First Flight

4:31 AM Hare Chandran Jr


My 1st flight! - After weeks of basic theories, and passing my radio call test, I was extremely excited to be finally able to sit inside the cockpit ( left- hand site it is ^^ ) , and get airborne!!!
The flight was about controls familiarization, so once we lifted off the ground, it was when all the weird feelings of "vou! hold on, this is not right! " appeared. We had never settled down in calm and smooth condition, it was SO turbulent and bumpy, the air gave us no chance, nor our great gravity, the G-loads were crazy. Nevertheless, I was eagerly waiting for my instructor to say " You have control", and he did! haha, I grabbed that "joystick" in front of me and started to maneuver as instructed, I flew that a/c ! XD The flight was both awesome, and terrible. I came down with body full of sweats, a bag full of pukes :S , and a big big smile on my face. X)

My 1st Solo! -
GFPT -
Nav -

Ground school

BAK, PPL, CPL.
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How to become a Pilot

10:48 PM Hare Chandran Jr
Previously I'd mentioned about how to become a pilot and the process could be easy, or otherwise.

In most of the countries, particularly in Malaysia, these 3 are the prominent ways to get yourself right into the track.
1. Enrolling into the flying school by your own fund;
2. Royal Malaysian Air Force fighter jet pilot intake;
3. Airline Commercial pilot intake ;

First come first, for those could afford themselves into one of the flying schools, it doesn't mean everything's settled and you can fly, to be able to fly one must be equipped with adequate educations and strong passion, without which you COULD miserably fail, and this goes to every single pilot wannabe's. Due and after completing your course, you will have to face the long waited battle in job hunting. By tuning yourself to fit the criteria one airline company is seeking for and to win over the long ready cadet pilots within that company could be challenging, but with the right attitudes, one can achieve the ultimate goal soon after.

Ever wanted to fly a fighter jet in extreme conditions, dog fights in the middle of the sky, maneuver a jet like none other could? RMAF is recruiting fighter jet cadet pilot every year. The intake dates will be advertised either in newspaper, at air force exhibition or in their web sites. The best of the offers, apart from being able to fly modern and sophisticated aircraft, you will be bounded with lots of perks. Military life is tough and pressuring. You must be mentally and physically prepared before enduring into the course. So think twice, is my only advise.

Let me share the experiences I had in the air force selection process back then. Compared to airline cadet pilot intake, air force cadet selection is way much more harder and tiring. You'll have to stay in their base together with other candidates to be evaluated, until the end of selection, which is about 3 weeks. We had a lot of academic and practical tests.
Academic tests :
General knowledge test - History, Physic, Government, and Sports
Planning and calculation test - to plan a task or event
Series of IQ test.
Practical tests :
Stamina test - 3.2 km in 18 minutes
Obstacle test- jump, climb, swing, climb, balance etc.
Speech - on the spot 2 minutes presentation on a given title.
Leadership skill - to complete a task by teamwork.
Detailed medical tests were conducted, and anyone with eyesight problem is rejected. They were particularly strict about this. Following are aptitude test and the last, interview. Upon their acceptance, you'll be sent to local university for diploma or degree course on aeronautical, after 2 years of military training within the base. Then, they'll train you to become a pilot.





The last but never the least, airline commercial pilot intake, which is the biggest target of most. In Malaysia, intakes will be advertised in newspaper or website, either AirAsia or MAS. Although the selection process might vary from each other, but the purpose of the tests are all the same.
AirAsia
1. Applicant screening process.
2. Academic test ( Eng, Physic, Maths, IQ )
3. Psycho- motor and Psychometric test
4. Final Interview
MAS
1. Applicant screening process
2. Psycho- motor test
3. Psychometric test
4. Final Interview

Once the initial screening is done, candidates will proceed to the next step. At the preliminary level, applicants are tested in various aspects, beginning with academic test and psycho- motor test. Using a monitor and a joystick, psycho- motor test measure your ability to interpret information and gauge your eye- hand coordination. It is designed to access whether you are capable of multi- tasking with the objective of determining your aptitude and flair of flying.

Then, it’s the psychometric test to judge teamwork and reasoning ability, and whether you can withstand pressure. If candidates ace the previous sections, they’ll be called for an interview. This is where they test your articulation skills, fluency in English, and from your conversation, leadership ability.

After final interview, you'll be asked to do aviation medical examination ( Class 1 ) at selected clinics recommended by DCA. For commercial pilots, airlines has relaxed the perfect vision ruling because of the usage of computers nowadays, hence shortsightedness is no longer an obstacle.

Following the agreement and bond with the airlines for certain years, you’ll be send to one of the flying school, either in Langkawi, Kota Baru, Malacca, or if you lucky, to foreign country.

So by now I might have triggered you excitement to duel with the process and examinations, always remember, make sure to do preparations and study lot.

Here are some of my advices which you might find helpful.

- Obtain you letter of approval from DCA. Keep your documents, resume and curriculum vitae tidy and easy to read. This could help you in applicant screening process.

- Apply to all the intakes available, wider option, better chance.

- Study first. There are lots of books and web sites you can learn about aviation. Get a firm hold on the basics.

- Watch and learn. Subscribe Astro Learning package, you don’t know how much it could help you in learning. TV Programs like AirCrash Investigation, NextWorld, etc. leads you to deeper understandings of airplane.

So, stand up and chase your dream, it's now, or never.

Good Luck! ; )

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Welcome Aboard

12:03 PM Hare Chandran Jr
It all started with the question,
" What are you going to be when you grow up, son ? "

Well back then, every kids have a little answer of their own, either doctor or teacher, either policeman or firefighter. It'd never been different for me, I always admire my father, who was a commando.

But it all came to a turning point, where my eyes set to a total different thing. My father once took me to the AirForce Base and Museum, and that was the 1st time I saw an aircraft in close range, I still remember climbing up into the cockpit of a fighter jet, and feel how would it be, as an aviator, a pilot. Since then, I set a goal in my life, to become a pilot, one who able to navigate and control the remarkable invention of humankind, the flying machine.




Perks and perquisites never out of the sight of those who wanted to become a pilot, to me the interest and desire always count 1st, and my passion for flying is even greater.

Well this is a tad of my current chapter. I've been selected as a cadet pilot of AirAsia through the March 2009 intake. Approximately 1200 applicants were evaluated and examed closely for this intake and in the end of the day, here we are, the 12 of us, holding this opportunity to further prove ourselves. Lucky us, AirAsia is sending us to Australia Gold Coast, for the training in Australian Wings Academy, a well established and leading flying school in Australia for the 1st time.

A long journey starts with a single step, and I can assure you that the 1st step is always the biggest, hardest and toughest. After all those struggles and hurdles, I feel blessed that I've been given such a great opportunity to pursue my dream. Most thanks goes to all those who helped and inspired me, especially to AirAsia, now EVERYONE can fly.






Believe it or not, albeit the demand of pilot is parallel to the growth of aviation and airline industries, the process to become a pilot is not easy, worse if you could not afford yourself. Nevertheless, there are a lot of aspirants who willing to give anything to become pilot, who are trying with burning desire, who are seeking for more helps and guidance. So this is the main reason of this blog, a place to clear doubts, and a closer look into the life of a sun- shine pilot, to an admirable captains. So tune up for more updates and information.

This is the beginning of my journey to the sky. Let's break a wing and rock the sky ! ; )

*PS : check out my shortlisted blog post for the "So you wanna be a pilot" blog contest, in AirAsia Blog. : )
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