we filed
our flight plans and were told that we had to pay for parking and landing fees
which came to US$100 per aircraft. This was something we never expected as back
home this would have amounted to not more than US$5 per aircraft. In response
to our disbelief, the controller showed us their book of charges which
indicated a minimum of US$50 per night for aircraft of below a certain weight.
We sensed that the rate probably applied to commercial aircraft but we realised
that we had to go home and the argument was not going to be settled soon or in
our favour. We paid up after collecting cash from the team members. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our ordeal had just begun.
With the receipt in my hand, we went through passport and customs checks.
Apparently immigration and customs officers on duty were working on overtime on
Sundays and needed to be paid. More cash was dispensed. Oh, they even issued us
receipts for these payments though we could not read what were written as there
were no English words on them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As we walked across the ramp
to our aircraft, we requested for the fuel bowser to be sent round for
refueling. Again another ingenious response came . The bowser driver was at
home as it was a Sunday but he could be summoned to come over if we agreed to
pay his taxi fare and overtime. We suspected he was just lazing behind the
office building. More cash was dispensed. Finally we were airborne again over
the scenic Andaman Sea with its beautiful islands as we winged our way south
for home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The episode did not end
then. Some weeks later we received an invoice from the Thai airport company
requesting for a further sum from us for "navigation charges" based
on the actual distances flown within Thai territory. I cannot recall the exact
sum but it was maybe another US$50 per aircraft. All the team members paid
their share as to act otherwise would mean putting our club on their blacklist and
causing future fly-in requests by our club members to be rejected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Upon my return, I described
our experience to a senior club member who responded with his own story of how
he faced a similar situation in Kupang, Indonesia when he flew there in our
club aircraft a few years earlier. In his case, he was told that the airport
had not received the diplomatic clearance telex from their head office and that
he would not be allowed to take off until the receipt of that telex. After a
small payment, the telex was found in a desk drawer somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="word-break: normal;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite the traps that may be
sprung upon a pilot landing his plane in a foreign country, the adventure
element in making a first flying visit to that destination may still goad him
to risk it. The satisfaction of seeing new places spread below one's eyes from
a thousand feet up and landing on foreign soil is irresistible. </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-77633078868877328202013-06-16T23:45:00.002-07:002013-06-18T23:06:14.277-07:00Sudden Wing Drops<div class="MsoNormal">
Early in our flying training we were warned about wing drops
i.e. one wing suddenly dropping (and the other rising consequently). This can happen
when there is insufficient lift generated on that particular wing and it stalls.
The loss of lift in turn can be caused by a drastic drop in airspeed caused by the
aircraft getting into too high an angle of attack but with insufficient thrust to
maintain it. Both wings can stall at the same time, in which case the pilot just has to perform the normal recovery. In many instances though, and
particularly with some aircraft, one wing will stall first and if the correct action
is not taken, the aircraft will enter a spin - a more serious situation than a stall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes though, that wing drop occurs due to a sudden drop
in airspeed arising from a change in wind direction or speed especially when it
is gusting. I was once caught in this situation as I was flying straight and level
on a windy day and suddenly the right wing rolled down sixty degrees and my passengers
were alarmed. On another occasion, I was
landing at Tioman Island and the sea breeze was gusting onto the runway. The aircraft
was just about 10 feet above the threshold when the left wing rolled down about
30 degrees. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On both occasions I instinctively kicked hard on the opposite
rudder and used as little aileron as possible and managed to right the aircraft
in time. I had learned from my instructors during early training that when the airspeed
is low, one cannot use too much aileron to right an aircraft. The wings do not have
enough airspeed to react to the ailerons' deflection and will fail to right the
aircraft. Only the wash from the propeller in front onto the empennage at the back
will be able to act on the deflected rudder and roll the wings back to level via
an indirect effect.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tried and true. <o:p></o:p></div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-31720915258857194302013-06-11T20:30:00.000-07:002013-06-11T20:30:08.442-07:00A Memorable Flight<div class="MsoNormal">
In the many flights that I had made over the years, of
course many are memorable ones but one that put a big smile on my face was when
I completed my first cross country flight into an international airport, one which
I had never flown to on my own before.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Planning the flight was a joy as I laid out the 1:500 map
and plotted my intended path, measured the distances of the legs and worked out
the details for my navlog entries. On the morning of the flight, I filed the
flight plan, checked the weather (which was forecasted to be good) and preflighted
the aircraft. It had two tanks full of fuel and with one passenger tagging along,
had just the right setup for a pleasant flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had over 20 PIC hours by then and confidently flew the
flight plan on VFR using the navlog and relating the ground features to the map
as we went along. Every inch of the flight was under ATC and I had no problem
with that as I switched from station to station on the way. GPS was too expensive
then, so concentration was really required to ensure we were always on track by
matching the ground features with the corresponding items on the map.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally we entered the penultimate leg but just then ATC directed
us to a location that was not in my flight plan. Fortunately I could find it on
the map. It was a small fishing village on the coast and we tracked towards it using
the compass and by looking at the shape of the coastline . That was the only heart
stopping event we encountered. We were told to hold over that village as we approached
it and so we just circled above it. There was airline traffic around the airport
at that time. Eventually we were cleared to descend and join right base for Runway
04. The airport is located on an island and there is a hill that flanks the seaward
side of the runway. We therefore had to track across the sea from the mainland while
descending to circuit height, join downwind on the other side of the hill from
the runway and continue until we could see the runway end before turning base.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were cleared to land and I touched down just after the piano
keys, turned off the runway at the next exit and was told to hold to allow a B737
to pass along the main taxiway in front of me. This was the first time ever that
I sat as a pilot in a plane watching a jetliner taxi right in front of my nose at
a busy airport. At that instant I imagined myself being at the controls of another
B737 just doing my job as an airline pilot. It was a totally different scenario
from what I was used to in my earlier flying days as a student pilot where the traffic
was mainly GA and some military aircraft.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--oSck_zfgmI/UbfqS5KiZFI/AAAAAAAAAs4/jHj1opV2wJg/s1600/Semarang+Airport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--oSck_zfgmI/UbfqS5KiZFI/AAAAAAAAAs4/jHj1opV2wJg/s400/Semarang+Airport.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A SIMILAR SCENE AT ANOTHER AIRPORT</div>
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were cleared to proceed to the ramp near the tower and as
we did other jetliners were pushing back for departure. The vista, sounds of jet
engines, ground vehicles crawling around and ATC chatter in my headphone were something
that gave me a glow of satisfaction, a feeling that I had arrived literally and
figuratively into the aviation world. How can I ever forget that wonderful day. <o:p></o:p></div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-91506638806570255632013-05-12T01:38:00.001-07:002013-08-29T07:13:52.167-07:00Learning From The Instructors<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As I reminisce, it seems that a lot had been added to my collection
of flying techniques since the day I had my first lesson. Yet I find that the
most critical and useful techniques were actually taught me during the first fifty
hours of flying. For this I have my instructors to thank for. I was lucky to have
had two highly competent individuals as my mentors.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first was Manjit. He was a tall handsome young man who was
collecting his hours before he could join the airlines. He was methodical in
presenting his preflight brief and would ask me quick questions on the aircraft
as we walked to it, inside it and later as we walked back for our debriefs. Questions
could vary from how much fuel could the tanks take to why the wings wash out at
the tips. In the air he would ask if the engine would cut out if he switched off
the ignition, and then as I said yes, proceeded to actually switch it off. Manjit
led me to my solo by which time I had the answers to most, if not all, the
questions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">After soloing, another instructor took over my training. Chandran
was a QFI (Qualified Flying Instructor) and was quite elderly with an above
average girth. He was soft-spoken and a man of few words. If he ever raised his
voice, it would be a scream to get me to add power when we were sinking too
fast or to go around when we were too high or in such similar situations.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like Manjit did, Chandran too made me master the mnemonics which
remain with me till today. From HASELL to TVMDC, the mnemonics will never be forgotten
and have been found to be useful in times of need.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Chandran had these tricks and formulae to make complex procedures
simple. With short and sharp instructions, he would guide me as to what the requirements
are for, say, a good approach. "Before base speed 80kts, flaps one, speed 70kts,
turn base and descend....turn to final to complete by 300ft AGL, flaps two...speed
65kts, descent rate 200fpm..." and on he went. Most of the time his formulae
worked and I lived by them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One of my favourite destinations was Tioman Island less than
two hours flying time away from my base. Although exotic in itself (the island “Bali
Hai” in the musical movie “South Pacific” is in real life that island), the
attraction to pilots is because its 900-metre runway is enclosed on three sides
by steep hill slopes and the fourth side by the sea.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JZKDR9ge0qg/UY9RA7K5NvI/AAAAAAAAArs/7iK2GMW_XMA/s1600/tio_guid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JZKDR9ge0qg/UY9RA7K5NvI/AAAAAAAAArs/7iK2GMW_XMA/s400/tio_guid.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">APPROACHING FROM THE WEST</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Only pilots checked out on the airport by an instructor are
allowed to land there. Chandran had a simple formula for landing there –
establish right base at 300ft AGL on feet dry, cling close to the hill on the
left while descending, turn final and select full flaps while skimming the
grove of coconut palms that stretch to the runway’s edge, then when clear of
the palms, cut power completely, push the aircraft down to the runway and
ensure that it drops on its main wheels carrier-style. “Don’t worry,” he said,
“the Cessna’s main undercarriage is made for heavy landings.” In later years, the runway was lengthened and the palms on the approach cleared away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4d6KZqBR6x4/UY9Q6QUEaaI/AAAAAAAAArk/yngUPUR5kVc/s1600/tio_land.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4d6KZqBR6x4/UY9Q6QUEaaI/AAAAAAAAArk/yngUPUR5kVc/s400/tio_land.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
CHANDRAN'S FORMULA</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(AFTER RUNWAY EXTENSION)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXchX_c5Iuk/UY9TCo6GzKI/AAAAAAAAAsA/sVDFkC_ZGB4/s1600/Tioman_runway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXchX_c5Iuk/UY9TCo6GzKI/AAAAAAAAAsA/sVDFkC_ZGB4/s400/Tioman_runway.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
EARLY BASE VIEW</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(BEFORE RUNWAY EXTENSION)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Wikipedia</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I have never had any problem landing at the island despite
tailwinds sometimes and I owe one to Chandran. As I continued flying over the
years, Manjit’s and Chandran’s words constantly echoed in my head guiding me to
do the right things as the situations demanded.</div>
</div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-52590824112632850852013-04-27T22:58:00.000-07:002013-08-29T07:15:30.175-07:00The Wonder of Cassini-Huygens' Voyage to Titan<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is not exactly an aviation story but I apologise for the diversion. The significance of the event that I am about to describe is as great as man's first flight in 1903. The Apollo manned landings on the moon and the successful return of the space travellers to earth are by themselves some of man's greatest feats. The work now being carried out by the Mars Exploration Rover on that planet's surface is yet another major achievement.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I am however very much impressed with the journey and landing of the Cassini-Huygens (CH) spacecraft on Titan, which is Saturn's largest moon. The distance between earth and Saturn is about 1.4 billion kilometres. It took CH seven years to reach Titan. For this to happen the planets have to be ideally aligned so that CH can use the gravitational slingshot effects of earth, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn to reach Titan with the fuel that was available on board. Man would have to wait another 600 years for this alignment to occur again!</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ukeXt2Dxiv0/UXyq0OZPR1I/AAAAAAAAAp8/Ni07tnioLp8/s1600/Cassini+Huygens+Routing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ukeXt2Dxiv0/UXyq0OZPR1I/AAAAAAAAAp8/Ni07tnioLp8/s400/Cassini+Huygens+Routing.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
What is so interesting about Titan? It is a cloud-shrouded moon which means it is somewhat like earth but scientists want to know what its surface is like underneath the thick red clouds which are mainly composed of nitrogen and some methane Scientists believe the reddish colour of the clouds come from a substance called tholin.. There is no oxygen on Titan thus precluding man from inhabiting it. Gravity on Titan is about one-sixth that of earth but the atmospheric pressure on its surface is 1.4 times that of earth due to the thick opaque clouds that hide its surface from us.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Huygens, the lander module of CH, has succesfully sent us images and data about Titan's surface. It is almost earth-like but due to the extremely cold temperatures, all water is frozen. Rivers abound but they are not of water, rather the fluid is liquid methane since methane has a much lower freezing point. Liquid methane flows from rivers into lakes but there are only a few lakes on Titan. Past erosion by these methane rivers have created canyons and valleys not unlike what is seen in Arizona.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There are also "volcanoes" on Titan but they spew "lava" consisting of water and ammonia which flow down the slopes. Because of the cold nature of the flows these "volcanoes" are called cryovolcanoes. Other surface features of Titan include craters created by the impact of objects from space but these are few. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
What about the surface material on Titan? Huygens' instruments and cameras show that the landing site is made of sand, pebbles and small rocks which are basically ice.</div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-42214909949701144752013-02-13T04:01:00.000-08:002013-08-29T07:22:50.827-07:00TRIBUTE TO THE LATE COL. (Rtd) ZAKARIA SALLEH<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The late Col. Zakaria Salleh (whom everyone called Zak) was a small-built pilot but his aerial exploits and the significant contributions he made to general aviation in Southeast Asia was legendary.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I first met Zak when he was teaching several of us to fly the Quicksilver ultralight during his spare time. We were flying at various open spaces which were pending development and as soon as construction work started at these sites, we had to move like nomads to new flying sites. At that time Zak held the rank of Flying Officer in the air force and was flying F5 jet fighters. I then lost touch with him as I progressed to Cessnas and flew at proper airfields.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Several years later, Zak started instructing at the Royal Selangor Flying Club where I was regularly flying from. He was ater elected the Club Captain and was responsible for all flying activities of the club. In this role he organised regular fly-ins, open days, flying competitions and air shows. I enjoyed participating in most of these events which took us to various airports and airstrips not only within Malaysia but also in the neighbouring countries. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iHmO_qvgYjQ/URsxg1yyWZI/AAAAAAAAAnA/DxETsO3ZcqE/s1600/Sitiawan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="277" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iHmO_qvgYjQ/URsxg1yyWZI/AAAAAAAAAnA/DxETsO3ZcqE/s400/Sitiawan.jpg" uea="true" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A FLY-IN TO PESTA LUMUT IN 1991<br />
Zak is circled The writer is second from left.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Subsequently Zak retired from the air force with the rank of Colonel and having flown various fighter types like the CL-41G Tutor, Northrop F5 and A4 Skyhawk. He then flew target tugs and later several bizjets for a living. His flying and organising skills were recognised and he was subsequently elected as President of the Malaysian Sports Aviation Federation which is the umbrella organisation for all sports aviation related bodies in the country.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Zak loved aerobatics and formation flying and would put on impressive flying maneouvres at various air shows in the region. He was most famous for leading the Eagle 150 Aerobatic Team which regularly took part in the country's Independence Day parade flypasts and in air shows overseas. On occasions where the Eagle aircraft were not available, he would call up several pilots from various flying clubs and still put on a commendable performance. I was glad to join in and fly on some of these events.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tkiE7tumMpI/URs9sKF4ZWI/AAAAAAAAAoI/wT9TiYgZ9oY/s1600/Formation+Flyers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tkiE7tumMpI/URs9sKF4ZWI/AAAAAAAAAoI/wT9TiYgZ9oY/s400/Formation+Flyers.jpg" uea="true" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PILOTS AFTER A FORMATION FLIGHT<br />
(Zak is circled. The writer is second from right)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Eagle 150 was a highly aerobatic aircraft and in the hands of someone like Zak, it was capable of some magnificient stunts that never failed to impress crowds. Zak, however, yearned for more. He went out and bought a dedicated aerobatic aircraft, the Christen Eagle, from the US. This was the aircraft he loved and with it he went on to mesmerise the crowds with his superb flying skills.</div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-guiqK1eh2_4/URsv4kbk4YI/AAAAAAAAAm0/yv7_Amv-Vr0/s1600/300px-Christen_Eagle_II_N49AE_EDST.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-guiqK1eh2_4/URsv4kbk4YI/AAAAAAAAAm0/yv7_Amv-Vr0/s400/300px-Christen_Eagle_II_N49AE_EDST.jpg" uea="true" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A CHRISTEN EAGLE AEROBATIC AIRCRAFT<br />
(Wikipedia)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
On June 23, 2011, while performing aerobatics in front of an air show crowd in Padang, Indonesia, his Christen Eagle slid down from a vertical climb and crashed to the ground. His wife, Leila, was watching from the stands. Zak passed away in hospital shortly after.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDJ8dhWlERg/URs62MeumyI/AAAAAAAAAns/vH3pXOsIWik/s1600/Zak+&+BDZ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDJ8dhWlERg/URs62MeumyI/AAAAAAAAAns/vH3pXOsIWik/s400/Zak+&+BDZ.jpg" uea="true" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ZAK LEADING HIS EAGLE 150 OUT OF A HANGAR IN PEKANBARU AIRPORT</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
To Leila and the family, I send my deepest condolence. Zak was a good friend and helpful at all times especially in my flying activities. He is well-known in the flying fraternity in Malaysia as well as in the neghbouring countries. We shall always remember him.</div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-20842136201058848122013-01-18T23:53:00.002-08:002013-01-18T23:56:34.771-08:00A Vulcan Bombed Port Stanley Airport<div style="text-align: justify;">
Just saw a video on YouTube about the bombing of Port Stanley airport in the Falklands by a single Avro Vulcan V-bomber during the British-Argentinian war over the islands in 1982. The Americans would have turned it into a Hollywood blockbuster but the British just made it into a TV documentary but it sure had all the elements of a thriller such as the longest bombing run in history, a return-to-base by a back-up bomber due to loss of pressurisation, a fuel shortfall that meant being unable to reach home, mid-air refeelling in a thunderstorm, a 300ft AGL approach towards the target area and lots more.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The crew members of the mission were the "actors" and most of the shots were actual scenes during the war. It is heartwarming to see the survivors recalling the moments 30 years after the event.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Of course, what grab me are the live shots of the Vulcans and Victors which I have written about in another post (RAAF Butterworth) in this blog.<br />
<br />
Go to <a href="http://youtu.be/40knj0qg_Us">XM607 - Falklands' Most Daring Raid</a> and enjoy the show.</div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-40731019761065630012012-09-29T08:14:00.000-07:002014-04-21T21:07:56.509-07:00RAAF Butterworth<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base in the town of Butterworth, Malaysia was a military airbase run by the RAAF and is currently a Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) Station after it was handed back to the Malaysian government in 1988. The history of the base goes back to 1941 when the British colonial government set up the Royal Air Force (RAF) Station there to defend the then British Peninsular Malaya from the looming threat of invasion by the Japanese Imperial Forces at the advent of WWII.</div>
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THE BUS RIDE</div>
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My interest in that airfield was ignited from a bus ride which I took as a young boy from Kangar, Perlis back home to Butterworth in the mid-50's. At that time the airfield's only runway ran from the west starting from the beach facing Penang Island to the east overlooking the lush padi fields of Sungai Dua. The north-south road from Kangar in the north to the town of Butterworth crossed the airfield's runway about half a kilometer from the beach. So when an aircraft took off or landed, traffic on the road was stopped on both sides of the runway giving the bus passengers a grand view of all the aircraft movements on the runway. </div>
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STOPPING NORTH OF RUNWAY (circa 1950's)</div>
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I knew nothing about planes then, so it is now impossible for me to say for certain what those jets were. The jets had taxied from my left, crossed the road we were on, made a U-turn at the runway end on my right and either proceeded to take off to the left or entered their dispersal area in that direction. The jet sound was loud and whiny typical of early generation jets, the markings were bold and colourful, the aircraft's base colour was metallic blue, the aircraft sat low on the ground and there were two pilots in flight overalls and flying helmets in each aircraft. They looked like the T37 "Tweetie Birds" one sees in the web pages and could have been the De Havilland Venoms. The image and the sound are still fresh in my mind today after more than 57 years!</div>
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A SCHOOL BESIDE AN AIRBASE</div>
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In 1959 I entered secondary school and it was a brand new school with me as one of its first students ever. There was a new runway being used (36/18) which was much longer than the west-east runway that I saw some years before. That former runway was put out of use after the new runway was completed. Situated less than a kilometer southwest of this new runway's 36 end, we had a good view of the threshold through the coconut palms that surrounded that part of the airfield. I presume that most of the flights started from that end as I was yet to see aircraft taking off in the direction of my school. With the jet nozzles pointing south towards my school, each takeoff is an aural experience hard to forget and the teacher had to stop speaking while all eyes would be on the runway until all the aircraft had taken off. We got used to the jet blasts after a while and no longer deemed them a nuisance.<br />
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TUDM STATION BUTTERWORTH</div>
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SABRES<br />
From our playing field, we would see the Sabres (actually Rolls Royce-powered Commonwealth CA27 Sabres) making their rectangular left-handed circuits by first passing between us and the Runway 36 on our right, turning crosswind in front of us, then downwind to our left and curving behind us to land back to our right. The Sabres would usually fly in a right echelon of four with each one peeling off after another to enter crosswind.<br />
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CA27 SABRE</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">Looking south from our classroom we would see the Sabres one by one curving in to land, each one filling up almost a third of our glass-louvred classroom window. The speed brakes and landing gear would be already extended and sometimes the bubble canopy would be pushed back slightly to let some fresh air in (imagine one being fully clothed and helmeted with the oxygen mask covering most of one's face and the baking sun piercing the clear canopy). More often than not, the pilot would add in a bit of power </span>to reduce his descent rate right<span class="Apple-style-span"> in front of our class window and we just loved hearing the sweet hiss-whine-roar of the turbines spooling up. That scene is certainly unforgettable and we got to see it every school day.</span></div>
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CANBERRAS<br />
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The next most common aircraft were the English Electric Canberras which I noticed were of two types - the reconnaisance version (PR7) with a clear perspex nose and the bomber version (B1) without it. I remember that there was a red lightning logo on the tail which could well be the squadron emblem. The Canberra had two of the Sabre's engines, so even without looking up I could always tell whether it was the Sabre or the Canberra that was flying up there. Being bulkier and a bomber at that, the Canberra was never seen doing circuits but perhaps they did do circuits. Maybe the circuit legs were too far out for us kids to see.</div>
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CANBERRA B2</div>
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TRANSPORTS</div>
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Among the cargo/passenger aircraft operating from the base were some DC3 Dakotas, the wide bellied Vickers Valettas (one can be seen in the first photo above) and a later addition, the Lockheed C130 Hercules (which marked the end of the radial engined aircraft like the DC3s and Valettas). While the DC3 and Valetta's huge engines shook the ground and shattered the air with their deep throated exhaust sounds, the C130's four turbines emitted equally loud whines which blended with the sound-barrier-breaking propeller tips' blasts to rattle the ground.</div>
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HELICOPTERS</div>
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Here again I witnessed the transition from piston to turboshaft engines. In the late 50's there were the Westland S55 Whirlwinds which were later replaced by the Bristol Sycamores. Both types had piston engines and were probably RAF rather than RAAF (though I may be wrong here). They were all completely yellow, which I believe was the colour of search and rescue (SAR) aircraft. I was told that some Whirlwinds were also based atop Penang Hill. The Whirlwind was what I believed a helicopter should look like but the Sycamore when squatting on the ground looked like someone had bent its tail down in anger.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the early 60's I began to see the RAAF Bell UH-1 Iroquois replacing the Sycamores. The UH-1 was the iconic helicopter used in the Vietnam war where it was called "Huey". Using a powerful turboshaft engine and a two-blade rotor, the aircraft was painted a dark brown making it look vicious. The whine and roar from the engine was typical of turbine engines but there were another two sounds to it that make this my favourite helicopter sound. One was the deep motorcycle-like throb and the other the "whupp, whupp" of the long rotor blades as they cut through the air.</span></div>
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RAAF BELL UH-1</div>
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OTHER RESIDENTS</div>
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Until the early 60's I could see both RAF and RAAF aircraft stationed there. The Valettas were certainly British as well as a few of the DC3s and C130s. Other resident aircraft that were probably used for currency checks for desk-bound pilots included the De Havilland Vampire and the Bell 47 helicopter.</div>
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VAMPIRE</div>
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BELL 47</div>
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VISITORS</div>
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From the late 50's to the early 60's I had the privilege of seeing various visiting aircraft to the base. They either flew in from foreign bases of the RAF, from RAAF's Australian bases or from aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy that quite frequently sailed through the Malacca Straits. Some would stay for just a week or two while some would remain for a few months. </div>
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From the RAF, there were the Gloster Meteors, the Gloster Javelins, the long-nosed Armstrong-Whitworth Meteor night fighters and the V-Bombers. The Meteor was good-looking with oversized engine nacelles and a rounded tailfin/rudder assembly. The Rolls Royce Derwent engines produced a pleasant high-pitched "groan" that was softer than the ghostly sound of the Vampire's single Goblin engine. The long-nosed Meteor, resembling the Canadian CF100 Canuck, had night radar equipment housed in its nose and looked quite different from the day fighter version though it used the same engines. They were later replaced by the delta-winged Gloster Javelin all-weather interceptors, each powered by two loud Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire engines that pounded the runway on takeoffs.</div>
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GLOSTER JAVELIN</div>
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The V-Bombers were huge but shapely jet bombers and were all-white in colour though in the later years they sported camouflaged upper surfaces. Their designs were ahead of their time, the Valiant being swept-winged, the Victor crescent-winged and the Vulcan delta-winged.</div>
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AVRO VULCAN, VICKERS VALIANT AND HANDLEY PAGE VICTOR</div>
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They were based in Butterworth during the Indonesian Confrontation period (1962-1966) and could have been significant players in keeping the Indonesia forces at bay. During one of our school's conducted tours of the base, I had a close look at the Victor and managed to catch a glimpse of the inside of its cockpit as its door was open. It was very impressive indeed.</div>
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Two other interesting visitors from the RAF were the really huge four-engined Blackburn Beverly and the dual-rotored Westland Belvedere helicopter. The Beverly had 18-cylinder radial piston engines that were absolutely loud and the top of its tail was a couple of stories high..</div>
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The Royal Navy aircraft were spectacular to say the least. My first view of a carrier-based fighter was of the De Havilland Sea Venom which probably flew in from the carrier "Ark Royal" that frequented Penang a few times in those days. It resembled the Vampire in shape but was slightly larger, had a crew of two and was powered by a De Havilland Ghost engine. My classmates and I used to wait among the bushes fringing the runway's 18 end immediately after school just to watch the Venoms land from the 36 end, made U-turns and taxied back in front of us to their dispersal. The crews would open their canopies and wave to us as they taxied by.</div>
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Another spectacular naval aircraft was the Supermarine Scimitar which always approached with an unusually high angle of attack looking like it was standing on its tail. This of course required a high power setting, the two Rolls Royce Avons producing a very loud blast that was audible a couple of miles away.</div>
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SUPERMARINE SCIMITARS</div>
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One interesting visitor from a carrier was the Fairey Gannet antisubmarine aircraft. A fat-bodied fairly large aircraft, it had a set of two contra rotating propellers mounted on a single shaft that extended in front of its twin turboprop Hawker Siddeley Double Mamba engines producing a unique whine and roar. Another of its unique features was the huge radome under the nose which probably housed its sonar and radar equipment.</div>
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FAIRY GANNET</div>
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There were two aircraft types that were used by the RAF during that period which I never got to see flying, even though at least one type was actually based in neighbouring Singapore. They were the sleek and beautiful Hawker Hunter and the ultrafast English Electric Lightning. However I did manage to get a close look at the Lightning seven years later at the Farborough Air Show and the Hunter at one of the museums somewhere else.</div>
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The Vietnam War was at its peak in the 60's and a few US military aircraft did make visits to Butterworth, apparently moving casualties out of the war zone. I saw some C74 Globemasters which were huge four-engined turboprop transports and to my delight some F105 Thunderchiefs which were fast and awesome looking fighter-bombers that liked to fly low above the airfield (one of them did an impressive vertical climb right in front of my eyes). One aircraft which I would have liked to see was the CH-47 Chinook dual-rotor helicopter.</div>
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BASE VISITS & AIR SHOWS</div>
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For a couple of years the RAF and RAAF opened their doors annually to visitors with static and flying displays of their aircraft. These had a big influence on me and made me want to be a fighter pilot. The RAAF had an aerobatic team of Sabres which performed quite impressively at these shows. Our school also had close links with the base authorities and we used to go and swim at the base pool every Wednesday morning. There was also an occasion when we kids were taken on a conducted tour of the base. Besides walking around a Victor strategic bomber and a Vampire, I also had a chance to inspect the cockpit of a Sabre jet.</div>
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REPLACEMENTS</div>
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After 1963, I had to move away from Butterworth and lost touch with the movement of aircraft at the base. However, I knew that the Sabres and Canberras had been replaced with the RAAF's Dassault Mirage IIIs.</div>
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In the mid-70's I was posted to Penang and by coincidence handled the banking account of the RAAF Butterworth. Once a week I would travel to the base to attend to their banking needs. Once I was driven within sight of the long row of Mirages parked to the left of Runway 36. That was the first time I saw the aircraft. There were a few people I dealt with then and I remember some of the civilian officers as Jim Sweeney and a certain Mr Prowse. There was also a handsome Squadron Leader by the name of Jim Dickson. In fact they even had me in their homes during Christmas.</div>
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On one occasion, I saw a visiting RAAF F-111 Aardvark swing-wing bomber beating the base up at just above the flagpole that stood near the main gate of the base. The pole actually swung from the downwash off the aircraft's extended wings.</div>
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By that time, the Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) was already sharing the base with the RAAF and was operating the Northprop F5E twin-engined jet fighters as well as some of the former RAAF Sabres donated by the Australian government. The RAF had completely evacuated some time earlier. Today the base is solely occupied by the TUDM as a station and is the home of its BAE Hawks, Aermacchi MB339s. Sikorsky S61s, Northrop F5Es and Boeing F/A-18D Hornets.</div>
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P.S. A sad development reported in The Sun on 6 February 2014:</div>
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-38989456560820713132012-08-17T02:27:00.001-07:002012-11-21T01:36:08.636-08:00Crosswind Landings and A Surprise 35-knot Headwind<div style="text-align: justify;">
WEATHER</div>
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Malaysia is considered a mild climate country as there is no extreme temperature. Most of the time it lies between 28C to 33C in the afternoon with a drop of about 3C in the early morning in the lowlands where most people live. Similarly winds in Malaysia rarely reach above 20 knots, so pilots generally have little experience in handling strong crosswinds during landing. For mild crosswinds, some training in crabbing and sideslipping techniques for landing is usually made mandatory .</div>
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LANDING TECHNIQUES</div>
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In the former, the nose of the aircraft is deliberately pointed at an angle into the wind to counteract the otherwise sideways drift leewards. So, instead of pointing straight towards the runway, the aircraft is "crabbed" towards it. Moments before the wheels touch the runway, the nose is swung back to align with the centreline on the runway so that the wheels will roll forward as normal and not be dragged sideways causing the aircraft to skip or even topple on its side.</div>
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The latter technique involves lowering the windward wing while keeping the nose pointed straight towards the runway. The resulting sideways lift of the wings will counteract the otherwise leeward drift. The disadvantage of this technique is that the plane will sink faster towards the ground as the wings' vertical lift is now reduced by its sideways component which was created by banking the wings windward. The advantage of this technique, however, is that one can come in higher than normal and still be able to land on the threshold (a spot just after the edge of the runway marked with white stripes nicknamed "piano keys").</div>
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I have occasionally used both techniques over the course of my flying years but there was one instance when I could not use them and had to quickly devise my own technique. This was because this time the wind was coming from the front at about a 15-degree tangence but the wind speed was 35 knots!</div>
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THUNDERSTORM</div>
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Here is how it all started. It was a bright day and I thought I would put in a half-hour to one-hour flight within the training area called R218. This area is a reasonably wide corridor that lies roughly between Kajang (2 minutes away from Sempang, our home airfield) and Semenyih. It has an upper limit of 2,500 feet and is used for training purposes as well as a transit lane for flights to and from the south. I scanned the sky before preflighting the aircraft and noted some rain clouds in the distance over Subang 6 miles away. They did not look threatening at all.</div>
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After obtaining Air Traffic Control (ATC) clearances, I took off and practised some manoeuvres within the training area. After about 30 minutes, ATC radioed me that the weather was closing in on the airfield and I was advised to return to base. As I neared Bukit Besi overlooking the airfield, there was a huge dark cloud hanging right on top of the runway and ATC advised that I was cleared to land with the surface wind indicating 200 degrees at 35 knots. Never had I heard such a strong wind from any ATC before but I believed it because that huge cumulonimbus cloud had a base at only around 2,000 feet. I could see the trees around the airfield swaying wildly. ATC then came on with a polite question "Do you need any assistance?" which they always say when they think a pilot or an aircraft might be in trouble.<br />
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LANDING<br />
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I assessed the situation as I turned right to join downwind at 1,000 feet for a left-handed pattern for Runway 22. With the wind almost head on at 35 knots and my normal final approach speed at 60 knots, my airspeed would show 95 knots when I touch down but the ground speed would be just 60 knots. This could not be the usual landing using flaps anymore as the flap limiting speed is only 80 knots and an airspeed of 95 knots might just rip them off. A flapless approach at an airspeed of 105 knots (normal flapless approach is at 70 knots) would just do the job, so I told ATC "Final, no flaps" which he acknowledged. By that time the sky had opened up and heavy rain was pouring on the aircraft and the airfield. It was a totally new experience for me to see the Airspeed Indicator (ASI) showing more than 100 knots as I touched down smoothly without flaps. All my previous no-flap landings over the years had not more than 70 knots or thereabouts on the ASI, so it was hard to believe that I was doing what I did as I descended the last 300 feet onto the runway and rolled out. The arithmetic has once again been proven - 105 knots on the ASI with a 35-knot headwind is equal to a 70-knot landing.<br />
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PARKING IN THE WATER<br />
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I thanked the ATC as I taxied into the ramp and stopped the aircraft. Another problem had however just cropped up. There was no umbrella in the plane and there was no way I could run into the hangar without getting drenched to the skin. So I waited it out in the cockpit for about half an hour before the rain finally eased. By then the aircraft's wheels were totally submerged in water. I removed my shoes and socks, rolled up my pant legs and waded to the hangar. So much for the Malaysian weather, a short flight in a bright sky can turn into a freaking thunderstorm and flooding in less than 45 minutes.<br />
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-47548842426283933452012-08-13T21:40:00.000-07:002012-08-13T22:08:04.355-07:00The Annual Haze (meaning Smoke)<div style="text-align: justify;">
Every year during the dry season West Peninsular Malaysia is covered with a blanket of smoke which the press strangely calls haze. This affects air traffic especially the smaller aircraft which do not have sophisticated navigation equipment. However the worst effect of the smoke is on health with many asthmatic and other lung ailment sufferers heading to hospitals for treatment. The smoke gets worse if no rain occurs.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vWNfP0KF574/UCnUZZio7pI/AAAAAAAAAfg/CkKiFC3z68k/s1600/Ascot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" mda="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vWNfP0KF574/UCnUZZio7pI/AAAAAAAAAfg/CkKiFC3z68k/s400/Ascot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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SMOKE ENGULFS KL'S GOLDEN TRIANGLE</div>
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<strong>What is the cause of the smoke?</strong></div>
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Sometimes it is the palm oil mills within the country itself that burn palm oil husk as fuel to sterilize the fresh fruit bunches in the process of manufacturing crude palm oil. Having flown over many parts of the country at a few thousand feet above the ground, I have witnessed extensive pollution of the air from these mills especially on flights between KL and Melaka and between KL and Ipoh. In Melaka especially, the airport can hardly be seen when one is just 5 miles away. It gets pretty dangerous as there are many aircraft from the flying training school flying around the airport and we can hardly see them. The smoke can be clearly seen streaming out of the mill chimney and spread around by the wind covering an area of perhaps 60 square miles.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WI_mUUBh7zg/UCnVMZZxmCI/AAAAAAAAAfw/g8N21DCcHIg/s1600/Palm+Oil+Mill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" mda="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WI_mUUBh7zg/UCnVMZZxmCI/AAAAAAAAAfw/g8N21DCcHIg/s400/Palm+Oil+Mill.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A PALM OIL MILL IN OPERATION</div>
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The other source of the smoke is from Sumatra in Indonesia where forest is burned to cultivate oil palm. As palm oil is a major export for both Malaysia and Indonesia, much of the agricultural land is planted with oil palm. On satellite images, the "hotspots" where open burning occurs can clearly be pinpointed.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VUm8JVUps4A/UCncV-GYKCI/AAAAAAAAAgc/bXggeMnF73U/s1600/Hotspots.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" mda="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VUm8JVUps4A/UCncV-GYKCI/AAAAAAAAAgc/bXggeMnF73U/s400/Hotspots.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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HOTSPOTS ON 14 AUGUST 2012</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Courtesy of NOAA and Malaysian Meteorological Department</span></div>
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Yet another important source of the smoke is peat soil burning where the burning may occur deep underground after being ignited on the surface. Swamps generate peat which is used as fuel in many countries because it has high carbon content.</div>
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In one of my flights to Pekanbaru in Sumatra, I experienced thick smoke all the way. It was difficult for me to discern if the smoke came from deliberate burning of land for cultivation or accidental burning of peat land.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XVg3ejMHwEE/UCnU4OE2jdI/AAAAAAAAAfo/1b0vNeSWBAU/s1600/Dumai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" mda="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XVg3ejMHwEE/UCnU4OE2jdI/AAAAAAAAAfo/1b0vNeSWBAU/s400/Dumai.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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DUMAI AIRPORT EN ROUTE TO PEKANBARU</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i8HngDLb6yE/UCnVaSgjQ7I/AAAAAAAAAf4/VWhhcXVTzAM/s1600/Approach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" mda="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i8HngDLb6yE/UCnVaSgjQ7I/AAAAAAAAAf4/VWhhcXVTzAM/s400/Approach.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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SEARCHING FOR PEKANBARU AIRPORT</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HzDVV3tnWd0/UCnVr4D6WyI/AAAAAAAAAgA/8VJ1eyhlI8o/s1600/Approach+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" mda="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HzDVV3tnWd0/UCnVr4D6WyI/AAAAAAAAAgA/8VJ1eyhlI8o/s400/Approach+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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AIRPORT VISIBLE IN THE SMOKE</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">FOR MORE PICTURES VISIT</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21898801@N03/sets/72157618604392914/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/21898801@N03/sets/72157618604392914/</a></div>
warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-89038193210881725182012-08-13T02:44:00.002-07:002012-08-13T02:44:51.211-07:00Mysterious Incident In Good Weather<div style="text-align: justify;">
One incident that occurred while I was flying remains a mystery to me until today. It was during a flight home from Tioman Island to KL (Tioman being the island I fly to most often for reasons the reader will ultimately find out as he or she continues to read my blogs).</div>
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The weather was simply beautiful at that time which was around six in the evening and we were flying at 2,500 feet. When we were roughly abeam Genting Highlands on our right I saw the RPM Indicator suddenly reading 2,450 rpm (which for the C172 means that the propeller was turning at that speed). Normal cruise setting is usually 2,200 to 2,300 rpm during level flight.</div>
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I automatically assumed that the plane was diving because only when a plane is diving will the RPM increase by itself ( a result of gravity pulling the plane down and increasing its speed). So I pulled the control column back to maintain level flight and reduced the power by pulling the throttle lever back towards me. I managed to hold the nose level by pulling back hard on the control column and holding it there but the throttle lever was forcefully pulling itself back into the instrument panel. I pulled the throttle lever back again with all my strength but the engine responded by again pulling it back into the panel. The altimeter was showing that we were descending at about 100 feet per minute with my nose level which is not too alarming.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CSWTOzC9GDw/UCjKzv3MUwI/AAAAAAAAAeo/E9pQXQatqw8/s1600/C172+Panel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" mda="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CSWTOzC9GDw/UCjKzv3MUwI/AAAAAAAAAeo/E9pQXQatqw8/s400/C172+Panel.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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This tug of war between myself and the engine continued a few times and I was fearful that the throttle cable behind the panel would snap because the force that was pulling it back in was really great. If it had snapped, the engine would turn at maximum speed and, if prolonged, damage itself. Worse still I would then lose control of the delinquent aircraft. I looked at the Airspeed Indicator to see if the speed of the aircraft had increased correspondingly and it was up to about 100 knots, which is on the fast side but not yet in the danger zone. Probably by pulling hard on the control column I had managed to keep the plane's speed within limits (high speed can weaken the aircraft's structure).</div>
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There was nothing else I could do other than pray that the situation would not worsen. I had three passengers with me who had never flown in a small plane before this and I could not let them see that I was in trouble. I decided to descend a bit lower as we would soon be required by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to maintain 1,500 feet as we enter the KL control zone. This enabled me to reduce the pressure I was putting on the control column and I also would be able to test if the engine RPM would increase further as we descended. Just as suddenly as it started, the engine RPM normalised and became controllable again. I could pull the throttle lever back and forth without forcing it. Pressure on the control column was also relieved.</div>
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After changing the radio frequency from Lumpur Information's to Sempang Tower's, I was mighty glad to be able to speak to my home airport controllers again. What a satisfying feeling it was to land the aircraft as normal and without my passengers noticing any difference. It could have been a different story though.</div>
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I asked around but none of the pilots I spoke to had experienced it the way I did. I asked the engineer to check the plane thoroughly after the flight and he found nothing out of the normal. My guess is that I had entered an area of clear air turbulence (CAT) where there was a strong downdraft coming from the front of the aircraft. This would have increased both my propeller RPM and the airspeed while causing the plane to descend. However I still cannot believe the really strong force that was pulling the throttle lever back into the panel.</div>
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-76984802356093259982012-08-10T20:02:00.001-07:002012-08-13T17:53:54.274-07:00Does Flying Kill?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The answer is a definite yes. However there are precautions one can take to lessen the probability of that happening.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A. LOSS OF CONTROL</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If the pilot is caught in a situation where he has lost control of the plane due to:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">a) jammed or severed control links or</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">b) damaged or detached control surfaces</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">c) incapacitation</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">d) his seat has slipped and moved away from the controls for some reason and he is not able to reach them again</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">the plane will likely go down with the weight of the engine pulling the rest of the plane with it. Even if the engine is running perfectly, the inability of the pilot to maintain straight and level flight will mean gravity will take over and the plane will dive towards the ground with an increase in the rate of descent as it drops in altitude.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">B. ENGINE FAILURE</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If the plane is in perfect condition but all the engines fail, his survival depends on:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">a) how near he is to a safe landing site and his altitude. He should not be too low as he needs to glide over that distance to the selected landing site or until he can make a midair restart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Two famous incidents where the planes lost all power but managed to land with no loss of life are the US Airways Flight 1549 which landed on the Hudson River and British Airways Flight 38 which landed short of Heathrow Airport's runway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">b) If the plane has more than one engine and one fails, he is still able to fly to the nearest airport and land safely on the other engine(s) using asymmetric flying techniques.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">C. RESPECT THE WEATHER</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many aircraft incidents (other than from pilot error) are due to weather:</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">a) a violent storm in a rain cloud may rip the aircraft apart</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">b) hailstones may damage parts of an aircraft such as the propellor or control surfaces</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">c) ice may build up in the engine and block air or fuel from reaching it</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">d) ice may also accumulate on the wings altering their shape and making them lose their aerodynamic lift as well as increasing drag</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">e) visibility in a cloud may be so poor that the pilot cannot see an obstacle ahead. A billowing cloud may be nice to look at from afar and on a bright and sunny day but it is a totally different scenario from inside it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Very often a pilot begins his flight in good weather but later encounters bad weather on his route. While most airliners can fly higher to avoid weather, small aircraft may not be able to do so and the pilot must decide whether to continue, divert to a safer airport or even return to his airport of origin.His decision can be a matter of life or death.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have been in situations where even turning back has to be ruled out because clouds have begun to move in behind me. One then has to fly lower so as to be below the cloud base. This situation often happens in hilly areas because the moist winds move up the slopes and cool as they rise. The moisture then turns into clouds. When faced with this situation,a pilot has to "scud run" meaning he has to weave along the bottom of the valleys. He just prays that there is no dead end or a huge obstacle at the next turn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">D. SKILL AND EXPERIENCE</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A pilot needs to be skilled to survive. Besides being meticulously trained, he needs the experience to enable him to foresee problems before they crop up, to read the weather, to understand the locality in which he flies, to know the capabilities and limitations of his aircraft and to remain calm and disciplined when faced with an emergency. An experienced pilot can tell when there is something not right with his aircraft by the feel of the control column, the attitude (position in relation to the horizon), the sound and vibration of the engine, etc.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There are certain emergency situations that a pilot can practice for. These include engine failure, fire during flight or on the ground, wheel brake failure, landing gear failure, electrical failure and other system malfunctions. The steps and procedures to overcome these must be followed precisely and repeatedly until they become second nature to him. When an actual emergency arises, he will automatically carry out the procedure on reflex as there usualy is insufficient time to think anymore.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">E. PREPARATION</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">All flights begin with preparation. The route must be drawn up with the required waypoints, altitudes, speeds and possible diversions (alternate airports) in case of weather changes or emergencies. Even the alternate airports have to be screened to ensure that they have the required runway length and facilities for refueling, etc. Weather forecasts for the length of the route have to be studied and the route modified accordingly.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The pilot himself must be in good condition with sufficient rest and food and appropriately clothed. If flying over water, life jackets must be carried. Survival equipment and first aid kit must also be on board. The aircraft must be in good flying condition with sufficient fuel including reserve in the tanks. The fuel must be checked for possible contamination.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A series of checks must be carried out before, during and after each flight. Comprehensive check lists are used to avoid missing anything. Missing a small check on the ground can mean a big problem in the air. If a fuel cap or baggage door is not secure, it may open in flight and there will be no volunteer to crawl out of the plane and re-secure it at a thousand feet above the ground. Similarly if one miscalculates the fuel quantity required, the aircraft may have to make an emergency landing on top of a tree.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">F. A LESSON LEARNT </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I had a not so funny experience once when flying with another pilot. It was a flight from KL to Tioman Island and back. I prepared the navlog (navigation log detailing the waypoints, compass headings, altitudes, leg times, etc.) for my outbound flight to Tioman and since the other pilot was to fly the return leg, I assumed that he had done the same for that leg. When we took off to return to KL, he asked me for the heading to fly. I mentally reversed all the compass directions from my navlog and gave him the first heading to follow. I had however absent mindedly given him the reverse of the first heading on my navlog, which was the KL-Kajang leg of 150 degrees, so reversing it resulted in 330 degrees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It normally takes 34 minutes over the sea in a westerly direction to reach the next waypoint of Kuala Rompin. After thirty minutes out from Tioman we saw the coast some distance away to our left and sensed that something was not right. We nevertheless continued towards the coast and found ouselves over Kuantan,which is 100km to the north of where we were supposed to be. We had wasted some fuel by taking that diagonal track to the coast and now we had to take a longer route than planned to reach KL.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">At that time the refueling facility at our home base in KL was unserviceable and all pilots were required to refuel at Subang airport nearby before returning, so we tracked for Subang. All this meant that we had to fly longer than our planned flight and our fuel was running low. At one point the engine sputtered for a number of seconds but then resumed running. We prayed that we really could reach Subang. This we miraculously did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When the refueler looked into our tanks they were shocked to find no fuel inside. A failure to prepare a simple navlog could have spelt disaster for us. There were no GPSs those days (or they were too expensive then). Today, that incident would not have happened as a GPS will tell you exactly which heading to follow.</span></div>
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Perhaps another lesson learned from this episode is to always double check the information given you by another crew member. Even if one is told "the external checks have been completed", "we have 40 gallons of fuel", or "the minimum safety altitude is 2,500 feet", etc., it is wise to take a second independent look. In the above case, Kuala Rompin is directly to the west of Tioman, so a heading of 330 degrees should have made us question it. Sometimes when we are busy doing something else or in a hurry, simple things like that are missed.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">DISCIPLINE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is probably the greatest life saver to a pilot. Without it, a pilot's life may be short. As they say, there are no old bold pilots. As the captain of an aircraft, he must make decisions all the time concerning the safety of his aircraft and passengers. Should he refuse a flight if the weather is adverse or if a certain component of an aircraft is not functioning? Can he take a certain amount of risk and continue his flight? An inoperative fuel gauge may be acceptable if the tanks have been checked and found to be full but what if a leak develops during flight? He will have no way to check if there is still sufficient fuel on board. Similarly, should he carry more cargo and passengers and reduce his reserve fuel or should he upload more fuel than necessary to cater for diversions due to weather, wind conditions, traffic congestions, etc.? A disciplined pilot will take the minimum risk in all these matters but sometimes he has to relent when his employer insists on pushing the limits.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">CONCLUSION</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, flying can kill but an aviator must fly (for whatever reason). As long as he is disciplined, puts in as much practice as possible and consciously carries out the recommended procedures, he probably can avoid getting into difficulties. As he logs more and more flying hours, he can only get better at it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-23723282612918769222012-08-06T03:00:00.000-07:002012-08-13T00:10:33.162-07:00Buleleng Fly-In 2006<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Government authorities in the northern provinces of Bali island have always wanted the tourism business, which has largely been concentrated in the southern part of the island, to also reach their shores. After all there are many fine beaches, historical sites, cultural characteristics and other attractions there that many have passed over probably due to lack of publicity.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Since the beginning of the new millenium, a small airstrip had been established in Grokgak, Buleleng to cater for sports aviation. Several local and international aerial events have been held there and among them are the International Buleleng Fly-Ins. The first was held in 2001.This story covers the second in the series and this was held in early September 2006.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ten years earlier, this writer had taken part in the Jakarta - Mataram - Jakarta Air Rally (see the story also in this blog) which stopped in Denpasar airport to the south on the way to and from Lombok island. So this was somewhat like a down-memory-lane trip for me.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It was Independence Day, August 31, 2006 and a few of our contingent members flew the ceremonial flypast in their Eagle 150s at the national parade in the morning. They were the Eagle Formation consisting of six aircraft. Our RSFC (Royal Selangor Flying Club) team </span>comprised two C172s (9M-BDX and 9M-RFC) using the callsign Selangor Formation. In addition the C172 of the Perak Aero Club 9M-RMW was assigned to be the third member of our formation. Another batch of aircraft used the callsign Pahang Formation.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I was flying the lead aircraft 9M-BDX and the other two were to formate on me at all times during the whole event.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our two RSFC C172s flew from KL to Melaka to meet up with other aircraft from the rest of Peninsular Malaysia. We all assembled at Melaka Airport (WMKM) for our Immigration and Customs clearances and after refueling left in formations for Pekanbaru Airport (WIBB) in Sumatra.</span></div>
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REFUELING, CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION AT MELAKA</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The flight took us across the Melaka Straits, overflying the RUMID and SALAX intersections and Dumai Airport (WIBD) and took us almost two hours. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Pekanbaru's Sultan Syarif Kasim II is a joint civil/military airfield and I had flown to this airport two years earlier to take part in the Pekanbaru Air Sports Show (PASS). The TNI-AU (Indonesian Armed Forces - Air Force) took care of our immigration and customs clearance without any hassle. We were supposed to immediately refuel and continue to Palembang Airport but unfortunately the avgas for our aircraft had not even left its depot at Medan, meaning that we had to spend the night in Pekanbaru. The fuel only arrived mid-morning the next day (1 September 2006) and we left for Palembang at almost noon.</span></div>
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THE 3 EAGLES & THE OTHER C172 HANGARED AT PEKANBARU</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">FUEL ARRIVED FROM MEDAN THE NEXT MORNING</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e2lrStChnvg/UB4h-Xo16SI/AAAAAAAAAXA/Oag-w2zWaKI/s1600/Hawk+Taxying+Out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="272" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e2lrStChnvg/UB4h-Xo16SI/AAAAAAAAAXA/Oag-w2zWaKI/s400/Hawk+Taxying+Out.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">SEVERAL HAWKS TAXIED OUT WHILE WE REFUELED</span></div>
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TOWING AN EAGLE TO THE FLIGHTLINE</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(In front is the late Kol. Zakaria who perished in an air show at Padang airport on 23 June 2011) )</span></div>
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OUR C172 BEING REFUELED</div>
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AN ADAM AIR B737 TAKING OFF FROM PEKANBARU</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After a long 3 1/2 hour flight we arrived at Palembang (WIPP) which, like most Indonesian airports, is a joint civil and military airport. We were parked on the military side. All our Malaysian formations stopped to refuel here before proceeding on the next 3-hour plus leg to Halim in Jakarta.</span></div>
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A COLUMBIA BEING REFUELED WHILE AN EAGLE WAITS</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">PALEMBANG AIRPORT SEEN FROM THE MILITARY SIDE</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Selangor 3 (9M-RMW) had by then discovered that their cruise speed was higher than those of Selangor 1 and Selangor 2. They decided to proceed on their own after Palembang.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Less than an hour after we left Palembang, low cumulonimbus clouds began to restrict visibility for the rest of the leg. We had to fly low to keep the ground in sight.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As we neared the city of Bandar Lampung, Selangor 2 (9M-RFC) radioed that their AHI (artificial horizon indicator) gyro had toppled due to vacuum failure and that they could not navigate safely in the poor visibility. They decided to land at the local airport of Raden Inten (WICT) and try to resume their flight when the weather improves perhaps the next morning.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">(The crew attempted to resume their flight the next day but had to return to WICT as the weather persisted over the next few days. As there was no avgas there, they decided to abandon their flight altogether, enjoy their enforced holiday there and wait for us to ferry them fuel on our return leg five days down the road.)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our aircraft became the sole remaining member of Selangor Formation and so we decided to switch our callsign to 9M-BDX, continued on in the foul weather and arrived at Halim in Jakarta as darkness encroached.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Halim is a military/civil airport serving the domestic carriers and GA (general aviation) aircraft. It is noted for the number and variety of old aircraft found there, some of which were still in good flying condition. We spent the night in a hotel in Jakarta anticipating a dawn takeoff the next day. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mSnMxRwtfys/UB5-bRR--zI/AAAAAAAAAZI/INnhxeg0Ajo/s1600/Halim+Parking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="262" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mSnMxRwtfys/UB5-bRR--zI/AAAAAAAAAZI/INnhxeg0Ajo/s400/Halim+Parking.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A C172 FROM IPOH AT HALIM PARKING</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After refuelling early the next morning (2 September 2006) we flew eastward past Cirebon and onward to Semarang (WARS), another joint civil and military airport north of Central Java. This was a 2 1/4 hour flight.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XINJyzWaSb0/UB6DXCtDcOI/AAAAAAAAAZw/tnCiJOo1A0I/s1600/Semarang+Parking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XINJyzWaSb0/UB6DXCtDcOI/AAAAAAAAAZw/tnCiJOo1A0I/s400/Semarang+Parking.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">OUR AIRCRAFT PARKED AT SEMARANG</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We had an early lunch while our aircraft were refuelled and then continued eastward to Bali passing along the way the large military/civil airport of Surabaya on the northeastern tip of Java Island. After 3 1/4 hours we reached the norwestern tip of Bali island.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">LetKol Wisnu Airport in Gerokgak, Buleleng has a 700 metre paved runway with the northern end surrounded by trees and the other end close to hills. Approach is recommended from the Runway 14 end and the aircraft has to be dropped onto the threshhold after clearing the edge of the trees.</span></div>
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My wife arrived in Denpasar after flying commercial from KL via Jakarta and was waiting at the Wisnu terminal when we arrived in our C172.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-40bA6pxu7qw/UB6OA7TBhrI/AAAAAAAAAa4/W9jYCfCTgAs/s1600/Visnu+Terminal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-40bA6pxu7qw/UB6OA7TBhrI/AAAAAAAAAa4/W9jYCfCTgAs/s400/Visnu+Terminal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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THE TERMINAL AT WISNU AIRFIELD</div>
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THE STAGE FOR THE OPENING CEREMONY </div>
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THE ATC TENT ON THE LEFT</div>
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(Open burning by villagers in the background)</div>
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A TV CORRESPONDENT MAKING HIS REPORT</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Participating aircraft in background is a Zenith CH750 kitplane)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Visitors to the airfield were welcomed with traditional dances and served delicious local meals. For two days there were all sorts of aerial events presented by both local and visiting pilots. For the local children there was a paper aircraft design competition which produced some interesting aerodynamic concepts. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Participants were housed in exotic beach hotels in the upcoming resort area of Lovina Beach nearby. We were also taken on a tour of the local historical and cultural sites in North Bali.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p61d_dgLdVw/UB5_xujywtI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/HZrEvpH_fwU/s1600/Aneka+Hotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="260" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p61d_dgLdVw/UB5_xujywtI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/HZrEvpH_fwU/s400/Aneka+Hotel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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OUR HOTEL ON LOVINA BEACH</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CDdMgvBaq6E/UB6APhv2pwI/AAAAAAAAAZY/lbxdfzSOByI/s1600/Lovina+Hotspring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CDdMgvBaq6E/UB6APhv2pwI/AAAAAAAAAZY/lbxdfzSOByI/s400/Lovina+Hotspring.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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LOVINA HOTSPRINGS</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A grand dinner was hosted by the Governor of Buleleng to welcome us. To sum it all, we had a glorious time and greatly appreciated the warm hospitality of the organisers led by the highly efficient and ever popular General (Rtd) Chepie Nasution. Pak Chepie had organised practically every major aviation event in Indonesia as far as I can remember. Syabas Pak!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After two days and two nights of flying events, feasting and camaraderie in Buleleng, it was time to return home. Selangor 3 (9M-RMW) had to depart first as one of its pilots had something to attend to back home. They agreed to ferry a can of avgas to our stranded aircraft in Bandar Lampung which they had to pass on the way.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Federation of Aero Sports Indonesia (FASI) had invited us to be their guests in Jogjakarta and so we departed on the morning of 4 September, 2006 from Wisnu airfield with another spare can of avgas and headed for Surabaya ( a 1 1/2 hour flight) to refuel again for the onward flight to Jogjakarta.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jg8u5LCECro/UB6H3V9gBQI/AAAAAAAAAag/k0TBRnI-DOc/s1600/map_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="126" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jg8u5LCECro/UB6H3V9gBQI/AAAAAAAAAag/k0TBRnI-DOc/s400/map_3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EJodFR_mnJw/UB6BLLGGs8I/AAAAAAAAAZg/IuvgWLiHHPo/s1600/Civil+Terminal+Surabaya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="228" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EJodFR_mnJw/UB6BLLGGs8I/AAAAAAAAAZg/IuvgWLiHHPo/s400/Civil+Terminal+Surabaya.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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SURABAYA CIVIL TERMINAL</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Viewed from the military ramp)</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y7uraOj609M/UB6FRsSH1EI/AAAAAAAAAaI/V32NMN_0i50/s1600/Eagles+Takeoff+In+Surabaya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="221" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y7uraOj609M/UB6FRsSH1EI/AAAAAAAAAaI/V32NMN_0i50/s400/Eagles+Takeoff+In+Surabaya.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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THE 3 EAGLES DEPARTED AFTER REFUELING AT SURABAYA</div>
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The 2-hour flight to Jogjakarta took us through some of the most breathtaking terrain with peaks that thrust up above the clouds and mountains much taller than those found in Peninsular Malaysia. We passed Madiun and Surakarta before turning left for Jogja.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IameilM-vfQ/UB9LBCJL8FI/AAAAAAAAAbo/niHBj3OPt1c/s1600/Mt+Bromo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IameilM-vfQ/UB9LBCJL8FI/AAAAAAAAAbo/niHBj3OPt1c/s400/Mt+Bromo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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MT BROMO NEAR SURAKARTA</div>
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MT MERAPI NEAR JOGJA</div>
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As we descended towards Jogja I looked down to my left and there they were - the stunning towers of the ancient Hindu temples of Prambanan. Only four months before I had watched a live performance of the Ramayana epic at the foot of those towers on a full moon night. </div>
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We landed at Jogja and were served with a sumptious lunch at the terminal. My wife had arrived earlier on a commercial flight from Denpasar and was waiting for me.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2VKSOUAOfd0/UB6GI5AtcrI/AAAAAAAAAaY/qnthlLaq0xo/s1600/Jogja+Street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="258" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2VKSOUAOfd0/UB6GI5AtcrI/AAAAAAAAAaY/qnthlLaq0xo/s400/Jogja+Street.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A QUIET CORNER OF JOGJA</div>
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That night we were treated to a buffet dinner with a fashion show thrown in and afterwards we returned to our comfortable hotel in downtown Jogja.</div>
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The next day (5 September 2006) was an air carnival day at Jogja airfield and at midday our contingent was taken on a tour of the city with a buffet lunch at a popular restaurant. We had an early night and was ready for departure the next day.</div>
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Early on 6 September 2006 we refueled our aircraft and were ready to board when a crew member spotted fuel dripping from our engine. A closer check revealed that it was a continuous drip, so we requested TNI-AU to have an engineer fix the problem. It was a loose washer in the fuel drainer that was the cause and after about an hour, the problem was fixed.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7t2FUdI3Q3A/UB6CMndlLRI/AAAAAAAAAZo/LmQqE6UCnu4/s1600/Repairing+BDX's+Carburettor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7t2FUdI3Q3A/UB6CMndlLRI/AAAAAAAAAZo/LmQqE6UCnu4/s400/Repairing+BDX's+Carburettor.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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ENGINEERS FIXING OUR CARBURETTOR</div>
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Meanwhile I watched a few trainers (Turbo Mentors) doing circuits and a passing F16 beating up the airfield twice.</div>
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A TURBO MENTOR DOING CIRCUITS AT JOGJA</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qtm7vkE4TKw/UB6ElDUjZUI/AAAAAAAAAaA/EKPtLF8bhR4/s1600/F16+Buzzing+Jogja.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="251" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qtm7vkE4TKw/UB6ElDUjZUI/AAAAAAAAAaA/EKPtLF8bhR4/s400/F16+Buzzing+Jogja.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div>
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BUZZING JOGJA AIRFIELD</div>
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By the time we left friendly Jogja, it was 11.00 am but it was another interesting flight as we traversed new terrain which I never flew over before. The 2 1/4 hour flight took us west to Cilacap Selatan, north to Cirebon and then west to Halim,<br />
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We had lunch at Halim with the kind courtesy of a pilot/engineer whom we met in Buleleng and he also loaned us a spare vacuum unit and a spanner which we would need to fix the malfunctioning AHI of our stranded C172 in Bandar Lampung. After thanking him for the kind gesture (I cannot now recall his name), we left Halim for the 1 1/4 hour flight to Bandar Lampung.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-546vK9jBFJM/UB9eSvfnb1I/AAAAAAAAAcI/URxID2iB18Y/s1600/Radin+Inten+Base+Leg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-546vK9jBFJM/UB9eSvfnb1I/AAAAAAAAAcI/URxID2iB18Y/s400/Radin+Inten+Base+Leg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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BASE LEG INTO RADEN INTEN, BANDAR LAMPUNG</div>
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The weather was still poor at Bandar Lampung as we landed and found two of the stranded pilots waiting for us. The third pilot had gone home by a commercial flight five days earlier. We looked at the AHI problem and decided that we did not have the skill to fix it. So it was decided that Selangor 2 had to be flown home without a working AHI no matter what. The pilot would have to keep close to my plane at all times and use my wings and the ground as reference. As the sky was gloomy and it was too late to continue to our next destination, we checked into a local hotel for the night.<br />
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Bandar Lampung is a large city full of people. It is the transit point for those who travel from Sumatra to Java and vice versa as it is where they take the ferry across the Sunda Strait. Somehow we did not feel comfortable with the locals as they appeared rough and even hostile but this could be due to the preponderance of poor migrants moving between the two islands.<br />
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The next morning (7 September 2006) we refueled the stranded aircraft with the spare can of avgas that we brought. They would have just enough to reach Palembang, our next stop. The pilots in Selangor 3 who were supposed to bring the other can of avgas from Buleleng to them never did so but instead scooted off with the fuel.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">The flight from Bandar Lampung to Palembang turned out to be a nightmare. The weather was bad with rain along most of the route and clouds down to the ground. The terrain was hilly but we had to fly as close to the ground as we could or get lost in the clouds and risk hitting the hills. The pilot of Selangor 2 had no AHI and had to depend on watching my wings or risk being disoriented in the cloud. I had to fly slow </span>increasing the risk of stalling to<span class="Apple-style-span"> enable the slower Selangor 2 to keep me in sight at all times. For the best part of an hour we meandered between the hills straining our eyes to see what was ahead but after some time I realised that we were just wandering up and down without making any progress towards Palembang. Both our aircraft had already burned much fuel and we could just run dry if we had gone on meandering. As we were far from any airport and flying low amongst the hills, we could not reach any ATC on the radio. At our altitude their radar would also not be able to track us. Looking at the peak elevation of the terrain from my map and checking with my GPS, I found that we could track straight for Palembang if we climbed slightly higher into the clouds but clear of the mountain peaks. So it was either we risk slamming into a mountain that we could not see or fall out of the sky from having no fuel. I chose the former.</span><br />
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About 30 minutes out of Palembang we managed to contact ATC but they could not detect us on radar (rain also restricts radar signals). We plodded on relying just on my GPS and reporting our position every now and then to them. Finally after more than 1 1/2 hours from Bandar Lampung, ATC identified us on radar and guided us in. It was one of those few times when seeing an airport from a distance felt like winning a lottery. We landed and parked at the civil terminal.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">PALEMBANG TERMINAL</span><br />
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Our two aircraft quickly refueled and left for Pekanbaru which was more than 3 hours away. The weather was better this time and we arrived at around 1.30 pm, had lunch and went through customs and immigration. Again we had a quick refuel and departed for Melaka across the straits. Selangor 2 still without an operating AHI continued to stick close to me.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fCLiXnsCpo4/UB9-k8ucbQI/AAAAAAAAAdg/9-AdvTiYLPU/s1600/RFC+Over+Melaka+Straits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fCLiXnsCpo4/UB9-k8ucbQI/AAAAAAAAAdg/9-AdvTiYLPU/s400/RFC+Over+Melaka+Straits.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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SELANGOR 2 CLOSE BEHIND OVER MELAKA STRAITS</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gkfPxRJngek/UB-BcoiJiiI/AAAAAAAAAdw/XYN_Se9EMfo/s1600/Crossing+Melaka+Coast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gkfPxRJngek/UB-BcoiJiiI/AAAAAAAAAdw/XYN_Se9EMfo/s400/Crossing+Melaka+Coast.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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MELAKA WELCOMING US HOME</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Note the extensive reclamation under way)</span></div>
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We landed at Melaka just after 5.00 pm after a 2-hour flight and checked into immigration and customs before departing for KL. On the tarmac we could see a TUDM CN235 loading up paratroopers for parajump practice over the airport.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TRdnMESDzWw/UB-A0Hg6iNI/AAAAAAAAAdo/HummsBbJENM/s1600/Paratroop+Practice+In+Melaka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TRdnMESDzWw/UB-A0Hg6iNI/AAAAAAAAAdo/HummsBbJENM/s400/Paratroop+Practice+In+Melaka.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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PARATROOPS BOARDING A CN235</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(One of them was killed later that day when his parachute failed)</span></div>
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As we approached Kajang there was a massive storm ahead over our home airport Sempang. We were advised by ATC to loiter over Kajang until the rain subsided. After a while the storm persisted and ATC suggested we divert to Subang airport which was clear. We headed for Subang but half way there, we were informed that the southern end of Sempang's runway was clear and we could land there. We happily turned back and landed at Sempang at almost 7.00 pm where my wife was anxiously waiting for me.</div>
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It was a very satisfying experience for me indeed in spite of the few tense moments that we had. The Indonesians again proved to be perfect hosts. Their aviation industry impressed me greatly and has a very bright future because with such a wide expanse of territory, mountainous terrain and numerous islands, air travel is the most appropriate (or even necessary) for their people.</div>
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FOR MORE PICTURES VISIT</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21898801@N03/sets/72157617461939949/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/21898801@N03/sets/72157617461939949/</a></div>
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warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7466347912628837745.post-46686991219801916652010-02-24T22:29:00.000-08:002012-08-12T23:56:39.169-07:00Oh Oskosh!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every summer for one week, more than half a million aviation enthusiasts converge on Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA to live, breathe, eat and sleep airplanes. In that one week, more than 10,000 aircraft of all sorts from the homebuilts and ultralights to the Airbus A380 and military jets fly into that and the surrounding airfields. Various events are organised including workshops on building one's own aircraft, discussion panels, new aircraft launches, talks by renown aviators and of course static and aerial displays. It is also a marketplace for almost anything connected to airplanes from whole airplanes to parts, accessories, model aircraft and sovenirs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a testimony to the disciplined nature of aviators, when they leave the site after the event, not a single piece of rubbish can be found left behind. This is despite the fact that whole families practically live there in tents pitched under the wings of their aircraft.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The whole event called Airventure is run by volunteers who are members of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) which has chapters all over the world. Even the flying displays are on voluntary basis. Pilots fly from all over the world in their own aircraft to attend the event making the airports there the busiest in the world once a year. Unusual air traffic control procedures are required to guide as many aircraft down or up in the shortest time possible. Many aircraft are of the same make and colour necessitating the controllers to request each particular pilot to wiggle his aircraft's wings to see which aircraft in the pack they are actually talking to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Owners of a particular type of aircraft or members of a certain organisation may decide to fly in together in a large formation after meeting up at another city. This makes their arrivals spectacular events in theitr own right. Like other international events, there are also marchpasts of participants from the various countries bearing their national flags.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some aviators use the event to set records such as the longest flight in a particular type of aircraft. I once met a New Zealander who flew round the world in a kitplane, stopping at Oskosh on the way. This same guy flew that aircraft round the world again later but in the opposite direction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few of my buddies have made it to Oshkosh and of course I too hope to make that trip one day. The upcoming Airventure dates are 26 July 2010, 25 July 2011, 23 July 2012 and 29 July 2014. </span></div>
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<a href="http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1412255721?bctid=1381694270"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About Oskosh by Harrison Ford, a passionate aviator</span></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.airventure.org/news/2009/090803_final.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oskosh 2009 Attendance</span></a>warthog02http://www.blogger.com/profile/16149469639685921960noreply@blogger.com0