Just Another Day At Work

 

 

And why do I look sooo orangey???

 

Assalamualaikum

 

See, I do live up to my promise. Alhamdulillah thank you Ya Allah for setting my destiny with this week’s schedule, early morning take off and I’m basically done for the day at 9am. I’m loving so much and forever grateful to have the layover in Semarang. Not just because my paternal great grandpa originated from here, the hotel is cool with super fast wifi and breezy LAN internet connection. Guys, do check out Grand Candi Hotel if you’re in Semarang ok

Alhamdulillah, Malindo Airlines is about to launch its wings to the southeast Asia’s airspace in the middle of this year perhaps, recruitment drive has been done and lots of my friends who have been waiting for the opportunity for a flying career, can finally take flight! Thank you again Malindo for being there to reduce the jobless pilots statistics.

Since so many of you guys make such baseless accusation of how pilots work. Like “ ohh all that you do is just take off and land which is nothing and the rest are done by the autopilot”. If any of you guys who fall into this category, may I choke you till your face turn red?

Therefore, by posting up this update, I may be able to clarify the misconception of how the society basically perceives how we the pilots do our job. Yes, we are still working. OK I’m now in the serious mode. Don’t mess with me now. HAHAHAHA

 

Unlike working in the office, with the same ole fixed working hours, our lives are rather unknown, till we get our schedules haha. Sometimes the day started before the sun rises and end up pass sunset. All in a day’s work

 

This was taken in Jogjakarta airport. Mind you it’s only ten passed 6am. Seen are 4 aircrafts, plus so many others at the other side of the tarmac, all wanting to take off as soon as possible to cut off any delay. Our stress, compared to you guys, started as soon as 10 minutes after the day has started. OK I’m just over exaggerating, some airports are rather lonely, and if you’re schedule to take off around the low traffic hours, you can take your own sweet time to do your business. Which will never happen. HAHAHA

 

The view en route to the destination. Erm….. I can’t recall where was this photo was taken. Hahaha. But isn’t it magnificent??

 

Occasional in flight breakfast if you can’t even spare a few seconds for breakfast on ground. Again, all in a day’s work

 

Just a proof to show that we do have wipers on the windshield hahaha. But, you can’t simply put it to use as it is limited to the speed of the aircraft. Switch it on when you’re cruising at high speed, them wipers might just fly off on its own.

 

A perk of being an aircrew, being blessed with opportunities to sample local delicacies. Like this one, specialty of Semarang, tahu bakso. Curious with the content of the box? It is fried tofu with fish paste filling in the centre. The bird eye chillies aren’t there to spook anyone, it’s not that spicy, still edible giving a slight kick to the fried knick knacks.

 

Labuan Bajo is a fishing town located at the western end of Flores in the Nusa Tenggara region of east Indonesia.

 

Blah blah blah and that excerpt was taken from wikipedia.

Have you ever heard of Komodo Island? This is it. To die for beaches and there’s not much of a development here. A guaranteed vacation point that will not disappoint. Well, I haven’t see any komodos roaming on the runway during my flight so yeah, it’s all good. My airline fly direct from Bali to this beach haven, and you may have the opportunity to make friends with the komodos too if you’re lucky enough ahahaha. For further info, move the cursor of your mouse and hit the left click here

 

NOTAMS is the acronym for notice to airmen. It’s a circular made to inform aircrews of any special info about the airport such as any change of communication frequencies or any parachute activities taken place within the vicinity. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE NOTICE IS: yes the block letters was intentional is If there’s any VVVVVVIP coming to the airport. That plane was boarded by a turkey dignitary and he was there in Bali for meeting. President of Indonesia was there too. Most flight was delayed for 3 hours, and we weren’t even allowed to start our engines. Means there was nooooo air conditioning. All of us with the passengers have to wait in the aircraft for more than 30 minutes, all were soaking wet. My captain even changed his shirt right after.

 

Mushrooms in the air. A huge hazard. Don’t ever praise a pilot for giving a joy ride flying into the clouds, coz to most passengers they take it as flying into a giant cotton candy. Most probably that was the pilot’s only option. We will always avoid that nasty precipitation.

 

Done for the day. Totally drained to the core. Reached the hotel and took off my pants. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I wasn’t trying to be inappropriate. Once I’m in the hotel room, I’ll instantly change my clothes and pack up my uniform for the laundry service. If my eyes still could bare it, it’ll switch on the TV and entertain myself. If not, zzzzzzzz.

 

P/S: Dear Siti Nurhaliza, are you in need of a private pilot?? I’m offering myself here. Please be appreciative and take advantage of this opportunity ok hahahaha

The new baby is in town!

 

Assalamualaikum!

 

Wassup with the exclamation mark? Yeah I’m in the mood to be in a hype. Blame it on the new year spirit that yet to linger in my veins, Whatever. I’m here to announce, The new variant of the aircraft that I fly, just hit the shore, and we’re waiting in turn for training. really? ( Ya Allah TRAINING AGAIN?? )

Sorry peeps, my flight was delayed for few hours and I’ve just reached the hotel. I’m ALL drained. Thank god, part of my new year resolutions is ( first time ever in my life that I ever wrote down any sort of annual promises I vowed to myself ) that I’ll go the extra mile in keeping this blorg pumped up with constant updates. Please love me more and support this humble effort haha.

 

This is it! The new baby, baby. Hahaha

 

Welcome home, ATR 72-600!

 

Less talking, more photos. Damn, the quality of these snaps are just atrocious. This is the cockpit of ATR 72-500. Only 2 screens for the EFIS and the rest are analog dials

 

 

And here……. All screens. In aviation term, full glass cockpit. Don’t worry, there’s no slot for DVD or USB where we can connect it to any sort of entertainment. Your pilots on board are working hard to ensure a safe flight environment * SELF MOTIVATION *

 

'’Hey, 10K rupiah per photo. Unless you take my photo too”

Of course I did –___--

 

Enough with the coverage of the new birdie, I actually went out for new year. As a Self professed domestic bachelor, hahaha, I never really fancy going out on new year’s eve mainly  coz I’m not in the force to celebrate such unnecessary celebration. The most generic way I usually spend that particular public holiday is by having family gathering, eat up, gain tons of calories, and that’s it. Since this is my 2nd time having to go through the new year’s eve in Jakarta, I felt like I should go out and do something. Since my friend is in town and not flying, we decided to go out. A FRIEND. Let me reiterate haha.

OHHH we went to Bangi Kopitiam ( I never knew it actually existed ) and ordered nasik lemak ayam rendang. The sambal looked a bit funky but it did pass on the taste test.

 

Freebies!

 

And more! A joss stick like ‘kembang api’

 

 

A new year’s eve will be incomplete without a group photo. YES WE ARE FRIENDS

 

The ‘kembang api’ has blossomed

 

 

With live music and lucky draw and free kembang api and free trumpet ahaha, 2013 couldn’t be kicked start on a better note. And we’re not even near the city centre. Fireworks were EVERYWHERE. Directly in front of my apartment, it felt like Dataran Merdeka. Mind you it’s just an ordinary stretch of road.

     

Waited and waited to hit the lucky draw,unfortunate much that luck was not on our side that evening. We volunteered to sing in order to get the more freebies –___—

Wanted to sing Widuri, yet that guy can’t really recall the notes. Ended up singing Menghitung Hari by Kris Dayanti. ahahahahahahaha

 

P/S: Happy New Year Siti Nurhaliza, I’ll forever love you. HAHAHAHA

Introducing to you: Business Class!

 

 

Assalamualaikum

 

Call me a freak of the universe or what’s not, I was beyond ecstatic upon knowing that my extra crew flight seating is in the business class section! Wuhoo! And I don’t have to fork out a single cent! Obviously I don’t have to, I was there for work. So to those unfamiliar with the term “ Extra Crew “, the perfect laymen’s term will be “Paxing”. And what the heck is Paxing? Hahahahaha. I love to toy around with your emotions my dear readers ( Hopefully I still have people reading my blorg haha )

let’s get down to the A to Z, the 101 of my working pattern. As you might know, I’m based in Jakarta. There’s the management office and main operational base called FLOPS ( Flight Operations ). But I’m not active in Jakarta, or easy to put it this way, I don’t take off and land the aircraft in Jakarta. Instead, I’ll be flying from other base such as Surabaya or Bali. To get there, us pilots will be assigned seats from the airline working under the same umbrella, bound for our destination as per schedule.

Do you guys get it??

I was from Jogja and was at the end of my working shift, commonly 4 to 5 days of flying duties away from Jakarta. Scheduled to fly back to Jakarta as an Extra Crew at …… OK I’ve forgotten the departure time hahaha. As I have predicted, they didn’t allocate the seat for me, mainly coz I was flying back to Jakarta alone and they probably missed out on that. As a singing pilot, ahahahaha, I remained cool and calmly requested to the ground staffs for any empty seat on the flight. Be advised that there are 13 flight Jakarta – Jogja and most of the time, They’ll be full. With my fingers crossed, finally I was given the designated seat number. Alhamdulillah.

 

 

Seat 2A. For a full economy seating, that seat is obviously behind the front row. I was super excited when I stepped into the cabin. IT WAS BUSINESS CLASS!!!! WUHOOOOOOO!!!! FIRST TIME EVER IN MY 22 YEARS APPROACHING 23 YEARS OF LIFE IN FEW MONTHS TIME THAT PLEASE LAH PEOPLE GIVE ME PRESENTS EVEN DRIED CHILLIES IS OK SINCE THEY DON’T HAVE IT HERE IN JAKARTA HAHAHA THAT I EVER FLOWN ON BUSINESS CLASS!!!! ALHAMDULILLAH

 

Was further put into greater state of gratefulness to find out that I was the only one in the Business section. Wuhoooo. I surely can get used to the VIP, special treatment kinda lifestyle. Hahahaha. Though the flight is a short sector, about 45 to 50 minutes, I’ll make the best out of this first experience. Lets do this!

 

 

Ample room for my spidery long legs ( yeah right ), Which I can only get at the front most row seats or near the wings seating next to the emergency windows. I always felt like a sardine stuck in a tiny tin drenched in tomato broth. OK let’s cook gulai sardine tonight hahaha.

 

Ohhh, so this is the in flight magazine for kids. Since I was soo excited to sit in the business section, even the smallest finding like this meant a world to me. OK shut up. hahaha

 

 

See see, I told you I was the only  one there. Wuhoo. Was feeling a tad generous therefore the uncle’s face is included in this frame hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

 

This caveman’s premier experience of flying on business class. Ermmmm, that means that this caveman is a frequent flyer of the coach section. LONG LIVE CAVEMAN!

 

 

Caveman: Hey, I heard you guys have pillows and blankies for business class passengers. I’m a bit drowsy. Can I have a set?

stewardess: Sure, here you go.

Caveman: Hahahaha no lah just kidding, I just wanna snap few photos with it

 

 

Ok, with nothing else to do, It’s a better option for me to hit the dreamland. Of coz not, I never sleep flying as extra crew. I always hang out with the stewardesses at the front galley. They find me, hilarious. Not sure why. Perhaps the language differences.

 

 

OK, it was not a complete experience without the complimentary refreshment, which I proactively walked to the front galley and asked. “ Ehh, no free meals?” Ya Allah I felt a bit ashamed of doing so. They have for me the chocolate bun. I saw  the chicken sandwich and I asked to the stewardess again that why she refused to offer me with that. The stewardess further clarified that it was for the early morning flight. It’s OK. I just wanna snap a photo or two of it. No harm in doin so right?

Eventually, the chicken sandwich got ingested by the caveman and went down his throat – __ --

 

P/S: I have registered myself for a vocal training classes. InsyaAllah to be in session in January. Siti Nurhaliza, I’m coming for youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…