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i hope that all these will just numb over quickly.
♔ Wednesday, August 25, 2010
6:41 PM
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♔ Thursday, August 19, 2010
9:43 PM
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♔ 7:51 PM
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i think i shd clear my IPPT ASAP
♔ Monday, August 16, 2010
4:13 AM
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kicked out to the living room. cant sleep with all the noise. hot weather. got stung by dunno how many goddamn mosquitoes to the point its so itchy i cant sleep! HOW LIDDAT.
♔ Friday, August 13, 2010
1:36 AM
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i need sleeping pills
♔ Wednesday, August 11, 2010
2:33 PM
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woke up in the morning feeling extremely sleepy. was supposed to wake up at 7, but slept til 9..
by then, i was already running late for the sortie at 11.
didn't expect the two parasites to be earlier than me.
i was kind of in a daze the whole time.. even boarding the aircraft and finally taxiing off felt unreal. then we felt the little lift as the aircraft left the ground.
i've always thought that that feeling is amazing.
the aircraft was very small.. just enough cramped space for 5 ppl.. but there were 4 of us. but the front seats were still rather cramped. the propeller blades were rather noisy and there was a faint smell of fuel in the cockpit.
there was also no ECS/air con in the aircraft and it felt really hot and stuffy while we were waiting for our turn on the runway. so we held, or i held, the door ajar to let some air in while we waited.
finally, the brakes were lifted and we taxiied out, made a U-turn and started putting on speed. the airspeed guage climbed steadily and the wind blew stronger. but it didn't take as long before we lifted off. guess it attributes to the small size and hence light weight of the aircraft. but it also made the aircraft feel extremely fragile on take off. the aircraft was wobbling in the air, and my friend also commented afterwards that he felt as if even a slight gust of wind could topple us over. the pilot had to make slight adjustments to maintain the attitude of the aircraft, but it got more stable once we have climbed to a substantial height and airspeed.
the first thing that struck me when we got up there was the marvelous view.
it was not that bad a weather. there were numerous clouds and sometimes they obscured our view but the scenary was still very clear. so many things looked so different from up above.. the buildings look like minature toys ... or... more like the mini prototypes they always showcase for new flats. the buildings look so neatly arranged in rows.. and some even had some kind of pattern to the way they were positioned. something.. i would never realise on the ground. the reservoirs look pretty from the air. i didn't know that pierce reservoir was so much larger than macritchie reservoir. the waters had a greenish-bluish tinge to it.. and the contours of the reservoirs.. is also something that one can only see from the air.
we also saw some other aircrafts in the air. and we saw a chinook! but we didn't fly close to get a good look. haha. guess the violent downwash will also blow our small aircraft away.
the pilot was like a tour guide.. he started to point out the various landmarks.. the reservoirs.. the race course.. sbab.. angmokio flats, yishun flats.. and being the first time in the air, i guess i was rather astounded and i forgot all the questions i wanted to ask him when we were taking off. (didn't want to disturb him when he's talking to the tower and...er, taking off. all the guages, the levers.. although there wasnt many and most seem familiar) i was quite amazed at the sights and i tried to peek over the side of the aircraft to get a better look sometimes. the pilot noticed it and he simply rolled the aircraft to give me a better view.
the first time he rolled the aircraft over.. i felt this uneasy feeling of unbalance. the whole aircraft tilted and the knowledge that there is nothing but air under you was quite unsettling. and it felt as if i was being tipped out of the plane. i had to fight the urge to grab something whenever he tipped the aircraft.
we flew around the training areas enjoying the sights. and i tried to get used to the tipping over feeling. but the pilot did notice that i was gripping the seats sometimes. and told me to relax cos i have a seatbelt :$ when we flew rather close to the edge of the island.. and he decided to show us a bit of maneuvers.
that was when everything started.
i thought it was still not too bad up to that point. my frens who have flown did say that due to the small size of the aircraft it was very prone to vibrations but i felt that the vibrations were still minimal. it felt like they were coming from the engine. the tipping thing was a bit scary but i got used to it after a while since the view was fantastic. and i managed to detach the fact that there is nothing below me while we rolled. it turned out that i enjoyed the rolling afterwards. just as long as he doesn't roll sharply.
but at the edge, we saw a glimspe of johore. then after a while it was gone. the maneuver took us by shock and it happened so fast i cant really remember the details. but i felt a sharp plunge and the queasy feeling of weightlessness took hold. i never liked that feeling. its the ONE reason i dun like rollercoasters. the feeling when the roller coaster goes slowly up.. climbing.. then rounds over the top.. tips.. and THEN PLUNGE DOWNWARDS. i hate that feeling. and i cant scream. and i always feel like i was going to die of a heart attack.
that was exactly what i felt when the pilot suddenly pitched downwards. felt like the aircraft cut power suddenly and we were just plunging. but it had nothing like the anticipation on the roller coaster. this was out of the blue with no warning. the pilot just pushed the stick and we were rushing downwards. then he suddenly pulled the stick upwards again and we climbed. it was the first time I experienced what is G force.
nothing on rollercoasters could compare to it. or perhaps, i've not sat the realli fierce rollercoasters before but this is nothing like it. there was no air rushing past u, but u can feel the force of the air pressing down heavily on you. all i've felt up til that moment was simply air moving fast. but this is something completely different. it really felt as if gravity changed directions and was acting at an angle instead of downwards. and it was only TWO Gs. i'm weak. i admit.
and its just POSITIVE Gs. imagine NEGATIVE G. >. now that i think about it. negative g must be extremely terrifying. all along i thought that on rollercoasters as long as u plunge downwards, thats negative g. but thats.. wrong. utterly wrong. that is just weightlessness. the feeling of having gravity removed from under you.
negative g is going downwards so fast you move beyond the disgusting feeling of weightlessness. the whole heart is in my mouth feeling until u feel the G force acting in the opposite direction. until gravity reverses and acts in the opposite direction. to imagine the kind of speed and altitude u have to drop to experience that... i want to remain as an engineer.
and after the pressure of positive G, the aircraft simply looped a turn and we were back on straight and level in a blink of an eye (if my eye could blink under the G force) and all of us were "oh my god. what did we just experience". the feeling of suddenly being released from the g force was like.. an inflated ball breaking the surface of water. i was very very very surprised. and i did start to feel a bit nauseous. the pilot just glanced over at us and said "good. none of you are feeling sick yet" but i bet he simply saw three shocked faces.
after flying around to a more empty airspace, (airspace was crowded. the tower was busy comming throughout the flight) the pilot demonstrated what is straight and level flight. two of us kind of already had some prior knowledge to this during the flight simulator practical.. but it seemed as if in real life it was easier. the aircraft is designed to be stable.. as expected. so it naturally reverts to a more stable flightline. he let me try maintain the attitude for a while.. it must have been quite tiring flying.. cos once he released the stick, the aircraft pitched up, which means he had been holding down the stick for some time to maintain level flight. it required a bit of force for me to push the stick down aaaaaaaaaaa bit. i didn't dare to push too much, especially after the pitch down before. then he instructed me to use the trim wheel and i could feel the aircraft lighten up and fly with a more stable feeling. but that was all i had controlling the aircraft. but i didn't feel like controlling any more than that.. for i was already feeling nauseous.. and for me a noobie to be flying, the aircraft is bound for a lot of oscillations which will probably cause everyone to puke.
then he introduced the rest of flight controls. which is a pity that my frens behind couldnt hear anything without the headsets. he simply started rolling pitching yawing.. i find it hard to imagine how my frens felt with no warning of what he was doing. even now, thinking about it makes me giddy.
he showed pitching. by first pitching down. then there was that horrible feeling again. but much to my relief, he soon said "this is pitch up" and pulled the aircraft up and we felt a bit of g force again.
then he demonstrated rolling. and the different degrees of rolling. medium rolling.. which was only 30 degrees. but as you rolled u lose lift. i noticed that he had to pitch up and at the same time increase the throttle sometimes. then he showed steep pitching.. which was 45 degrees. the tipping out feeling again. then he said there is still the 60 degrees roll, which was the max and tilted the aircraft even more. now that is quite scary. he definitely had to increase throttle now and there was this beeping sound. which was the alarm was stalling. >.< (if the aircraft stalled. it would mean ZERO lift) i thought 45 degrees was the limit already. with 60 degrees.. u could almost see EVERYTHING below u. which was really, the tiny buildings roads and only air. the whole aircraft seemed to be spinning about with the wingtip as the axis. now imagine the scenary spinning too. and the sky. everything about the wingtip, ... like a top. i had no idea that this small aircraft can do such a tight turn. it felt like it was turning on the spot. with the warning alarm sounding all the time.
then he repeated everything on the left side.
then he introduced the rudder. i've always been interested with the rudder. seemed quite useless. it doesn't really affect the flight of the aircraft drastically. i noticed that he was also pitching the ailerons while pedalling the rudder and asked him y so. then he explained the secondary effects of flight controls. which was, i guess what makes flying different from driving a boat or steering a ship.
if one simply steps on the rudder, yes the aircraft yaws but the motion causes the aircraft to roll at the same time. by logical deduction.. i would say that the different airspeeds over the wings caused the roll as one wing gains speed by sweeping forward and the other loses speed by sweeping backwards. so one wing has higher lift than the other and the aircraft rolls. and if the aircraft rolls, the lift acts at a angle different from the weight, hence it loses vertical lift.
so to maintain the aircraft in the same plane as one yaws, one will have to step on the pedal (to yaw), twist the stick (to roll in the opposite direction) and to pull on the stick (to compensate for any lost lift)
so its not only helicopters that experience this sort of multitasking due to secondary flight effects. but of course, helicopters will always be more complicated.
then he proceeded to show us the effects if he did not counter the secondary effects by pitching the ailerons if he stepped on the rudder and so forth. which was ANOTHER bout of spinning and turning. i was quite close to vomitting.
haha, driving or steering a ship is so 2D. flying is 3D!
and then the thing that was on my mind ever since he started introducing flight controls.
the engine stall.
i knew that with the engine stall, there is bound to be that terribly, horribly disgusting feeling of weightlessness again. but he was quite nice i guess. he didn't really let the aircraft pitch down too much. after rolling (AGAIN) and checking that there is no one below us, he simply pulled back the throttle.. and you could hear that the engine winding down.. the aircraft seemed to come to a standstill. but there was not much flutter as i expected, just a slight vibration and airspeed dropped. it dropped to a critical point.. and the aircraft also started to tip over and drop. but he soon pulled the stick and increased the throttle at the same time. if he did not do that, i warrant that i would have vomitted from pulling out of the plunge. and he repeated that without the flaps. and the critical airspeed was lower due to the change in camber.
which is a bit. weird now that i think about it. but i dun think i will want to go into the details on this one. then it'll just be another aerodynamic essay.
then finally we were back to straight and level again. now i was simply trying to fight the feeling of nauseousness. and i suspected that he cant hear me very well over the mic. so i didn't ask anymore questions. he asked if there was still anything else that we wanted to know.. or feel. then my stupid friend asked if we can experience higher Gs. =.=
and the pilot commented that if he pull any higher, i will rip the seat out of the aircraft. which was quite true. but tolerating the Gs is still okay. its the feeling of weightlessness i seriously dread. and to climb for Gs (since thankfully the aircraft cannot take negative Gs), you need to drop some. then SILENTLY without saying ANYTHING he just started doing turns and turns until i was spinning as well. then he did this loop wing turn or something that felt like.. going straight up then spinning off one wing which just made the world spin even more. the whole scenary outside was blurring crazily. sometimes we saw the sky and sometimes we only saw the ground below us. its exactly like with flight simulator games whereby i lost control of the plane and cant tell up from down to left from right. i completely cant grasp my bearings and could only rely on flight instruments. he spun left, then right then left then right.... i think he was deliberately trying to see if we were going to puke. and on top of that, there was the G force. although it was only 2Gs, but my head already felt quite heavy when i tried to turn it. and my friends told me afterwards that it was very difficult to lift their arms.
then suddenly we were straight and level again and i really really really was quite relieved.
we flew around silently as i tried to maintain MY own bearings and resist the nauseous feeling. so i kept looking out.. then before long he was back to the tour guide pilot again.. showing me the flyer, the new IR, payalebar airbase, mandai zoo... and we saw several other aircrafts in the airspace as well.
i was gettting a headache from the aftereffects of turning so much.. and any little tip of the wings felt worse than before. he also flew us through a small puff of clouds just to see what it was like it was just like flying through thick fog, where you cant grasp bearings at all. and one will definitely have to rely on instruments. quite dangerous. especially if there were other aircraft who also like to fly through clouds. but we didn't feel much turbelence as it wasnt a very big cloud.
finally he requested for landing from the tower. and we headed back to seletar air strip.
but we were quite high up at that time as the air was cooler. (but it was still hot in the plane. i sweated a bit) henceforth we had to descend to land. and we simply spinned and descended like going down an imaginary spiral staircase. and it was then, which i learnt later, that my friend threw up. the pilot com'-ed the tower to coordinate a landing as there were also other aircrafts landing... and swung down to the appropriate altitude.
from my previous flight simulator experience, this is not easy. especially trying to line up with the runway for a good approach. we swept in after another aircraft. the descend was quite fast.. but the landing was good. there was only a slight bump when we hit the runway. at that time, i felt relieved that finally we're out of the air..
but it was fun. it seemed like... i finally know what it felt like to be a bird. to see a birds eye view.. to navigate and maneuver in the air... i still think planes are amazing.
but humans are not meant to fly. even pilots can get airsick. its hard to imagine anyone getting used to the nauseating feeling of being yanked out of your element.
but after touching down on the ground, it felt as if gravity became heavier.. and my limbs are so stiff. not to mention the terrible feeling of nauseousness. and the horrible headache that followed after that. i couldnt think very well and felt like sitting down til i could regain myself.
we left the place rather quickly without ceremony. hahaa. and soon after we reached the busstop, it started to POUR. really it seemed to pour. the rain was coming down in sheets. and the rain was so bad that even under the busstop i was UTTERLY drenched. even my hair was dripping water when i was standing in the bus. and the air con! so cold. hard to believe i was feeling hot moments ago in the aircraft.
i definitely not regret going through all the trouble to make this flight happen. haha it turned out to be worth it. and we got a nice pilot.
♔ Tuesday, August 10, 2010
6:52 PM
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google maps is amazing.
♔ Monday, August 09, 2010
2:10 AM
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i cant sleep :(
♔ Saturday, August 07, 2010
4:01 PM
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my turtle seems to be sleeping a lot lately.
i wonder is it because of the weather?
♔ Friday, August 06, 2010
1:51 PM
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bifang found something new to occupy herself!
♔ 1:36 PM
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went playing basketball. met a primary sch fren doing nus flag day at woodlands.
went amk hub for a movie. but met with a fire at lvl 1 escalator. we were evacuated due to concerns of the poisonous fumes. hence my despicable me is disrupted. but its okay. i'm watching it tml :)
went for a quick nap home after the disappointment. took the long journey to gombak for driving. surprisingly outside driving was good but guess i was complacent with parking.
after driving, met with an aloc fren at gombak. he was also going for driving! talked for a while there..
then saw another aero fren crossing the road. he couldnt recognise me cos i tied up my hair =.=
now running late, left for bishan to meet with jc choir frens. while we were strolling through j8, i met a colleague who was supposed to provide me some dodgey information on fuel cells! haha, i'm always meeting him by chance he must think that i'm shadowing him or something.
had dinner and bought some koi :) then while we were looking for a place to sit down and chat, i met a primary sch fren who lived around the area! haha, and she has a very fierce fren.
after my fren and her frens left, the 3 of us sat down and had quite a long talk. i usually didn't talk so much :X
finally we decided it was time to go home. however, when we were passing by macs, i saw my buddy's boyfren at the counter. =.= wonder what he's doing there so late. didn't see my buddy with him.
and that concludes one day of events. now that i think of it, its quite amazing the number of people i met by chance all in one day.
SIX of them!
♔ Monday, August 02, 2010
12:08 PM
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why is that i cant just stay at home and rot. its onli been a few days and already im feeling so restless i cant stand it.
hm. the weather seems to be getting a little bit better today.
