Get a glimpse into how our Pilots fly an aircraft through our flight simulator experience.

Have you ever dreamed of sitting on the captain’s seat? Well now you can have a chance flying it.. in a simulator ofcourse. This programme will give you the chance to visit a flight deck but also to experience the feel of flying an aircraft.  During a simulated flight, you will be guided on how to take off and land the plane. Everything you experience in the simulator from the button and levers to weather change is exactly the same as the actual flight. A high quality visual system in the simulators ensure a high degree of realism to create a flying experience that’s as close to the real thing as possible.

Im not sure if they will allow the simulator to actually move up and down and shake like real but if they do, then its really like the real thing. If you land hard enough, the simulator will let you feel the same. Haha. Its cool really. During a simulated flight, participants will be guided on how to take off and land the plane. The instructor sits behind the captain’s seat, where he can change your flight condition. They can add rain, strong winds, turbulence, engine failure, decompression, smoke or even make the plane fall of the sky.

Everything you see in the simulator is exactly like the real aircraft. The button positioning, labels, seats, display, control responsiveness and everything. The good thing is that if you crash, you can try again. This is as real as you get. Pilots all around the world trained in one of these. Ont only once, but every 6 months to refresh what they had learn before. They are tested on all kinds of emergency and the simulator behaves exactly like the real plane. This kind of trainings keeps us safe in the air and these kind of training made Capt Sully land the plane. Yes there is alot more to a pilot’s job other than just flying.

So have your chance to try out these simulators-

• 1 x Boeing 747-400
• 1 x Boeing 777-200
• 2 x Boeing 737-400
• 1 x Airbus A330-300

The charges are-

• 1 Person RM500 for 20 mins
• 3 Person RM500 each for 1 hour

First in line, Malaysia Airlines is offering this opportunity to experience the programme to all staff, families, friends and our customers before the official launch in June. Here is an idea for all divisional or departmental event organizers, gift vouchers are also available. You may purchase and present it as a GIFT or as a LUCKY DRAW prize.

Our MH Flight Simulator Experience is conducted at our Simulator Building, MAS Complex A, SAAS Airport, Subang, Selangor. Each 60 minute session is open to three participants at RM500 per person.

Please email simexperience(at)malaysiaairlines.com for more information.

This is a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 With an empty cargo container in its 1st engine. It looks quite funny. Haha. Special thanks to goldenflyingdragons for posting it in the forum here. I dont  really know what happened. Didnt read the news yet.

Quote from youtube

A large metal baggage container was sucked into the engine of a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 on Monday as the giant jetliner prepared to depart with 245 passengers from Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said.

The accident occurred about 1:30 p.m. when Flight 61 to Narita, Japan, pulled back from Gate 101 at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Airport officials said the vacuum created by the air intake of the left outboard engine was so strong it pulled the empty container off a baggage cart that was either parked or driven too close to the aircraft.

The metal box, which is used by airline baggage handlers to haul luggage to and from aircraft, measures approximately 5 feet by 5 feet by 4 feet.

Officials said the container became lodged in the engine’s housing.

Japan Airlines took the crippled 747-400 out of service and made other flight arrangements for the passengers and 18 crew members, who were returned to the Bradley terminal. The airplane, which has four engines, was towed to a hangar for inspection.

(Source : ASN)
Date: 11-MAY-2009
Time: 1:30 pm
Type: Boeing 747-446
Operator: Japan Air Lines - JAL
Registration: JA8922
C/n / msn: 27646/1280
Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 263
Other fatalities: 0
Airplane damage: Unknown
Location: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) - United States of America
Phase: Pusback / towing
Nature: International Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: KLAX
Destination airport: RJAA
Narrative:
A cargo container was sucked into No. 1 engine

International Radio Telephony (RT) spelling alphabet - also known as the NATO phonetic alphabet

“Bravo 1, on my six!” (B1)

“Copied that, Alpha 6″ (A6)

“November Charlie Zulu, cleared to start” (NCZ)

“Nine-er Mike -  Mike Yankee Alpha” (9M-MYA)

What are these codes?

They are the International Radio Telephony spelling alphabet. Alpha is A, Bravo is B, Charlie is C and so on.. Its like a standard pronunciation. It applies to numbers too. Nin-er = 9, etc.  To see the correct pronunciation, refer to the chart below.

Why use these codes?

Mainly its so that it can be pronounced and understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of their native language, especially when the safety of navigation or persons is essential. If you are a comemrcial pilot, you will fly across continents and most of them dont use english as their primaly language. They have differnet accent and some can be really hard to understand. With these standardization, everyone can understand better.

Another reason for this is sometimes over the ocean you might come across a situation where the radio static noise is so bad you could barely make out what the guy on the other side of the radio is trying to say. So this way of transmitting abolishes ambiguities and in an event of an emergency, every detail and second counts.

Do we have to know this?

It is commonly used by the pilots, policemen, the army, and the list goes on. Since this is an aviation blog, we will stick to the pilots. This is very useful when the radio has alot of static noises in the background and you cant clearly hear the other person. If you are taking the Pilot’s License (SPL, PPL, CPL, ATPL), you must know this. If im not mistaken there is a test on this and you must know this by heart, because when you fly you will be transmitting in this format.

Alphabets

Numbers

I wont go any further into the numbers. It will be in the following post. Basically, you pronounce is as what is written in the chart above. Take special note on number 4 and 9. Note the 2 syllabals now.  Insteand of the normal four and nine, its Fow-er and Nin-er. Any questions?

Avsim.com was a website dedicated at supplying and archiving alot of Microsoft Flight Simulator’s resources. For users of the Flight Simulator series (FS2004, FS9, FSX), Avsim.com provides information and addons for the game. I got this news from one of the forum member here. Its quite shock such a big website went down. Im sure they have a backup somwhere. Maybe to recover some 50% of it is better then nothing.

For those of u who is not familiar with this website, its where people share scenery of a local airport to make the Flight Sim program more realistic. They also share latest aircraft design which made Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia playable on the Flight Sim. A programmable MCDU or FMC is made available and the aircraft interior is so real, the effects you get from each button is almost like the actual aircraft.

The website went down after an attack believed done by a hacker to its website. The site’s founder, Tom Allensworth said it is uncertain if the site would ever return. That means Flight Sim history and progress will be lost forever.

Quote on Tom from the temporary AVSIM.com website.

It’s late on Wednesday and I have been at this since 5 or so this morning, but I wanted to get this posted before calling it a night.

I have to say that in the 24 hours since we were battling an attack on our servers, the community has raised the bar as to the definition of that community and its support for AVSIM. We have had hundreds of email offering help; dozens of message here in the forums offering assistance. We have seen flight sim enthusiasts not only outraged by the destruction of AVSIM, but with an awe inspiring willingness to assist, in any way that they can.

More people have invested in the future of AVSIM today via donations in a single, short day than we have ever seen in our nearly 13 years of operation. I am shocked, frankly, by the desire for the community to see us continue and your willingness to put your investment into our future.

We are sincerely humbled by the wealth of support and the sincerity of those who have posted here and who have sent us email . I can’t tell you how important is the out pouring of support to us - it is truly a testament to the hard work, effort and contribution of a whole bunch of folks on our team.

I have to also confess that at this time last night and even in the early hours of this morning, I had thought; “This is it… AVSIM is no more. We should pull the plug on the servers and call it quits, sell the domain and move on to Steel Head fishing in Idaho or Oregon”.

That is not going to happen. I can’t tell you how much the messages of support, the donations and the unflinching resolve of the community has inspired us. It has truly been awesome. We can’t quit now… It would be a sin against the family of AVSIM.

While I am at it, I want to thank Nels, Miquel, Francois, PMDG, and dozens of other web sites and forums for posting our press releases on the event, and following up with offers of support. I am one of the most competitive SOB’s you will ever meet, and it is truly inspiring to have our competitors so emphatically show their support in spite of our competitive natures. AVSIM can only hope to repay that support someday. Thank you guys!

That’s it. I am done for the night. Thank you everyone for your support and your faith in AVSIM. We WILL be back!

The news on the attack was on BBC too. Follow the link to read about it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8049780.stm

There had been some speculation made that a recent ‘hire’ to Avsim’s library management admininistration had performed functions which harvested Avsim member data for ’spam’ and ‘phishing’ purposes: several Avsim members discovered a sharp increase in spam and phishing e-mails to their e-mail accounts which were used to establish their Avsim accounts. Since then, this ‘hire’ was dismissed, but the damage was done and Avsim went offline. (Wikipedia)

But there is good news, as posted by the creator above, he will not pull the plug. The Avsim put up a temporary website for the members to gather.  http://linux.myalbemarle.org/forums/index.php

Top part

Here is a view of the top part of the page. The navigation bar is not perfect yet and you can expect it to be updated soon. Then at right of the navigation bar, there is a small search box. If viewed at the front page, you can see 5 feature article rotating automatically on the top right side. The right sidebar is for easy maneuvering. Shortcuts to categories, archive, recent post, recent forum posts can be found here. I will skip the middle part because there is nothing interesting there.

Bottom part

This is the bottom part of the blog. As you can see, the navigation to the next page is made much easier now. This is actually at the body of the page. At the bottom, The latest video is made available for easy viewing. Just click the play button can enjoy the video.

Random posts -  old articles are randomly generated represented by a picture. Click to read them.

The recent posts -  as the name suggests, recent posts on the blog.

Most commented - Arranged by most commented posts to least commented post.

Most popular - Popularity of a post arranged by incoming links, comments, and popularity of course.

Theme is made by ColorLabsProjects and you can click here to get one.

Logo

This logo was designed by me using wordpress the 1st day i set up this theme. I taught i need something to fit the new theme. It was created with Adobe Photoshop in under 10 mins. Just in case you cant find it, its on the top left side of the page.

Again, tell me what you think guys. If its nice, ill make this permenant. Lets give this theme a try for a few months. Thanks for supporting flydamnit.com.

Beijing Capital International (PEK)

Worst departure rank: 1

Percentage of on-time departures: 47.86 percent
Forbes reported that Beijing is one of the most busiest airport with almost 54 million passengers in 2007. It certainly is as its normal to expect a 30mins to 1hr delay here. Even with the new upgrade anticipating the Olympics in 2008, the airport still cant cope with the number of airlines operating in and out of it. Many of those airlines are the local airline which are doing the domestic routes.

The problem with this place is that they almost always give their local airline the priority to depart. It happens so many times until you can always hear some foreign airline argueing with the local ATC.

Even if you are at the holding point, the ATC can clear their local airline infront of you and clear them for takeoff! The worse part is, they ask you to hold when the other aircraft was pushing back (from the aerobridge) and just starting up. They can be cleared infornt of you for takeoff. Not one but 3 of them can ‘cut’ the queue! Ofcourse, if you argue with them, they will just ask you to hold in the middle of the taxiway and wait another 30 mins. Yes, they are capable of doing that.

Manchester Airport (MAN)

Worst departure rank: 2

Percentage of on-time departures: 49.11 percent

Northern England’s main airport saw more than 22 million passengers pass through in 2007, and it has more direct flights to global destinations than any other airport in the U.K. Unfortunately, it might take some extra time to reach those places. About 48 percent of its delayed departures were late by at least 30 minutes, according to a sampling of flights.

The description above is from the Forbes website. I have never been here.

Read the Previous post on: World’s Most Delayed Arrival Airports

article by ForbesTraveler.com

This list of the world’s most delayed arrival airports was compilled by FlightStats operated by Conductive Technology Crop in Portland. The full article can be found on the ForbesTraveler.com

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (BOM)

Worst arrival rank: 1

Percentage of on-time arrivals: 49.95 percent

For the second year in a row, Mumbai’s international airport — India’s busiest — tops our list as the world’s most-delayed airport in terms of arrivals. About 58 percent of its late arrivals in 2008 were delayed by 30 minutes or more, according to FlightStats sampling of the airport’s flights. In November, the airport opened a new taxiway to reduce the wait time for landing aircraft.

So far I have only flown into Bombay once. The delay that time was about 20-30 mins. I cant recall it that well. We expected this delay because we arrive at around 9pm local time in Bombay. Its the ‘rush hour’ i guess.

Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)

Worst arrival rank: 2

Percentage of on-time arrivals: 50.89 percent

Serving New Delhi, India’s capital, Indira Gandhi International saw 23.3 million passengers in 2007. A sampling of the airport’s flights shows that nearly 60 percent of its delayed flights were late by more than 30 minutes. In October, a third runway — one of the longest in Asia — became fully operational. The airport also plans a new terminal complex to be finished by the end of March 2010.

Delhi, Delhi, Delhi, what can i say..  I get to fly to this place about once a month and my last flight was not a pleasant one. The delay was almost 50 mins.  We were flying from Malaysia to Delhi and we were scheduled to arrive Delhi at around 9pm. We carried plenty of fuel because it was a tankering sector. That means we carry as much fuel as we can from KUL so that we dont have to refuel in Delhi. As we were approaching Delhi, they asked us to slow down. This is normal for most aerodrome. Even if we slow down to the slowest speed possible, the delay will only be less then 5 mins.So as we get closer they asked us to descend, and coming from the east, they ask us to proceed to a point south of the airfield.

The radio is horrible! The ATC is so busy controlling the whole airspace that he ocationally misses a few radio call purposely ignored alot of radio calls. Some aircraft called them repeatedly but they didnt acknowledge  the plane’s call and keep giving instructions to other planes. I can understand he is busy but this practice is really dangerous!

So as we are approaching the point, we called them but they ignored us and keep vectoring other planes for approach. What they should do is give us the next point, heading or  further instructions. So we call again but there is no answer. When we reached that point we turned to the Delhi VOR (radio becon) as per the flight plan. They then instruct us to fly to the VOR.Halfway there about 25nm they ask us to hold at our present position. We were in the holding pattern for more then 30 mins (maybe more). At that time, i suspect they vectored their own local airline ahead of us.

Then the vectored us some 50nm (about 92.6 KM) to the East of the Airfield. And then some 30nm North of the before asking us to join 20nm finals from the West of the Airfield. We landed without any incident. Its what you can expect coming into Delhi. All together the delay is 50mins+.

Suggstion: Adopt 2 or more radio frequency if one guy cant handle the whole airspace all at once

Mohammed V International Airport (CMN)

Worst arrival rank: 3

Percentage of on-time arrivals: 53.83 percent

Casablanca’s airport is one of the smallest on our list, serving 5.9 million passengers in 2007. But the airport, run by the Moroccan Airports Authority (ONDA), gets a low grade for on-time arrivals. More than 60 percent of its flights sampled by FlightStats in 2008 were at least 30 minutes late. Departures weren’t much better: 64 percent left on time.

Never been here.

Bengaluru International Airport (BLR)

Worst arrival rank: 4

Percentage of on-time arrivals: 60.16 percent

Give Bengaluru International some time to adjust to growing pains: The sleek new airport serving India’s high-tech capital opened in May. In 2007, the city’s old airport, which no longer serves commercial traffic, served 9.9 million passengers — an astonishing 34 percent increased over the prior year. About 80 percent of its flights departed on time in 2008, an airport official says.

So far just a few mins of delay. No big deal. Never had a major delay before.

Orio al Serio International Airport (BGY)

Worst arrival rank: 5

Percentage of on-time arrivals: 60.55 percent

Orio al Serio is the smallest of the airports we examined — just 5.7 million passengers passed through in 2007. It serves budget carriers to Bergamo, near the foothills of the Italian Alps, and nearby Milan. In 2008, 55 percent of delayed arrivals sampled by FlightStats were less than 30 minutes late. However, only 60 percent of its flights departed on time as well.

I have never been here too. No comment

This is only half the news, with the most delayed arrival article here, i will introduce to you the other half of the ad news - the most delayed departure.

Next article: World’s Most Delayed Departure Airport

Remember the post about the Air Asia’s Blog competetion earlier? So they have shortlisted some good entries. Maybe they stand a chance of winning the competition and get their dream job as an airline pilot? Is your blog on the list? For those who did not know about the competition, please read the previous post here.

Below are some of the names shortlisted by AirAsia for their “So you wanna be a pilot?” blog competition. The names are not completed and is compiled by the flydamnit’s forum member y4ng. These entries are viewable at the AirAsia’s blog. http://blog.airasia.com/

1 - Soon Chee Keong, 19 (Soon90)
2 - Daphne Daphne Siew Li
3 - Low Yi Yang, 25 (y4ng)
4 - Yeow Jian How *pulled out
4 - Jessica Lee
5 - Siew Wan Siong, 22 (ellusion) (BenjaminSiew)
6 - Arvindran (arvindrankk)
7 - Mohd Muhaimin (muhaimin86)
8 - Augustina Yati
9 - Hare (Harechandran)
10 - Wai Weng (waiweng83)
11 - Mohd Danial (last_sense)
12 - Samuel Yee (samyck)
13 - Razwan
14 - Dex, Kong Sun (dexman)
15 - Lui Siu Ming 20 (JiGsaW) (leon5271)
16 - Chee Ping 19 (Cirrus)
17 - Nicholas, 21(keropi88)
18 - Calvin Liew Weng Hooi 24 (weng hooi)
19 - Herman
20 - Abdul Agis Bin Amran 22 (agis132800)
21 - Arwind (sin wee meng)
22 - Henry Chu (hfchu)
23 - Haansel Ananth (Baby pilot) (haansel)
24 - Shyan 20 (h_shyan)
25 - Sundararajan (goldwing23)
25 - Hee Mun Mun
26 - Henry Hieng Kui (henrykui)
27 - Ming Liang (charleslml)
28 - Jonathan
29 - Woei Liang (wlchong88)
30 - Corrine Tan (corrientan)
31 - Kenneth (ken2291)
32 - Nur Hakimi
33- Ching Yee (Gyee) (gyeejong)
34 - Edwin Goh, 18 (edwingoh18)
35 - Chin Vun Ben

Dont see your name there? Maybe you’re not yet sucessful. Try again because the competition is still open and i think the dateline is 15th May 2009. Good luck guys.

Part I: http://www.flydamnit.com/2009/03/06/airasia-so-you-wanna-be-a-pilot/

For more upates/discussion go to the forum.
Flydamnit Forum - Learn to fly > Airlines > Air Asia > AirAsia: So You Wanna be a Pilot?

Fadex plane crash at Tokyo Narita Crash

TOKYO — Wind shear may have caused the crash of a FedEx jet that cartwheeled on the runway at Tokyo’s main international airport and burst into a fireball, investigators said Monday, but experts noted that the model was notoriously difficult to land.

The American pilot and co-pilot _ the only two people on board _ were killed when the MD-11 cargo plane bounced on its landing at Tokyo’s Narita international airport, slammed onto the runway and tipped onto its side before exploding into flames.

Kazuhito Tanakajima, an aviation safety official at the Transport Ministry, said the crash may have been the result of “wind shear,” sudden changes in wind that can lift or smash an aircraft into the ground during landing.

But Tanakajima said the wind speed alone was not necessarily dangerous. He said there was headwind of about 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour), and a crosswind of about 7 miles per hour.

Wind shear is a sudden change in the speed and direction of the wind, and happens relatively frequently. But a dangerous localized form _ called a microburst _ can cause planes to lose airspeed suddenly and or lift abruptly if a headwind suddenly changes to a tail wind during takeoff or landing, said Patrick Smith, a Boston based pilot and aviation analyst.

During the 1970s and 1980s, microbursts were blamed for a number of aviation disasters in the United States that helped usher in a new generation of wind shear detection technology.

Smith described a wind speed of 45 mph as unusually powerful.

“It is possible that shears from these gusts, together with known instability issues of the MD-11, led to the accident.”

He said the aircraft is unusually sensitive on the controls but the downside is a tendency for pilots to over-control during a bounced or otherwise unstable landing, which in severe cases can lead to a total loss of control.

The MD-11 has had no fatal crashes since 1999 and was largely retired from passenger service because of the introduction of more economical planes.

Tomoki Kuwano, a former Japan Airlines pilot and aviation expert, said the MD-11 can be hard to land.

“In the past, the MD-11 has a record of landing failure,” he said. “And when that happens it often flips over.”

In 1999, an MD-11 flipped over and burst into flames, killing three people during a crash landing in a storm in Hong Kong. And in 1997 one of the planes landed hard, flipped and caught fire while landing in Newark, N.J.

Monday’s was the first deadly crash at Narita _ the main air hub for international flights to Tokyo _ since the airport opened in 1978. According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, pilot Kevin Kyle Mosley, 54, of Hillsboro, Ore., and co-pilot Anthony Stephen Pino, 49, of San Antonio, Texas _ were killed as they landed the flight from Guangzhou, China.

FedEx, which just last month opened its Asian hub in Guangzhou, said it was investigating the cause of the accident.

“We will continue to work closely with the applicable authorities as we seek to determine the cause for this tragic incident,” the company said in a statement.

___

Associated Press writers Tomoko Hosaka, Shino Yuasa, Jay Alabaster, Mari Yamaguchi and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.

News source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Video from CNN

More pictures of the FadEx plane crash on the runway

Picture credit: Reuters

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/23/fedex-jet-crash-wind-shea_n_178076.html

Sabah - MALAYSIA
Open Day : 21st March 2009 09:00 am
Venue : Hyatt Regency Kinabalu

Description

Is the working environment of a 9 to 5 routine something you would like to make a thing of the past?

Our Cabin Crew will testify that it’s not just a job, but a way of life.  The work can be demanding and strenuous but very rewarding.  Hours of work can vary, and include weekends, nights and public holidays.

If you have what it takes and enjoy the freedom and responsibility of using your own initiative, carry out your responsibilities with confidence and minimal supervision, have a high level of personal presentation, possess excellent communication skills, and above all be attentive to individual client needs, then working for Qatar Airways could be the career for you.
We are one of the fastest growing airlines in the world with an expanding route network covering the Middle East, Far East, Africa, Asia, Europe and America, with a modern fleet of A300, A319, A320, A321, A330 and A340 aircrafts. We are soaring to greater heights by way of expansion and progress and we are based in Doha, a modern commercial centre and growing tourist destination.

Benefits

As you would expect from one of the world’s best Middle-Eastern airlines, the rewards and benefits are excellent.  Here is just a taste:
· Competitive TAX-FREE package
· Company provided furnished sharing accommodation
· Medical insurance
· Generous airline travel discounts
· Promising career prospects and personal development opportunities

This is a career opportunity to earn an excellent remuneration package, travel the world and be a flying ambassador for Qatar Airways.

Requirements

To be considered for this opportunity, you need to meet the following:
· Minimum age of 20 years
· Minimum arm reach of 212 cms (on tip toes)
· Minimum high school education/ O levels, with fluency in written and spoken English (ability to speak other languages is an asset)
· An excellent level of health and fitness
· A willingness to relocate to Doha, Qatar
· An outgoing personality, good interpersonal skills and the ability to work in a multi-national team environment

Please apply online attaching:
· An updated resume
· One recent passport and full-length colour photograph against a plain (avoid white) background
· The dress code for the photographs is as follows:
Females:    Business suit with knee-length skirt
Hair must be neat and tied back if long
Males:         Business suit, shirt and tie
(Photo Format:  Stand facing the camera, with one foot slightly forward, hands relaxed by
the sides and a warm open smile)
· The images in the following formats: JPG/JPEG or GIF. (Note: Do keep the size below 50KB).

Kindly note that selected candidates may be required to attend further interview processes over consecutive days. We would also like to inform you that all expenses and arrangements related to you attending any Cabin Crew Recruitment Processes would be borne / made by you.

Job
Cabin Crew
Primary Location
Intra Gulf-Qatar-Doha
Organization
Airline Services
Schedule
Full-time
Job Level
Individual Contributor
Education Level
High School Diploma/GED/O levels (±11 years)
Job Type
Standard
Shift
Shift work/Roster