Dream Of Flight

Hello Everyone.

A brief introduction about Dream Of Flight. I am a Singaporean and have great interest in flying since I was about 20 years old. Took up my first flying lesson in Australia and never regretted it since then. I continue to pursue my passion for flying as an instructor in Johor for about 3 years and till now I am quite fortunate to say I have achieved my dream of flying for an airline.

So what is the real reason for this blog? I always had this thought of doing something in return to the people around me who loves to fly but do not have the opportunity or resources. So me and a few pilot friends decided to come up with a program to cater for people who loves to have a taste of what flying is all about. Free Joy Flight!

Also we just came out with a free talk session to help aspiring pilots. So i hereby invite anyone interested to take up these challenges to email us at: admin@dreamofflight.org to express your interest.

(Do apologize if the waiting time might be long for the joy flight, as we do not conduct this too regularly and also due to the demand and capacity of the plane. Thank you for your understanding)

Details Required in the email:

Name:
Age:
Nationality:
Why you want to join this program:

Details of the flying:

Location: Senai Airport Johor Malaysia
Duration: Approx. 30mins / flight
Aircraft: 4 seater or 2 seater plane.

Piper 28

Tampico 9

Click Here for direction to Senai Airport Johor from Singapore.

Looking forward to be with you in the sky!

Cheers!

Free Talk Session for Aspiring Pilots

Hello again everyone.

Dream of Flight recently started a free talk session program for aspiring pilots.

What this session aims to achieve is to share with aspiring pilots the different ways of achieving this dream in Singapore. Be it in the education, licence or leisure aspects. My Team and I hope to reach out to more of you and share our experiences as well as to guide you in the right direction so that hopefully one day, you could achieve your dream of becoming a pilot in a smoother transition.

So please send your email to: admin@dreamofflight.org and state in your topic as “Talk Session” if you are interested to attend. Next session will be held on: (TBA)

With good response, we will then try to hold more of this sessions in the coming months. Thank you for the support and hope to hear from you!

First Talk Session held at Republic Poly
(Mar 2012)

Second Talk Session held at Kembangan
(Aug 2012)

Charity Joy Flight

Dear All,

We are organizing a Charity Joy Flight Event for you, your friends and family members to have a taste of flying in a 4 seater Piper aircraft.

What this aim to achieve is that each flight you experience, the fund will be given to the next less privileged youth to experience the same flight that you did. So you will not only enjoy the flight, you know someone after you will benefit as well!

If you are interested to attend, the next event will be held on the: (TBA), Senai Airport Johor. Send your email to: admin@dreamofflight.org to register your interest.


Looking forward to share the sky with you!

Charity Joy Flight Sept 2012

Charity Joy Flight Sept 2012

Cathay Pacific "A Day in The Life of a Pilot"

Enjoy.

Journey to Becoming a Pilot - Part 10

14 hours of flight time to Europe was long but my next step of life was just about to begin. When we reached our destination, me and my partner was a little lost as there were no pickup for us. We called the hotel which we were assigned to stay and they told us they will send a transport over.

When we reached the hotel, it was not too bad. Big room with a garden view. I like it especially when I can open the window because I prefer fresh air to air-con. It was winter and the cool air just makes the whole room fresher. As it was a free day, and we only have lesson the next day, we decided to explore the surrounding. We went to the nearby supermarket and bought some instant noodles, drinks, toiletries etc. It was a nice and quiet town and we spent the evening in a nearby chinese restaurant where they have plenty of variety to choose from. Only thing was, the food's cold and we got to microwave the dishes which wasn't very healthy in my opinion.

Day 2, woke up early at 0630am and met up with my buddy for free breakfast at the hotel lobby. It was the typical english breakfast which was not 5 star but reasonable. I love the orange juice maker where you can see the orange rolled into the machine and eventually becoming the juice at the bottom. After breakfast, a van drove us to the training center where we will spent the next 5 weeks in.

We assembled in a room where there were many other students. We wrote down our particulars and also took a photo for our pass. Thereafter we had an introductory talk from the center and also a tour around the premises. The cafeteria was quite nice like a food court and food pricing was reasonable when we produce out pass. First day was quite relaxing and soon we returned back to the hotel and later met up for dinner at the same place again…not much choices as you might have already guessed.

After dinner, I watched a little TV, bathed and lied down on the bed, thinking to myself if I could overcome the tough training which lies ahead. I guessed I just had to take each step at a time and do my very best….
(To be continued)

Joy Flight - Care Haven Dec 2012

Thanks to our last Charity Joy Flight in Sept, we managed to gather some fund for the youths from Care Haven to share the similar experience. A big thank you to the guys that attended!

Also thanking Mr Tham, for organizing the trip for the youths.

The joy and experience I believe, is the most important. Something they will always remember. See you all again soon and a Merry Christmas!

Checking Fuel Quality

Explaning How To Check Eng Oil

Group Photo

Ready To Go...

Journey to Becoming a Pilot - Part 9

After my 1 week reservist, I returned to Ipoh to continue my flying training. The pace was still very slow. Not much flying, doing about 1-2 hours a week. After a few weeks, I realized I had to shift out of the hotel and look for an apartment to rent as I predicted the stay was going to be longer and that will help save some cost.

During my free time, I will look for career opportunities online. Through a kind friend, I got to meet up with a very kind samaritan who was also in the airline industry. He told me to apply to one of the airline as it was recruiting and I did. About a week later, I was quite surprised they replied to me and asked me to attend an interview and a simulator check. So I took some time off and went for the test which I eventually passed. However they could not take me in yet as I still need to complete my training in Ipoh.

At one particular day, I met one of the directors of the school Maj N, he was just passing by the school and he happened to speak to me, asking me how was my training going. I told him it was not very productive as there were too many students and not enough instructors and aircraft. Also i currently had a very good opportunity in Singapore and all I need to be accepted is to finish my training in Ipoh.

Maj N was very nice, he told me not to worry and whenever he was free, he will personally fly with me to help me complete my training. At that stage, I had only about 8 hours, Maj N would come fly with me during the weekends and it was really very nice of him to do that. Within a month, I completed all my 35 hours of multi-engine IR. I was so happy and also thankful to him.

Without delay, I settled all my housing and licensing paperwork and returned to Singapore. In the next few weeks, my new company arranged me for all the emergency, crm and first aid training lessons and eventually I was set to depart Singapore for my aircraft training oversea. It was fast pace and at the same time exciting as I was finally embarking on my dream of becoming a commercial pilot.

Till this day, I am still very much indebted to the 3 person above whom indirectly helped shaped my career. A BIG thank you!
(To be continued….)

Aviation Knowledge 2

Hi,

Today let us talk about aircraft's Auxiliary Power Unit. Ever wondered without the engines running at the gate, how does the aircraft receive electricity for the lighting and also air-con when you are boarding the aircraft?

This is because at the tail section of the aircraft, there is this little magical unit called the APU in short that can provide not only electricity but also compressed air that drives the air-con when the engines are not running.

Auxiliary Power Unit (APU)

After the door is closed and aircraft starts to push back, you will notice the engine will be started at this time and soon after, a flicker of the lights in the cabin will occur. This is the time when the engine's generator kicks in and take over the load from the APU generator to provide electricity. So after the second engine start, normally the APU will be shut down at this time and compressed air will be provided by the engines to sustain the air-con. The APU will be left off until the aircraft reaches its destination and the APU will be turn on again when the aircraft reaches the gate before the engines are shut down.

What happens if the APU is down and not working? How does the aircraft gets electricity and air con at the gate then? There are 2 equipments called the Ground Power Unit and Ground Air Unit which could also be attached to the aircraft to provide both electricity and air-con.

Ground Power Unit

The next time you board an aircraft you will have a better understanding of how the APU works and try spotting the Ground Power Unit too!

Flying Across The Causeway - Sunday Life!

An article about flying across the causeway. Featuring in the interview we have our Dream of Flight Team Members, Dinesh and Thomas. Enjoy!

Go Light, take flight - Sunday Life Aug 2012

Journey to Becoming a Pilot - Part 8

Reading back on my previous post  (Journey to Becoming a Pilot - Part 1), I remembered mentioning I would share with you my experience applying as a trainee with the Singapore Air Force. Before I started training as a recruit in BMT, I have no knowledge of flying at all. It was after I started training in Tekong that the recruitment officers from the air force came to give us a career seminar. The seminar was quite impressive, giving us the opportunity to experience flying and also maybe eventually piloting one of the F-16 sounds too good to be true for a recruit. Therefore after consulting with my parents, I signed up.

The response from the recruitment side was quite swift, within a week I was called up to attend a 5 hrs psychomotor test which consist of many questions and things you have to do with a computer apparently to test your reflexes and response. It was tiring facing a computer for 5 hrs.

After the test, about another week, I was called up to attend the medical check. Thereafter, once you pass all these tests, an interview with the management will be arranged, which it happened to me.

I was dressed up in my smartest uniform and entered the meeting room, to my shocked, the long table consist of about 8-10 panel mostly high ranked officers (Maj and above) which I had never seen. The highest ranked officer I met so far was maybe my company OC - a Cpt.

Anyway I saluted them and sat on this one chair prepared for me opposite them. They asked me all kind of questions and I tried to answer them and also show my enthusiasm. After the interview, I waited in a room for the result. A lady came in and told me I made it for the interview and I was required to sign a provisional contract which I gladly did.

I was very satisfied and I still cant believe I am joining the air force. The remainder of my training in Tekong, I did my best to get the best grade. However when the posting came after the BMT, they told me I did not make it for OCS and so they could not accept me into the air force. It was quite a shock after all the tests that I had gone through.

After my posting to SISPEC, I continued to appeal but they just couldn't help me. So my hope diminished with the air force but my appetite to be a pilot grows.

I remembered I still tried to apply after my 2 1/2 yrs national service. However I was told by the recruitment officer that the computer system will reject me because I did not make it to OCS. I told them I do not mind restarting my whole training again if need be to go through OCS again…but to no avail.

I am still pondering how do they gauged if a person is suitable to fly if they do not even give them a chance to be in a plane. Time to look for other alternatives…which I did.