CAVOK

WARNING, OBNOXIOUSLY LONG ENTRY.

Ok, now that I have warned you already, I shall go ahead and let off 6 weeks worth of rants and raves. So much has happened it's hard to remember where it all started, so maybe it's better to just go in dribs and drabs of information. I've been training overseas, and it's been quite a long month. Now I know what it means to miss home, every smell and sight and sound and touch. And especially taste, goodness gracious you won't know what hell it is for a Singaporean not to have the assortment of food we have here. Char Kuay Teow, Bak Kut Teh, Nasi Lemak, ROTI PRATA, I miss you!

And then there are the long and lonely nights, when you just miss the voices of those you love. I feel that my 170 dollar phone bill is worth every cent, considering how just listening to those I love back home when overseas is such a precious thing. To all friends and family, you kept me going when I thought there was nothing left in me. In aviation terms, you were the wind beneath my wings, that kept me flying.

Flying is an experience that really help me see who I am, it puts you in a situation where how well you do depends on how much you ask of yourself, and the rest was just up to how good you are. Anyone can fly a plane, but it takes grit and natural talent to be a pilot. Seeing how naturally my instructors took to flying made me envious, flying seemed as easy as breathing to them. Of course they have the advantage of thousands of hours of experience, but I think it was more of an innate ability then anything else. To be able to control a plane, watching for aircraft all around, handle 20+ instruments and watching gauges and pushing the right switches at the right time, navigate the area, AND still enjoy doing all these, it takes a superhuman. I enjoyed flying, but am still a bit wonky on multi-tasking.

I have to thank all the instructors who took me, for being the devil in the plane, taking me apart on the smallest of mistakes, shooting my ego to pieces, and generally giving me 1 x good one in the air. Without all of you, I don't think I'll ever keep a plane safely in the sky, let alone keep my country's skies safe. Despite how ruthlessly I was clamped down on in the air, I thank all QFIs, you taught me what it means to be a pilot, and more importantly, all of you let me discover what I truly loved to do, something I loved so much I was willing to 'tahan' everything you could throw at me and still want to go up again. I may never be as great a pilot as any of you, being only a 'justifiable training risk', I sure as hell will give it everything I have.

To 0805, it's been a pleasure to fly with all of you. Thanks for all the movie nights, the morning ops briefs, the minesweeper matches, the walks down Peel St. , the $8 pizzas, the guniang soccer games, the EODD 'tips', the callsigns (Black Lips, Harry, Chui chui, CB Lips, Room, Countryman, Grago, Wings Already, 07.505, Magneto, Stupid, etc.). The memories. Special mention to the 'Cold 4', every Friday we were out on a balcony sipping Carlton's or Coronas and paying tribute to Philip Morris with our lighthouses. I would gladly freeze my butt off any day to sit with all of you anytime again, to drink myself silly till I get liver cirrhosis and smoke till my lungs fill with tar. Cigarettes and alcohol, forever.

A quote, about flying, from none other than the father(s) of modern aviation

More than anything else the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination.
— Wilbur Wright

My fellow aviators will know what CAVOK means, but here's to all who don't. It basically means great weather to fly in, and that describes my life now. Perfect.

Don

Trying hard to stay in the air

It's been some time since i last updated, but it's also been some time since i've been allowed near a computer too. Been busy here trying to stay up in the air, flying's quite a handful/headful. Never knew it was so tough just to keep a plane in the air, and starting to see that being a pilot means having more than a hotshot attitude and perfect eyesight.

I try my best on the ground preparing as much as i can, but like i said to many before, it's simply different when you're in the air. I have only started to be able to manage some semblance of flying, still making mistakes in some basic points of flying, and they're already teaching more advanced stuff, wondering how i can ever catch up to this pace. But like the instructors say, i try my best, they do the rest. if i can't make the cut, then i guess i wasn't made out to be a military aviator in the first place.

Missing everyone at home and all my friends, but i should be wrapping up soon here, as a pilot or not. Here's a lil shout to all the scouts and councillors and frenz, gd luck in all that ur doing, meet u soon.

Don