I have chosen a flight school for my license conversion. There is a surprisingly large number of flight schools and aviation colleges in the Philippines. Within one hour of driving I could choose from at least ten schools. I ended up with Laminar Aviation based at Subic International Airport.
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I did not find much information on the Internet on how to get a flight medical certificate at the age of 59 in the Philippines. At the off-chance that somebody at my age is out there who wants to give it a try, this post will hopefully help a bit.
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It has been 10 years since I flew my Piper Archer III to Subang. Much has happened since. Unfortunately, none of it involved flying an airplane. I tried sailing, which is fun. But I don’t think blue-water cruising is for me. Instead, since I live in the Philippines now, I will make an attempt to convert my license to a CAAP (Philippines) PPL.
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Better write down what ATC is saying. I am not that young anymore.
So you think you speak English? You are even born in a country that has English as the mother tongue? Interesting, but DCA Malaysia wants to make sure. And that means every pilot and air traffic controller has to do an English proficiency test. The test will tell whether you have a pre-elementary knowledge of English (the lowest score) or whether you are an expert (the highest score). If you fail the test (score 1 to 3) you are not a pilot anymore, no matter what your license says. And, unless you are an expert, you have to repeat the proficiency test every three years (score 4) or six years (score 5). Only experts can forget about this for the rest of their Malaysian pilot career. (BTW: The English test has not been invented in Malaysia. This is an ICAO requirement and has been implemented in one form or other by most countries in the world.)
My last score was a 4 and the three years will expire tomorrow. So, I went on a Firefly flight to Subang this morning and reported at APFT (one of the approved test centers in Malaysia) to take my test. I was secretly hoping for a six rating, but I got a five. Not a bad result. I won’t need to do that again for six years. The best part of this is that I was able to take the results to DCA in Putrajaya right away and they updated my license on the spot. Free skies of Asia – I am back in business. Off to Medan tomorrow.
Beautiful clouds between Senai and Malacca, West coast Malaysia
On my way back from Pulau Tioman on 5 October 13
Evening at Senai Airport, Malaysia
Happy as I can be. Flying my little Piper for a coffee to Malacca before heading back to Singapore
By Ingo Noka. Update: The weather was simply beautiful, just a bit bumpy below the cloud base. I flew to Malacca as planned and went through Immigration there. If it wasn’t for the 1 hour flight time, this is a more convenient place to complete the usual formalities.
Most of the flight time I spent at about 4000 feet altitude – nice and cool. Seletar was very busy with four aircraft in the circuit (there is only a right hand circuit!). I joined overhead at 2000 feet and joint downwind as number three. Everything is very tight at Seletar, so I was rather close to the aircraft in front of me and my landing clearance didn’t come through until I was almost at the threshold, because the aircraft in front of me had to taxi some way to get off the runway. The controller was on the ball and did a great job keeping everybody flying safely in such a confined airspace – thanks!
I didn’t make the 300 hours mark. There are still a few minutes missing. I am sure next weekend will be the day and coincidentally I will reach 100 hours of flying my own aircraft.
(Previous text: I need a bit over 3 hours to hit 300 hours total flying time in Single Engine Propeller aircraft. Let’s see whether I can draw out a flight to Malacca this afternoon long enough to make it. The plan is to stop in Malacca for CIQ (i.e. get a stamp in my passport) and then return direct to Singapore.)
Diamond DA40 Test
I have decided to buy an aircraft. Whether that is a wise decision is questionable, but for me it is the right one.
To be honest, there is no business case for this. Renting is likely the cheaper option even if I am going to fly a lot. With renting I would have no maintenance headaches, no unexpected costs, zero cost when I am not flying and so forth.
So the question is, whether the extra hassle and money would be worth it. For me the answer is ‘Yes” for these reasons:
Piper Avionics Stack
A while ago I wrote about my radio practice at Senai airport. I wrote it mostly to get things lined up properly in my own mind, so I never got around to publish it. I now found it again in one of the abandoned folders on my laptop and think this may help somebody else with their first radio calls. So, while I make it available here, I am aware that I am not that experienced myself and may get things wrong. It always better to ask an instructor for clarification if in doubt! Read the rest of this entry »
After my First Flight with Piper PA-28-161 9m-FRR
I can add a new aircraft type to my “Aircraft I have flown” web page. This weekend I took off for the first time with one of the club’s Piper Warrior II PA-28-161 (9M-FRR). The two Pipers came from the Singapore Youth Flying Club late last year (they have a picture of a PA-28 in the yellow-blue livery of the Youth Flying Club on the Piper Cherokee Wikipedia page). Read the rest of this entry »
I went to the club today to pick up my PPL. This weekend captain Singh is teaching the Ground School. I understand that quite a few new students have started this year. Things look much better for the club after last year’s draught, and I am glad that it does.
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Fly in Asia 