An AT4 light sport aircraft (two seats) of FRAS flying club with one pilot on board crashed during a routine training flight near Pontian in the afternoon of the 29th of July. Some media incorrectly reported that a “single seat Cessna” or even a copter was involved. The student pilot, Samuel Ling Shi Min, died at the scene of the crash. This is very sad news. I would like to express my condolences to the pilot’s family and friends.
The crashed aircraft was registered as 9M-EYM.
AT4 9M-EYM
New VOR/DME in Johor
(Update, 9 September 2012: Corrected Lane Delta, added JB NDB data, Moved Ayer Hitam and Renggam reporting points a bit, training area North of Gunung Pulai is now West of the North South highway)
Effective 23 August 2012, DCA Malaysia will commission a new DVOR/DME at Senai airport. Currently the DVOR/DME of Senai airport is about 5 nm off the threshold of runway 16 on a bearing of 150° (i.e. you have to set course 150° from the DVOR location to reach the threshold). The new DVOR station will be closer to the threshold (1000m) and also gets a new frequency, which will be 112.5 Mhz (Ch. 72 x). Setting up a new DVOR station requires a rerouting of airways and relocation of holding areas and reporting points. For us VFR pilots this is only of marginal interest. However, the DCA also made changes to VFR lanes and the TMA, so take note. The changes are detailed in the AIP Supplement 09/2012 dated 14 June 2012. All changes are included in the new version of my “aeronautical chart of Johor”, which you can download here.
The VFR lane Charlie does not go from Kota Tinggi straight to East of JB Airfield anymore. Instead it is rerouted via South of Kg Semangar, to make sure aircraft stay clear of Danger Area 231. For more details on that have a look at my earlier post on flying to Mersing via Kota Tinggi. Lane Delta is also routed around the danger areas with a new reporting point “East of Kampung Sungai Tiram”.
The Eastern border of the JB TMA used to go through Kota Tinggi. It is now further West and goes through restricted area 229, which means that VFR lane Charlie (from JB Town East to Kota Tinggi) is now outside the TMA. On the Western border of the TMA not much has changed. It seems to go a little further North of Simpang Renggam than it previously did.
In case you cannot remember what a VOR is: VOR stands for VHF Omnidirectional Radio (Range). The VOR is a navigational aid that allows aircraft equipped with a receiver to measure on which radial from the VOR station the aircraft is located. The DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) on the other hand tells the pilot how far from the station the aircraft is positioned.
Asia Pacific Leisure Flying LLC – Logo
I guess some of you noticed that I haven’t written a blog entry for some time. And there is a reason for that. I was busy. Not the “lame excuse” type of busy, but the real sort of busy.
Last month Ace Yip, Ranjit Singh and I created a company with the name “Asia Pacific Leisure Flying”. For some time now we have talked about ways to serve aviation enthusiast in Singapore and promote flying as a recreational activity for everybody. And now we finally did it. We registered “Asia Pacific Leisure Flying” as a Limited Liability Partnership With the Singapore Authorities.
The company has a web site – “www.leisureflying.asia” and you can reach us by sending an e-mail to info@leisureflying.asia Read the rest of this entry »
Fly in Asia 