Max with Papa in Piper 9M-FRM

The first time to Subang on my own and the first time flying with my son Max. We spent two exiting and challenging days flying to Subang on Thursday (13/10) and coming back on Friday (14/10). I had been to Subang three times before with an instructor. I felt pretty confident that I knew how to get there and how to handle Subang airport.

On the way to Subang we had to fly a few circles over Port Klang before Lumpur Info handed us over to Subang tower. As usual we stayed at the Saujana, which isn’t cheap, but nice.

In Kuala Lumpur we went to the Sunway shopping center, which is about 15 minutes car ride away from the hotel. After a few cold drinks we bought Max cheap sun glasses, because his sport glasses that are supposed to darken in bright sunlight didn’t work. The Sunway shopping center is rather big with lots of places to eat. Opposite the shopping center, across the highway, you can find many small hotels and pubs in three or four-storey houses. I would venture a guess that hotels in this area are much cheaper than at the Saujana. I included a pictures of hotels in this area in the picture gallery.

Thursday evening, we were both so tired that we did not go to the pub as planned an instead went to bed at 2200.

Friday morning was not a good day for the controllers at Subang airport. They said their system was down, so that clearance was much slower than usual. However, in time they sorted everything out and despite the delays there was a lot of good will and cooperation between ground control, tower and pilots evident on the radio. I got out after about half an hour, which I didn’t mind at all, since this was supposed to be holiday and not a scheduled flight.

On the way back, around Malacca airport, I experienced the busiest airspace I have ever flown in. It was almost impossible to squeeze in a position report. A lady handled the Malacca tower air traffic control (between 1100 and 1200) efficiently and safely. She may never read this blog, but if she does, I would like to tell her how impressed I was by her performance. During the half hour I was there, she handled at least three aircraft going to Subang, two coming from Johor, two circling over Pulau Besar, two aircraft practicing instrument landing and another four or so trying to take off and land, and one aircraft not being sure where to hold east of the airfield (I think she wanted him over Bukit Bruang). My own position report for Terendak had to wait until I was almost at the extended center line of the 03 runway, and the report abeam Pulau Besar wasn’t abeam either. Nevertheless, I tried to do make as little a nuisance of myself as possible and dutifully climbed to the requested 3000 feet to make room for the various training aircraft.

Senai airport had plenty of traffic as well, which meant we had lots of time to inspect Kulai from the air before we were cleared to join the circuit on right base.