Canoeing down Sg Nipah

My friend Martin Lee is around this weekend and I so happened to be off from flying this weekend too.He is quite willing to follow me around for some adventures and also to have some exercise.We pedalled our bicycle to Air Jerneh for breakfast yesterday and today we are going to paddle down SgNipah in Ulu Kemaman.   I have been eyeing to get a Perodua Rusa to be converted to a solo campervan and this is a good chance for me to test out the van in rough terrain. So I planned an outing to Sungai Nipah and from there we will canoe down to the village of Ayer Putih(White Water Village)

We drove about 12 km to a small tributary to launch my canoe. This area is in the vicinity of Jeram Gajah(Elephant Rapids). The water here is crystal clear . The rapids here are not too technical but having a novice co pilot means some extra work. in the first rapid we had to dismount from the canoe and push a little. I was careless and I hurt my right leg when I banged against a rock whilst trying to manoeuvre the canoe.

After the bad stretch of rapids the journey was more pleasant. The current was about 4 to 5 Km per hour and with a bit of paddling we were doing a little faster than that. However, the river meanders a lot so the straight line distance covered is very little.

This is Martin Lee, normally a weekend husband in Kuala Lumpur

I believe he is having a reasonably good time here.

By the time we arrived Air Puteh village I was supposed to ride my mountain bike to the launching point to collect the van. Dark clouds were looming every where so i tried my old trick of stopping a motorist and paying him some money to take me up to the van. This time I paid RM 15 to a villager to send me up .All in all we had a wonderful wseekend and this was ended with a good dinner in River View Restaurant.

My thoughts when flying over the sea......

A lot of misinformed people when they come to know that I am an Offshore helicopter pilot would ask me if this is the most boring job in the world. I can tell you defintely the anwer is NO and I am in the position to say so because I have been flying offshore for more than 27 years. It is actually moments of boredom until something happens and as professional pilots we are always prepared for the unexpected.So this means that although our bodies looks relaxed but our minds are working every minute of the flight. I always ask questions and answer them myself in my thoughts. Basic questions are:
How is the weather ahead? Do I have to divert around any weather? Is it better to go lower or higher?
Who else is flying around me ? somewhere within a radius of 10 nm? However nowadays with TCAS2 we are very well informed on this matter.
What is the prevaling wind like? I want to be prepared so that in the unlikely event that I have to ditch I can point into wind. Are there any boats around me? Where was the last boat? Nice to know all these.
How is my machine humming along? Is it taking the right amount of fuel?
Does it smell right? Anything unusual? In flying one has to be very observant both in sight, smell and sound.
How are the passengers doing behind? Most of the time they sleep ..an activity that I do not encourage. Your chances of survival isl esser if you are sleeping enroute and something bad happens.
ALWAYS.. I think of a diversion if something goes wrong. Have we passed the nearest rig? What about nearest airfield?

So the typically 3 hours flight I work FULL TIME mentally!

Taking my Dogs for a swim

I live next to the Chukai river in the swamps and I have a small boat which I can just push to the river when I in the mood for some fun on the water. My faithful dogs can almost read my mind all the time. They will happily wait for me to push the boat down. The dogs love to go for a swim. Even if I dont go in they will just disappear to the swamps and bark at the monkeys around.First they will hang on by the side of the river. They seemed to be looking at me and plead to get into the small boat. The answer is always NOOnce I am on the water they will swim around the boat. This is sort of a warm up for them. Normally they will bark excitedly as I paddle away.Seems to be saying "Hey wait for me lah"In a way I am very happy to have such a pair of faithful dogs. Nobody in my family likes to follow me to the river except for the dogs!

Building the Rudder Attachment Strong Point

It looked very confusing in the plans. I had to email the designer Richard woods for some clarifications. He was kind enough to send me a simplified drawing. The monsoon is almost over and we have been having some dry days. I started building my Gypsy again yesterday.
First the excess fibre that was deliberately made had to be trimmed off.
All the area had to be roughened so that epoxy binds the wood to the boat strongly.
Next the 3" by 1" hardwood had to be cut to size. The rudder hinges attaches through the transom and into these wood so that the pressure from the weight of the rudders are distributed over a wider area. The corners of the hard wood had to be rounded so that when a layer of cloth is applied over it less air bubbles are formed.It is hard work but I enjoy the torture! When building my catamaran my thought are almost always my thousand kilometers from where I am.Since the knee which is made from 9mm marine ply has some odd angles I had to use a cardboard to make a template so that it fits well.
After all the wood had been cut to size they are glued on to the transom using epoxy. Clamps are used to hold the wood in position and to give a better bond by applying pressure to the wood.
Done..all it needs now is a layer of 600/225 gm biaxial cloth.

The Best Knee Pad for Flying

I was flying with a new first officer today and when we decided to rejoin from offshore to Kerteh International Airport using the ILS approach he took out a massive 10 pounder potential cockpit hazard out. It has been a long time since I last used a knee pad as most of the modern helicopters comes with a built in chart holder which is lighted. However if you insist to use a knee pad the design below is better than any knee pad purchased from Pilot s Shop. I borrowed this design from the US Army Aviators 38 th Group when they came for an audit of our Squadron way back in the early 80sThis looks simple enough. My mother in law sew this up for me about 30 years ago. Get some velcro, a transparent plastic and a bit of cloth from your old uniform will do. Even if you don't know how to sew it can still be done!
When it is done ( maybe about 10 minutes work) you just strap it on your knees and it is now a useful gadjet for flying. As there are no metal parts it will not affect your magnetic compass. There are also no rigid plates to obstruct the controls of the helicopter.
At the end of the flight all you have to do is to fold it like a small handkerchief and chuck it in the nav bag. The patent for this tool is still pending. However if you want to make one for yourself I can send you a detailed drawings and measurements....Just deposit RM 50 to my Maybank Account 8211969

Reconditioning a 40 years old vintage racing bike

This old bicycle had been lying at the back of my parents' house for the last thirty odd years. My younger brother bought it second hand when he was in school and that was around 1980. When I was offered the bike I quickly took it and the deal was I will pay my brother RM 50 if I can rebuild the bike to a road worthy condition.

Upon arrival, I stripped the bicycle apart and gave it a good wash. It was a good thing that the bicycle was hung near the kitchen as the whole bicycle was greasy. this layer of oil actually prevented the bike from rusting. After that I sent the bike to my good friend's hop at Jaya Motors. His mechanic spent two days changing the list of consumable that I requested....tyres, tubes, cables, bearings brakes, lights grips etc. At the end of the day I was only charged RM 150 by my friend.. a really good deal as he only charged the items at cost. what are friends for?

A lot of people in the shop was admiring the antiqued Shumano 600 ten speed racing gears. It is still good and looks like it will last another 100 years.

This is how the beauty looks like now. I have just done about 100 km riding the bike. it feels good and it is a fast bike to ride.

It is not the lightest bike around but I am happy with it. This is my bike No 4 at home. Next I will try and acquire a Surly Long Haul Trucker touring bike.. See I am happy with a RM 200 toy!

How Poor Is Poor?

Most of the evenings when I was flying in Timor Leste I would walk up a hill behind my hotel. One of the evenings it started to rain so myself and another Vietnamese pilot Capt Binh decided to take a short cut to go home. We used to past this little wooden shed on the slope of the hill many times but had paid no notice of it. That particular day because of the rain we decided to go in for shelter.We were in for a surprise! Inside that little shed were about 21 boys . This was their sort of "hostel" and all of them were university students in nearby Dili University. Because of the war with Indonesia, they were quite old. the oldest among them was 26 years old. Their parents are from the districts all over Timor.This was the bed for one of the boys. Some of the students were just sleeping on the cement floor.There was no water supply nearby so it had to be brought up in jerry cans. You can imagine the hygiene standards of the boys here. As for food, their parents only share a sack of rice every month for ALL the kids. Amongst them they had a few dollars to buy oil, sugar and salt. These boys are expert at survival for I saw with my own eyes they were gathering leaves of some of the trees nearby to be boiled and eaten. There were a few chicken behind too.For their only meal of the day there was nothing much to be eaten. What I saw was only rice and some leaves.BUT these boys were cheerful and looks happy. To them they are waiting for a bright future after their university education.I had a look at their mathematics module. It looks like Form 2 work to me but these are for their university here. No wonder one of my engineering hand who had been teaching in a university do not even know the working of an internal combustion engine! He graduated as an industrial engineer from Indonesia.

I felt bad for they boys and next day I decided to buy some good food for them. The next time when you feel poor just remember how poor these boys are...both financially and spiritually.

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