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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Our Garden of Eden

Our house is located at the bank of the Chukai River in Kemaman. It is the local laws that there must be a buffer before the river and any house. This buffer belongs to the government. Since my house is the last house before the river, I had the previlege of using this land to grow some fruits and vegetables fo our own consumption. It had been designed so that our house is about 3 ft higher than the plot so that from the house compound we cannot see the vegetable plotI had several bunds of Kai Lan, Lettuce and Spinach ( sawi). I do not need to buy greens from the market for about 8 months every year. Those bright looking vegetables sold in the market are full of chemicals . Greens from my garden esp the letuce are normally eaten raw or just stir fried. Home grown greens do not have a bitter taste.I make my own compost to be used as plant food from the grass cutting of my gardenWe have several lime and lemon trees to provide us with all the sour contents of our cookingBananas trees that we grow are the gigi gajah variety which is almost extinct now. It looks something like the pisang montel and is very tasty.These star fruits are the honey variety but I have to compete with the squirrels to get the fruits. My Alsation dogs will scare the monkeys away but they don't seem to mind the univited squirrel guest!Five dragon fruit trees provide us with fresh juicy fruits that are full of anti oxidantsThe dragon fruit flowers are real nice.However when taking the fruits one got to be careful. My wife just got ""stung" by the tree! Ouch!!I have also discovered that by allowing the weeds to grow in between the veggies I can actually have worm free veggies. The worm maybe like the weed more than the veggies.I got to report this new discovery to the University Pertanian!

Building my First Watercraft

Actually this was not the first boat that I built. Much earlier when I was a cadet in the Royal Military College (1975) I was drafted into the watermanship club and part of the project was to build a fleet of kayaks for some open day in the college . The sickening thing was it had to be done in our "spare time" ..a commodity that we NEVER so it was done over a few Sundays. Ten years later one of my friends, Dicky Cheah showed me a similar plan for a "Cnavas covered " kayak. I borrowed the plans and traced the full sized bulkheads. At that time I did not even have a jig saw but I know of a Dr Wee who had one. So after seeing the plans he decided that he wanted one as well. Over several evenings we cut the bulkheads and used cheap ceiling wood for making a basic frame. I got some old lorry canvas to be used as the skin of the kayak. Before long the kayak was ready. It was a very stable boat and I had a lot of fun with it. Sometime I would carry a passenger in the boat too. The total cost of building that boat was probably less than RM 100. So boat building need not be complicated or expensive! Just the will to do it!

Turning over the Second Hull

The second hull was actually completed sometime back but I was in no hurry to have it turned over as I was busy with the first hull.The opportunity to turn the hull came when I had a few workers coming over to paint my roof and to repair some section of the fence that had been damaged by the dogs.With the help of the three workers and another 3 friends I decided to get the hull rolled over. First I had to start removing the supports for the bulkheads.Removing the last few pieces of wood can be quite scarry as the hull can "move" slightly. If there were some external forces the hull can topple so removing the last two supports were risky and I decided that I have to do this dirty job.I briefed the workers and positioned three men on each side. I was to be the cheer leader from the front. Emergency procedures were briefed to the workers. You can get hurt if you don't follow my advice!I got them to lift the boat off the ground initially just to see how light it was. Indedd it was not too heavy!Now..on my command roll the hull to my right. Steady...Ok ..Ok start rolling. It is an easy job..Steady...Ok..now take a short rest. Already half done..These two big planks that support the hull will be put to good use in some parts of the boat later. It is strong and mature wood.

Now just a bit more. we have to get the hull upright. Easy does it again..Get ready...lift..

See..it is quite easily done. My designer says he turned over the hull with just three persons. It can be done but will require more effort.


With the approaching monsoon in a few week's time there is not much that I can do on the boat except for the smaller bits and pieces. Now just one more problem. I don't know if the low loader can come over to my house to get the boat to the river.If not I will have to look for a site near the river to start my assembly in a few month's time.

Meeting some young Malaysian Bicycle Tourist

One of my hashing kaki Pretty Boy told me he is expecting some friends from KL who would be riding bicycles to Dungun from Chukai and asked if I would join them. Since it was my day off from flying I said I would lead them to Kijal following the coastal kampong road.At the appointed time of 0630 hrs I met the group which consisted of two young men and three ladies. They came in all sorts of bikes ..from a folder to a genuine touring bike.I liked the way they loaded their bicycles. This bicycle has just gone round the country in 63 days and the young man in this picture was the cyclist.This is a properly equipped touring bike which the owner bought in China. He took the bike back to Malaysia and then did a 70 days cycling trip to Shanghai via Thailand and Loas. The bike looks good and it is inexpensive.So I lead the pack through the backlanes of Chukai town and crossed the bridge to the Kemaman Supply Base through Teluk Kalong and finally to Kijal beach. The ride was nice and quiet.In Kijal I took the group to a small village shop for Nasi Lemak and roti Chanai breakfast. I had to leave them on their own as I was expecting some government Safety Officer coming to do an inspection on my shop at 1030 hrs,

After we took this picture I sped off back to Chukai. I felt nice that at least there are SOME people in Malaysia who enjoys bicycle touring. Keep it up!