KUL to LGK

Yesterday, I was bored almost to death, so I decided to fly from Langkawi to KLIA in a 737. Flight sim that is. Not the real thing =P. The flight took me almost an hour to complete. 55 minutes if I'm not mistaken.


The flight route.


Accelerating down LGK airport.


Taking off. This is the easy part.


Lift.


Making a hard bank to get to the flight course.


Retracting the landing gear. Its usually done earlier.


Climbing to flight altitude.


The view inside the cockpit.


Still climbing.


I'm flying over Penang!


Can you see Bayan Lepas airport from here?


The Sun


Halfway into the flight, I wanted to practice some chops.


So I did a barrel roll with the 737. It would have broken into pieces if this were a real plane.


Flying over Subang Jaya. Can you see Subang Airport from here?


Making my approach to KLIA. Can you see the KLCC an KL Tower?


KLIA


Final approach to the runway. Landing is the tricky part. Especially woth commercial jets. You need to be at the right speed, and properly aligned with runway. If you are too fast, you will damage your landing gear, and kill some people. If you are not aligned, you will veer onto the grass.


Above the runway.


Touch down.


When I came in, I had to make a few adjustments.


Parked.


After flying, my friend and I went to watch Angels and Demons. It was a pretty good movie.

Bored

Since I'm bored, and sick.

Name - What name?
Sister - Is this a question or a statement?
Brothers - Too many to name.
Shoe size - Depends on what size chart you're looking at.
Where do u live - About 28000 light years from the center of the milky way.
Favourite drinks - Jack Daniels and Johhny Walker.
Favourite breakfast - French Toast and iced coffee.
Have you been on the plane - Yes. B747,B767,A320,A330,MD80 and a B777 in a few of weeks.
Swam in the ocean - Yes. The Atlantic!
Broken someone's heart - Not that I know of.
Fallen asleep in school - Yes.
Fell of your chair - Yup
Sat by the phone all night waiting for someone to call - Nah.
Saved e-mails - Yes.
What is your room like - Small and stuffy.
What is the last thing you ate - Wheat Bar.

EVER HAD

Chicken pox - Yes.
Stitches - None.
Broken nose - Never.
Do you believe in love at first sight - Not with humans.
Who was the last person you danced with - Someone from Oliver's wedding.
Last person who made you smile - Ramon.

TODAY DID YOU

Talked to someone you like - It depends on what you mean by like.
Kissed anyone - Nope.
get sick - I am already sick!
Talked to an ex - Nope.
Missing someone - Yeah. My homies!
Best feeling in the world - Too many to mention
Do you sleep with stuffed animals - No.
what's under your bed - Another universe.
What is the time now - 9.55 pm.

RANDOM

Is there a person on your mind right now - Nope. I can't see anyone sitting there.
Do you want children - It depends on the situation.
Do you smile often - It depends.
What colour shirt are you wearing now - White.
When did you cry last - Maybe 9 years ago?
Are you a friendly person - Yeah. I get along with people. But I don't make the effort though.
Where is the person you have feelings for right now - All around the world.
Do you eat healthy - Not as much as I would like to.
Do you still have pictures with you and your ex - Nope.
Have you ever cried because of something someone said to you - Nah.
If you're having a bad day , who are you most likely to go to - Jon. Because he's got dreads, and I don't. That jack ass...
Are you loud or quiet most of the time - It depends on the situation.
Are you confident - Depends.

5 SNACKS I ENJOY

1 . Pringles
2 . Heroin
3 . Whisky
4 . Beer
5 . Pot

5 Person I have to tag
....

Plane Crash

I got another reminder of the fragility of life today.

While I was grabbing some lunch at the Landing Strip, Patrick came up to me and asked me if I had heard anything about an airplane crash. I said I didn't. But I went on to ask him what had happened. He said that apparently the pilot of the twin engine turbo prop plane went on to report engine trouble shortly after takeoff, he reported it to the controllers, and tried to make a loop back so he could try to land on the runway. After the loop, he managed to align his craft with the runway, but unfortunately crashed about 200 feet, about 60.96 meters, short of the runway. I then went on to ask him about the pilot. Now note this down. While telling me the story, he had this look on his face which made it rather difficult for me to ascertain whether or not he was joking or telling me the truth. He said that the pilot died, and had this smirk on his face. Immediately I said, "Well that's good news." I decided that he was joking and messing around with me. Then as soon as I had said that, the lady who was making my lunch commented about the crash. I looked at Patrick and said, "You son of a bitch. He died?" He responded, "Yeah, you thought I was joking?" Immediately I felt like a complete jack ass. Then as I was getting my drink, the whole gravity of the situation struck me. In my mind, I was like, "Shit, someone just died at Daytona Beach Airport. Died by the same runway where I had stood and watched many planes take off and land." Later on in the day, I learned that apparently the flight was a father and son thing. The father was the pilot and the son was the passenger. The father died, while the son is critically injured and is currently being treated at the Halifax hospital.

This is the link to the story.

Sontag

I finally got to see the Kimster on the podium this year. Third ain't the best place in the world, but with only 3 points after 5 races, 3 retirements, and a slow as hell car, 3rd on the streets of Monaco, and fastest time during Q2, ain't such a bad achievement. But you know what the weird part was? Before the qualifying, I had a dream that he would start from second spot on the grid. True enough, when I woke up the next day, he was second in qualifying. The last time I dreamt of a Formula 1 finish was in 2000 when Coulthard won the Monaco GP with Mclaren, the year when Ferrari dominated the entire sport.

Last night was pretty good though. Sulaiman Naqbi invited me over for a real good Middle Eastern dinner. He cooked, and prepared everything. The way the food was eaten was that, he first put this plastic sheet on top of the carpet, topped it with a large piece of aluminum foil, put the rice over it, and then put the chicken over the rice. Then, his housemate, Fadhil, and I would sit on the floor, and we would all eat from the same aluminum foil. I asked him about the tradition, and he said that in the Middle East, things were done on an even bigger scale. What would happen is that, they would have this huge plate, and they would have sometimes more than 20 people eating from it! I thought it was really cool. And while eating dinner, we spoke mainly about Islam and the traditions in the Middle East. I found that topic to be very interesting because, being a knowledgeable person, and a person of reason, Sulaiman was able to explain at length about Islam and why certain practices are done the way they are. By the way, the food, though only 3 of us were there, were good enough for at least 6 people. I'm serious! It's like 6 mountains of rice and chicken all packed into one. But Sulaiman and Fadhil devoured it without any problems. I was the only "sesat" one there. And apparently, he said that, licking your fingers right after a meal *since we ate with our hands* is a good way to get bigger!

Then we were watching the news, well, because it's been pretty bad in Daytona for the last couple of days. It's been raining nonstop, and some areas are flooded, and people are being evacuated. It got better today, and I hope it stays that way.

Oh, I have five bottles of Jack Daniels cola left in my fridge. I just had one while watching Harold and Kumar with my roommate! =)

Hahaha!

Nice commercial =P

Back

I think is about time I wrote something down here before I completely forget about this space. Over the past couple of days I've been pretty busy doing my own things. I attended my good friends wedding last Saturday which was amazing! It was an adventure in its own right. I've been busy with exam preparations and teaching friends, and all through it, I've managed to completely finish reading Slash's autobiography, and now I'm reading Marilyn Manson's autobiography. I thoroughly enjoyed Slash's life story. Personally, it's among the best books that I've ever read. I'm not saying it because Slash is a fucking god, but I'm saying this because the book is put in such an organized and thoughtful manner, that it just brought me to imagine myself living through LA from the 70's right through to the present day. Every line made me feel as if I was a third party, witnessing the pivotal moments in Slash's life. I could feel the drugs, the music, the sights and sounds, the frustrations and success. I felt like I was talking to him. The only two other autobiographies that came close to achieving the quality of this book are the ones by Eddie Jordan and Jackie Stewart. Both gripping tales about life at the pinnacle of motor sport. But sadly, I can't seem to say the same about Manson's work. Perhaps it must be me falling sick, but, I found his book to be not only extremely disturbing, but also a tad bit disorganized. It kept jumping all over the place, and it was hard for me to chronologically follow what was happening. And I thought that it progressed a little to fast. But I do look forward to completing it because in some ways, I find his alternative views to be rather interesting. We'll see what happens in the end.

Atlantis

Atlantis blasted off into space yesterday with about 11000 k worth of supplies to fix the Hubble Telescope for the final time., and I was lucky enough to watch it. This time, we got within 5 miles of the launch pad, and since the wind was blowing our way, we could hear the sound coming from the rocket. It was the most amazing sound I've ever heard.





What makes this mission particularly dangerous is that the orbit of the Hubble lies in an area where there are plenty of space debris, and plenty of micrometeorites. At the speeds experienced by the debris in orbit, debris the size of a grain of sand, can cause significant damage to the astronauts space suit. Bigger ones can pose significant danger to the space craft. Interesting eh?