Week 16 Round-Up

So I thought that I'd keep this short and sweet. I've wanted to do this for a long time, but everytime things get put into perspective and I feel like it's something that I can pen down, I'm usually either at the wrong place (in the toilet), or at the wrong time (in the classroom).

But what I've just really wanted to say, after these 16 weeks of classes and life as a cadet pilot is, that it hasn't been what I initially thought it out to be, but at the same time, it has presented me with numerous surprising turns.

Today happens to be a rare day, of which I actually feel a little relieved of the usual stresses pressing down on me. From having to study all day, and with the dread of an upcoming test the following week. Ironically, it still is an upcoming week loaded with tests.

Mon - HPL; Tues - HR Haji (PH); Wed - Comms College Exams; Thurs - CAAS Comms; Fri - RNAV, GNAV? Instruments?

God knows when the GNAV and Instruments test will be, but I'm assuming Friday since it can't possibly be pushed to the following week and also cos it's only on one chapter - INS/IRS. As for GNAV, it's almost a consolidation test of all the chapters that we've covered so far, so I guess I'm gonna have to cover these two subjects this weekend.

It's a good feeling, being able to have the luxury of time to blog about all these stuff, and also to be able to feel the clicking of keyboard keys under my fingertips. I love the sound and the feeling of typing. Ewen once called me a keyboard shortcut warrior even. That's probably how much I love my keyboard. Well ok, that went a little off course.

So well anyway, not much time to provide detailed updates. Maybe it's also cos I'm sick of it too. But I'll just quickly list them in point form chronologically, picking up from where I left off.

1. My grandma passed away. I was really sad to know that she was going to be gone forever, but yet at ease to know that she was better off and free of her mortal limitations.
   
2. My grandma's passing was the turning point from which I felt like I was drifting away from my coursemates. Initially disappointed that they never did more to express their condolences, or even express more to display solidarity. But in retrospect, how silly was I to expect that?
   
   Two reasons; #1, they couldn't even be bothered to go for the aviation career open house, and more recently, the graduation ceremony, (which could have provided for some good networking opportunities, hence increasing their chances of being employed), so why even bother coming for my grandma's wake? #2, spoilt insensitive rich brats, they are.
   
3. Relationships worsened. I was growing increasingly irritated and drifted away from them. Same could have been said for them.
   
4. Studies started taking a hit. Slid from top in class to the worst performing. Increasing alienation from them made matters worse. I thrive on relationships with people, that's no hidden fact. And this was making things very tough for me.
   
5. CAAS Exams. POF - 78%; M&B - 97% (surprise, surprise),  Air Law - 77%, A/C Sys - 74%.
   Failed A/C Sys by one mark. Tried appealing for that thinking that because it could have been that I was tested on one questions that was not supposed to be in the ATPL(A) exams, but for helicopters instead. Vapour cooling cycle. Will never forget this topic. But very interesting to read up on, seeing that it's the same process that cools the fridge.
   
   Neither will I forget the day I woke up for my A/C Sys test. Horrible morning. Hadn't heard from Carol in days cos she was busy doing her own thing. Think she had just returned from a long flight and hadn't had many opportunities to talk to her either cos I was busy studying. So I woke up that morning, cos my coursemate, C, also decided to wake up extra early to study and his goddamned alarm kept ringing. He turned on the lights and was going to leave it on while studying in the room. I was finally awoken when I checked my phone to see some text messages from my best friend's wife, E. Now that certainly got my attention. Troubled me all morning. Stress is accumulative, or so I've learnt from HPL. Well it certainly was something I took with me all the way to the exam room.
   
6. Proceeded with the next phase while preparing for the re-sit. C needed to re-sit his M&B too, failed it by 1 mark, just like me. Scored 88% in the re-sit.
   
7. Relationships continued to worsen. Deepening trough of misunderstanding and difference in personalities. I came upfront C once, asked him if anything was the matter to cause this increasingly noticeable riff. His reply: Nothing. He was just closer to B, and that was all.
   
8. My birthday. Got a reply from Silk. JS said that she checked with her boss and turns out that they weren't going to be able to put me back into the cadet program. Not particularly sad news cos I was trying my luck anyways. I was prepared to pay for the entire course all by myself. Knowing that the job market was going to be looking good served to alleviate my worries in the short run.
   Carol surprised me at the airport with Andrey and his wife. I was happy that we had a small little celebration, though I was still a little shook up by Andrey's problems.
   
9. Exams were over. Had a gathering at Brad's place. Things seemed ok at the gathering, and once again I was pondering on what the hell went wrong and what give reason for such alienation.
   
10. 9 September 2013 - It was a Monday. JS called me twice. First time I missed her call, second time I picked it up albeit answering with a very irritable tone, wondering if it was another sales call. She said that she was from Silk. She said that she had spoken to her bosses and reviewed my case again. They were offering me an interview.
    
    It took a little while for the reality to set in. The reality that I was going for a potentially life changing interview. I wanted to tell no one for a while. I remember only breaking the news to Mom and Carol. I didn't want to tell Dad yet until I signed, or finished the interviews at least. But Mom broke the news to Dad anyway. I told a few people, M - a mentor of mine, included. Asked HGS for permission to take the following Thursday off.
    
    And I know I sound like a total dick for saying this, but suddenly the fantasies being able to be one step ahead and to shove all this in the faces of my coursemates come back to mind. The reason why I feel this way is due to their insolence and lack of character. Their disgusting attitudes and for being such spoilt brats.
    
    But above all, it was a huge opportunity. The opportunity to free my parents of financial burden, to give them a happy retirement, to give Carol's folks a peace of mind, to set the wheels of being able to settle down with Carol in motion, and to have a job that I've always wanted. I never allowed it get to me. Till the day of the interview, just before the interview.
    
11. 19 September 2013 - Thursday. I screwed up, big time. Carol was still in TW. I never got the chance to talk to her the night before to calm myself down. I never got a chance to calm myself down before entering the interview room, to be honest. I was in a mess. I bombed the interview, went on speaking all kinds of gibberish and talking way too much. I still wonder what kind of impression I must have given Capt K and the CP.
    
    I was totally distraught after that. I went over to Andrey's place, had a little catch-up with him. And E. And Andrey's mom. Gosh, if only. IF ONLY, I could introduce God to them, to eradicate all the ill-feelings and negativity that pervaded the household. But same can be said for myself as well. I was in a worser-off state than them. I was, and still am surrounded by C&B. (Btw, they managed to squeeze it out of me before I went for the interview. Eventually caved and told them that I was going for it, to which they wished me good luck) But what happened in the next few days made things better.
    
12. The very next day, I was back at SFC. I swear it seemed like an eternity before Friday arrived though. I called JS up in the morning using some cock-reason, then proceeding to ask her if she had any news of the results. She said that the results seemed promising. I felt a little better. Next, I saw KT in her office. She was really happy to hear that I got an interview, and advised me to pray to Our Lady for help. I was genuinely touched, extremely surprised that I heard Mother Mary being addressed that way by a devout Hindu.
    
    I went back to the Novena on the following Saturday and prayed. I prayed and submitted myself into God's grace. I surrendered. I gave it all up, gave it all back to Him. I was tired, really tired. I couldn't do it all alone. I had come so far, and this is what it all really surmounted to in the end. I was back at the mercy of God. Not that I wasn't before this happened, but just that I chose to block God out and tried to do everything by myself. I knew that my efforts alone were never going to be good enough, not without God's help, but I always thought that doing my best to become a pilot also needed a lot of my own human input. For years I believed that God wanted me to do something that was more adjusted to His work. Helping others and inspiring them directly. Like being a brother, or a teacher. Obviously becoming a brother never worked out. Being a teacher, well, let's just say that that route never came to proper fruition. Though I was a lecturer for a while, I still wonder at times if I did manage to do any good.
    
    So anyway, this is what it had all come to. Giving up, letting go. Saying to God, "God, this is it. You've led me this far, even if I had chosen to shut a blind eye to you and try not see your handiwork in all of this. Even if I had tried so hard and done my best in whatever it was to lead me to this day. In the end, you've truly shown me that, it all still comes down to you. I know that I have a 50-50 chance of getting the job. And even if I don't get it, I know that I'd still plough on to get the job done. But you've truly shown me, how far we've come. How much we've gone through. The twists and turns in the plot. The sacrifices made, opportunities forgone and taken. The people I've met along the way and the people who I've been able to inspire and motivate. The people who've done the same for me. Falling in love, as well as drifting away from friends. So many things Lord, have happened. I want to make it all right again. I want to be led back onto your loving, gentle, and guiding path. I give up. I finally say, yes, it is time. I have done my share, I am done with trying to be human. I am done with the "best" part of "Do your best and God will do the rest". I've come as far as I could. For the next step of the journey, I need you. I need you to lead me and show me the way. I need you to guide me and walk with me. I cannot do this alone. I need you Lord. I need you to show me how to be a better person, to regain who I was, when I was still your untainted son. I need to get back to become a person filled with love. I need to get back to being humble. I need to be your child again Lord."
    
13. 23 September 2013 - It was never just about getting a job. God made sure of that. He brought me back to Him. He brought me back to loving Him and accepting His plans and His gifts for me. To cut to the chase, I got the job. I got the frickin job! It was never my effort. It was God's work. Not mine, never mine. Even when I say that I was doing everything humanly possible to get to where I was before the interview, it was God all along. I merely kept trying to convince myself that I was the master of my life. But silently, I knew that I was never alone in this fight. Well anyway, so here we are. Eventually, I am told that my contract signing will be coming along soon. And that's that.

So, it appears that this short and sweet post never was meant to be short and sweet. But trust me, it is definitely a condensed version already, so to speak. There are events that I left out, such as the fateful encounters with two of my ground instructors, one of which led to an intervention where the three of us in the course finally thrashed things out, and decided to start on a fresh slate. Things appear to be fine for now. But as Ms S was just saying on our ride home after graduation, from the way she sees things, it doesn't seem like we'll be getting along like buddies, due to the differences in our personalities. She rightly recognizes that I'm merely putting up with them. Sadly, we will never experience the kind of bond that cadets usually do when coming through this hallowed place. Things have changed in SFC, and things are just about to change even more, with this:

So anyway, it's not like I'm shaken up over it. It's just that, things are changing, and I see myself in a transitional period as well. A period in which I am returning to God, and starting to let go of my human inhibitions. Looking out for a retreat to attend, and looking to improve myself in ways that would make God happy. And also, to make sure that I have a good start, reputation wise, in this industry.

It kicked off with emcee-ing the recent graduation ceremony, and by George, was it good. Thank God for that. It was smooth-sailing, least to say. I even met Capt G.Y, SVP Flt Ops - one of my many heroes of sorts. The guy who I literally dreamt of a night before the second interview. I never thought that I'd be able to relate the tale to him, but I sure did. God knows what sort of impression it gave him, but being able to say that we were all from SJI, Capt G.P included, was really a great feeling that day. Once again, all God's work, that I even managed to get into SJI in the first place.

Post-script edit. Abbreviations used:
POF - Principles of Flight
M&B - Mass & Balance
A/C Sys - Aircraft Systems
HPL - Human Performance Limits
INS/IRS - Inertial Navigation/Reference System - that device that assists an A/C in getting from one place to the next based on dead reckoning.
RNAV/GNAV - Radio/General Navigation

Day 18 - WHAAAT??! IT'S ONLY DAY 18?!?!

Thus ended the longest and shortest week of my time here in the college. I can't believe how it's only been 18 days. 18 seems like too short of a period of time that we've been here, considering how much we've already covered in our course, the amount of studying that's been going into a typical day, and the sleep deficit that I've accumulated in one week. (OK well admittedly, anything less than 7 hours of sleep is considered a deficit for me. Though many may argue that, and also contrary to what HPL has to say about that; speaking of which, I've totally forgotten. TIme to revisit HPL)

The start of the week was not too good. I had this super severe mid-back pain/strain/ache, that seriously screwed up my sleep. A yawn was painful. A cough was painful. Bending or twisting my upper body in any direction was painful. Life was painful.

I couldn't sleep properly on Monday night, which lead to my increasing level of grouchiness that spilled on to Tuesday. I couldn't study or concentrate well, and coupled with the stress/attempt of trying to keep ahead of the syllabus (which somewhat collapsed mid-week), I was feeling really off balanced.

By Thursday, I was really looking forward to the weekend. Not to study, but so that I would be able to spend some tie catching up with my studies and get myself back and ahead of the course. Haven't looked forward to the weekend this much in a long time already. And all for the wrong reasons (according to most).

Day 11 - Gift from the Gods

Today the three of us made a trip to Katong to photocopy some material - with some help from a friend's dad. I wonder how it's all going to work out with this new material. While it's never good to put all your eggs in one basket, I'll also make sure I work on material that was from the previous ABBA.

It was a pretty productive day. I tried putting everything that I had thought up and typed down yesterday night into practice. With the increasing fatigue levels, I sure will have to make sure I get some quality rest this weekend. But that won't mean that I don't use the weekend to do some catch-up.

My aim for the next week is to be able to get to bed before my other batch boys. The only way that I'm going to be able to do this is by ensuring that I am at least consistently on par or ahead in my work. After a short workout after the day's class work, usually comes the short study period before sleep. I hope that this period can be used in future to do practice papers, leaving all the studying and note making to be done during class time. Those are my aims.

Day 10 - Maximizing my Time

If I were to give advice to anyone on how to do well in preparing for exams or a major course, it would be something along the lines of, proper nutrition, sufficient sleep, enough exercise, etc. In fact, I think I listed all of that in a previous post already. However, it just seems that sometimes following one's own advice is a little more difficult than it seems, because the person involved in the deed is your very own self.

So far this week, it seems like I have been adhering to said game plan, but I think more can be done. I still go to class feeling in a less than optimal condition, feeling sleepy during class today and yesterday even. I wonder if it was caused by the fact that I missed out on my morning coffee, or if it is simply because as the days wear on and the study load becomes heavier, I am facing a energy drain.

That shall not be the case. I think I seriously need to keep myself engaged during lessons, and really pay attention and start committing to memory the things that are being discussed in class, instead of leaving it to self revision at the end of the day. There isn't enough time for that. Maybe it's time I start making the full use of my time whenever I am in class, instead of allowing those hours to be wasted.

I should add one more criteria to that game plan then; which is to cut down on time wastage and seriously utilise every single minute. I need to start committing things to memory on the spot as I learn, and start making notes in class instead of leaving those to my revision time at night, cos like I said, I think firstly, there isn't enough time. Secondly, it makes my study time at night more productive and I give myself more time to do other things. Like PRACTICE those damn questions from the question bank!

All that being said, I should really maximise my rest time as well. Sleeping time should be spent sleeping, and recreation time should be spent doing leisurely stuff. Exercise time should be spent exercising and procrastination should be minimised. As should be time spent on activities I should not be wasting time on.

Every minute counts in preserving brain juice, mental stamina, as well as physical energy.

Day 9 - Batch Boy Falls Victim to Stomach Flu

Yesterday both of us hit the gym and did some pretty insane lifting. I don't remember lifting that much or spending that much time in a gym before. Honestly, I'd rather be squashing. But I guess it's a necessary change to be able to build some good shape on my body.

Unfortunately, my batch boy fell victim to the flu bug because his immune system was weakened due to yesterday's workout. But all's well and he's doing much better now.

Today we received our college ties and flight jacket. A few other goodies are waiting on us as well. I can't wait to receive my uniform cos it will finally mean I won't have to wear those dreadful long sleeved business shirts anymore. I went for an 8km run this morning and I was still perspiring by the time I reached the classroom. Felt so disoriented and eventually that lead to being under-productive the rest of the day. It's good that I'm still experimenting with and finding out more about what works and what doesn't in my daily routine.

Perhaps the thing that I've been most excited to receive since before commencing my course here at the college is the belt with the gold buckle. It looks great, seriously. Apparently, it's issued by the tailor so we will have to wait for that.

It's 6 weeks left to college exams and 7 to CAAS papers. I think the shit has yet to hit the fan but I hope that the three of us will get through it together in one sitting.

So far I feel that I've been getting a good grasp on most of the concepts, and for the subjects that aren't as strong as the others, it helps in verbally discussing the concepts and ideas, and also in practicing the papers.

So, a brand new day awaits. No run in the morning tmr cos I think I need a little more sleep to myself, and perhaps go for a run/bike in the evening.

Day 7 - Arresting the Burnout

Today the realisation hit me that I was headed towards a burnout if I didn't pace myself well or discipline myself into having sufficient rest. I suppose that for something that I've been anticipating this badly for my entire life, the motivation and willingness to pour my entire soul, body and mind into this programme is unsurprising, even for myself.

But I realised, as I was playing squash back at Cashew today, that I wasn't my usual self. I was on an adrenaline high from having spent most of the week and my weekend studying away. I mean, I enjoy the work I'm doing so much that it doesn't really take much of an effort to drain myself mentally. So I was in the courts, and my mind wasn't there at all. Nope, I don't think that it was my three-week absence from the courts that was dampening my mental processing. I couldn't read the game at my usual pace. I was losing concentration.

It was then that I started asking myself, what kind of advice would I give any student, in maintaing a healthy balance. Sleep, nutrition, exercise, vitamins, concentrated periods of study, a balanced diet, and a good environment to study in.

So that's my new aim: to do my morning runs as I did when working in FAIMS, and sleep before 12.30am everyday. Let's try this for a week and see how it goes. Bring on week 2!

Day 2 - The Dawning of Reality

So it appears that it won't be so easy to be able to finish what we need to. Simply put, the CAAS exams are anticipated to be pretty tough, and we're going to need a lot more than just self-study to pass the exams. Definitely a lot of practice on questions. And now, the real question that remains is, will the rest of the remaining 7 weeks to our first papers be just like it has been the last few days? Lots of self study and CBT.

A lot more needs to be covered and I need to seriously move on ahead with my topics and finish the books ASAP, to be able to leave more time to practicing questions, reviewing, and committing things to memory.

One thing I commend myself on is despite how I only slept for about 4 hours yesterday, it seems that all the habits and patterns that I spent forming about a month before course started has actually started paying off.

Didn't feel like I was sleepy in class, and I was able to study for pretty much 24 hours straight. Now all I need is some rest. Some good sleep would really be welcome.

Carol came by to visit today and the guys were really nice about it.

That's about all I can think of saying today. So tired. Need some rest to realign my thoughts and refreshen my alertness.

Day 1 - Settling In

I must admit this. This huge bungalow can be a little bit scary. Maybe it's cos I haven't gotten used to the new surroundings yet, or maybe it's simply because it's located in an old army camp. I'm not too familiar with the history of it, but here in Seletar, there remains only one active unit that occupies one of the buildings located somewhere nearby.

But I'm trying to keep a few lights on, the radio on, and all that, just to make the place a little less eerie. That aside, I feel like I'm also the senior citizen of the house. Boiling water for everyone, bringing the food and tissue paper in, organizing the furniture, and taking residence for being the most organized uncle in the house.

I also happen to be the oldest among my other coursemates, and that prompted them to unanimously elect me to be the course I/C -_-

They also banished the course I/C to the corner of the room, but that actually means I get my own personal space and bed (!) My coursemates are sharing a bunk bed. Funny guys, they are. We went out for a little, earlier on at Compassvale to get some stuff from the bookstore and supermarket. Boy, did we enjoy a few good laughs at the expense of another one of our coursemates who happens no to be living in with us.

Oh, did I mention, of the two rooms o the second level, we decided to share a room and convert the other into a study, which we dutifully utilised in a study session after we came back. I could really get used to these study sessions. The mugging has just started. I hope all of us make it through without much trouble and leave no one behind when we leave for JDK.

Day Zero

Day Zero at SFC - Moving in and Admin.

I'll be trying to keep all my posts short and sweet because of the foreseeable lack of time that I will be granted in the near future. So starting from today it is.

Reported to SFC this morning. Our course made history in many ways. First to have such a small course (cohort) size, fully made up of private candidates, and the first to be taking on the new JAA (pronounced as 'jar') syllabus.

Nothing much, a few admin briefs, went to our accoms for the first time. We being adults, or young adults (just want to feel young here again, me being the oldest in the course), the admin side left us to our own devices. We quickly decided upon sharing one room together, and converting the other room to a study. Went back home, packed up what was needed, and came back. Returned to the accoms at 2300H. Unpacked, and now getting ready for tomorrow's first lesson on POF.

Short Reflection: I think my course mates are great guys. We are all private candidates. All very self-motivated. We want to get through this course and graduate as pilots. Doesn't matter in the end that we still don't have a job in hand yet. Doesn't matter that we are forking out a huge sum. At the end of the day, we are just guys who want to become pilots.

Lots of links to important websites

Just thought that I'd throw this in for some reading on the MPL courses offered by STAA and Oxford Aviation Academy (OAA) for Tiger (TR) and Jetstar Asia (JSA) respectively. The third link's on SQ's course in Singapore Flying College (SFC).

PPRuNe Forum; Tiger Airways Cadet Pilot

PPRuNe Forum; Jetstar (Asia) Cadet Pilot

PPRuNe Forum: Singapore Airlines Cadet Pilot

More boring essential information on the courses you will be applying to:

Tiger Airways Ab-Initio Programme

Jetstar (Asia) Ab-Initio Programme

Singapore Airlines Ab-Initio Programme (but of course, you aren't going to see the requirements stated on their page now because they aren't hiring)

I'm going to throw in this extra link for more reading. Capt Lim used to fly for Malaysian Airlines (MAS) and his website is pretty well known among pilot hopefuls. I've also listed his Twitter account for good measure, so that if you're tech-savvy and a Twitter user, you can consider following him. I will blog about all the benefits of using Twitter as a resource for aviation news soon.

Ask Captain Lim; and his Twitter account here.

Forums are good for catching wind on the latest happenings and developments in the industry or even better, news related directly to the courses or airlines that you hope to apply to. But alarmingly enough, I still meet pilot hopefuls who have not heard of of PPRuNe. (pronounced as pee-prune as far as I've come across with most people)

There are a good number of contributions in the aforementioned SQ forum page that I'd recommend any aspiring pilot to read it, regardless of your interest in SQ. There's even an article on the complete computer testing process. I won't reveal which page it's on for now, but that's the point. Do your homework!

Always have the CAAS (Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore) website at your fingertips to find out more about the Class 1 and 2 licences that you'll need as a pilot operating out of Singapore, and to find out more about the mandated 26YO rule (the bane of my life). I'll explain more about the 26YO rule soon enough.

While the ALPA-S (Airline Pilots Association of Singapore) and SFC website have long been under-maintained, the SFC one just recently went through a revamp. SFC's website used to have online issues of The Thinking Pilot, which was a publication by the cadets at SFC. I'm not so sure the cadets there still write articles and publish that, but I'll upload them somewhere just for fun reading sometime.

Ok I meant to stop typing two paragraphs ago. I have overstayed my time here.

POTD 1

So I've got this rotating desktop background thing going on with my all my laptops.

Firstly, I've got Airliners.net as one of my 'likes' on Facebook and I follow them on Twitter as well. One great thing is how they update their feeds and tweets with the best shots shared within the community. Ive provided the links here:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/airliners.net?ref=ts&fref=ts
Tweeter: https://twitter.com/airliners_net

With that constant stream of photos being suggested to me, I just take my pick of my favourite shots and save them to a Dropbox folder. Just like that, my favourite shots are available to me across all my laptops, including my work laptop, which I rebelliously display for everyone in the office to see. HAH!

Here's my pick of the day that I'm sharing:

This is a great fisheye shot of the cockpit. Now look out of the cockpit. You'd be used to seeing pictures of stupefying awe-inspiring pictures of sunsets and all that by now. But I'm thinking a little differently. I'm guessing that the view our pilots are looking at right now are probably just about what all pilots see almost all of the time.

I was driving down to the airport to pick C (that's my GF btw, and hopefully, soon to be fiancée) just a couple of weeks back and the rain was coming down on a massive scale that day. Cheers to tropical Singapore for that. Visibility was reduced to less than 10m ahead. (metric system hell yeah!) I suddenly wished that there was a way to drive IFR (Instrument Flight Rules). oh yes, IFR, now that's a story for another day. In the meantime, you have wikipedia to read up on. C'mon! you don't need me telling you what IFR's about right? You're a future pilot! You should be reading up on stuff like that!

And I realised that I have not come down to blogging about anything about interviews at all. But what's the rush, right? SQ's still not interviewing yet. And ST Aviation Academy's (STAA) intake for April's probably closed by now. The next STAA intake's in August by the way, for those who wish to pursue that route. But ok, yes yes, I'll get to it sooner or later, hang in there!

Three Quotes

Three quotes that have made my 2013 extra-productive thus far:

1. When life gets tougher, it means that you have just leveled up. - Anonymous

2. Living healthy is 20% exercise, 80% what you put on your plate. - Anonymous

3. Small minds discuss people; average minds discuss events; great minds discuss ideas. - Eleanor Roosevelt
(I prefer to reverse the order of this quote to put it to greater effect)

Bonus quote:

4. Be educated rather than entertained. - Anonymous

When life gets tougher, it means that you have just leveled up.
Remember when computer games just used to be like that? Each boss got tougher, but it also meant that you were better equipped to defeat him. Try beating the final boss with the number of experience points you had when you first started out in the game. You're going to have a hard time.

I came across this flowchart on the internet that gave me quite a chuckle.

I'm not going to turn this into a theology/philo lecture, but truth is, I think Christians and other God-fearing men and women of their own religions have got it worked out. If you leave room for pessimism to fester, it will send you spiraling into an unrecoverable spin. On the other hand, being proactive/positive allows you to take anything that's thrown at you and turn it into a celebration of life's multitude of experiences. So that's why I'd like to continue leveling up whenever I can. And praise the Lord while I'm at it.

Living healthy is 20% exercise, 80% what you put on your plate.
Back last year in October, I sustained a real shitty injury while playing squash. I went in to retrive a ball   only to twist my ankle so badly I swear I heard a crunching sound while I fell. That took me almost 3-4 months to recover. Only to get back in the courts to sprain the OTHER ankle. All that added up to almost 5-6 months in recovery and lack of exercise. My conclusion was that all the weight that I had put on after my squash competition season last year had culminated in those injuries. My ankles have never been in a good shape after all the years of sports I've played, including lots of long distance running. So being heavy and putting all that extra stress on my ankles made me more unstable and susceptible to injuries. It was an accident waiting to happen, granted the dynamic moment required of squash.

So I've been eating healthy the last month or so, apart from slowly getting myself back into the sport. And it's worked wonders so far. 5kgs lost and I'm feeling lighter. Cycling's getting easier and I'm feeling happier every time I finish a meal without feeling thirsty or bloated. The secret? Eating clean and reducing the portions. And the motivation? Aim to have a healthy and injury-free lifestyle. Looking good comes as a side effect, but one that you and I would gladly welcome.

Sometime back, I was talking to a CS, and he had this advice for me. To become a rarity amongst flight crew in their 50's, you must achieve the following:

1. Have a healthy crop of hair.
2. Have a flat belly.

Yup, just those two. You'd be surprised to find the large number of flight crew (that includes cabin crew) who are struggling to manage that in their 30's, let alone in their 40's or 50's.

Hence this is my challenge to all reading this: start with something as simple as healthy eating and healthy living. Take your supplementary vitamins if you have to, but eat clean and avoid greasy stuff. Eat clean, while getting to know your body in what are the food types it needs. Carbohydrates (and fibre), proteins, and fruits (that come with high doses of vitamins)

My general rule of thumb is any meal that leaves me looking for water after consumption is not considered clean. Take a bowl of fishball noodles for example. If it's the 'dry' fishball noodles, you'd likely be drinking water after that meal. But have it with soup instead, and you'd be able to taste the difference. I'm not one to shy away from savoury treats, but it's a good reason why it's called a treat.

Small minds discuss people; average minds discuss events; great minds discuss ideas.
I once got unjustly sent out of class by my General Paper (GP) teacher. Her exact words to me were "get out of my class." I took it literally and left the computer room that we were in and went back to my home room to complete my other assignments. I got sent to the principal's office because of that and I argued my case till kingdom came and went. I was then sent back to class without a punishment, and my GP teacher and I stopped talking for a couple of months after that.

GP is a subject all JC students take (or rather, used to take) that's equivalent to a subject test/discussion on general knowledge. Aside from that memory of my GP teacher, I have to say that the rest of my recollections of GP classes are practically non-existent. Possibly because I was a cocky prick back then and thought that my bullshitting abilities were good enough to score me an A. I got a B.

9 years after graduating from JC, I have started reading the discussions and commentary columns in the newspapers again. I have taken to reading Times magazines again to renew my knowledge of the issues going on in the world. All because this quote hit me really hard.

Falling into the trap of gossip can be a really easy one. It's a bad habit that consumes conversations and makes them non-productive. It's brainless; entertaining nonetheless, but then this is where the last quote I've mentioned dispenses its wisdom: Be educated rather than entertained"

Of all the lifehacks that I've come across, this has to be one of the most productive. Instead of watching that re-run or "best-of" segment of How I Met Your Mother or Friends, why not watch an episode of Air Crash Investigation and take important notes for future research on aircraft systems and human factors (or pilot error)? Or sign up for a course with Coursera, to pick up from where you left off on that university lecture 2 years ago.

Productivity isn't hard to attain, but all a matter of habit. I wouldn't say that it's entirely one that makes up a pilot's mindset (who says pilots can't be lazy on their off-days?), but certainly is a habit that keeps a pilot on his toes, especially when re-education and being up to speed on events is a recurring job in this line.

Stay healthy, stay smart.

Taking Ownership

I received a call at 6:53am yesterday morning, from my NS unit informing me of some rather unfortunate news.

For the uninitiated, National Service (NS) is a obligation for all Singaporean males. We serve 2 years of conscripted military service and after which we are bound with reservist duties as "NS-men" till the age of 45-50. I may be wrong so if any readers know the exact age at which we are released from the armed forces (SAF), please correct me. As for me, I've given up trying to keep track. I just want to serve my tour and be done with it.

You might as well have said that I had just awoken from a 20 year coma, because after barely 3 hours of sleep from the previous night, one of the young lieutenants (or 2nd lefs, as we Singaporeans call them, following the British pronunciation of the word as 'left-ten-nant') had decided to brutally interrupt my beauty sleep. Shifting my eyeshades up (don't judge me, I have a reason why I believe in them) towards my forehead, I answered that phone call from camp with all the fortitude I could summon to hide the fact that I was still as groggy as a person under the Imperius charm.

Sparing you the details of the entire situation that had broken out in camp, what ultimately transpired was a story of lies, deceit, and dishonesty. Sounds like the plot of a Taiwanese drama serial but I kid you not when I say that this happens just about every now and then in a SAF camp. So the moral of this whole story: If you want drama, sign on with the SAF and forget your Taiwanese dramas on Channel U. 'Live' storytelling trumps TV anytime. NOT.

As with all plots, it started with a single unfortunate incident. With the addition of another incident and topping them off with a good measure of lies and a few unpleasant exchange of words, I have now got a soldier who is about to be court-marshalled. After counseling him, it has all come down to the fact that all this could have been avoided had he taken up responsibility of the offence he had committed, and not shoveled his own grave by piling layers of lies upon one another.

This incident brings be back to a conversation I had with a Leading Steward (LS) about more than a year ago. I had asked him if there was one thing that if he could change about the company's culture, what would it have been. His answer was simple. Ownership.

SQ's cabin crew family counts itself in the figure of roughly 7000 people, with four ranks split among them. From bottom to top, they are the

• Flight Stewards/Stewardesses (FS/FSS) who wear the blue tie/kebaya
• Leading Stewards/Stewardesses (LS/LSS); green tie/kebaya
• Chief Stewards/Stewardesses (CS); red tie/kebaya, and finally the
• In-Flight Supervisors (IFS) who the wear purple tie/kebaya.

(picture guide taken from http://www.singaporeair.com/jsp/cms/en_UK/flying_with_us/singaporegirl.jsp)

If we were to talk about an airline like Emirates (EK) or Qantas (QF), it would be a given that such equivalent ranks exist within their respective cabin crew departments as well. But perhaps the one thing that sets SQ's, or rather, most cabin crew operating as part of an asian airline such as Korean Air (KE) and Malaysia Airlines (MH or MAS), is the hierarchy at play amongst ranks. Asians do tend to pay a lot more attention to seniority and rank as compared to most western cultures.

So naturally, you'd expect the FS and FSS-es up in the air, to be doing most of the work on the ground. The bosses from each flight - the Chiefs and IFS-es are the equivalent of senior management who come down hard on the people caught in the middle (or junior level management)- the LS and LSS-es.

Now what has all this got to do with aviation, you may wonder. Stick with me, I promise I'm getting to the point soon. (Yeah, sorry if I can get a little long winded like that)

I think my friend, the LS, had a very good point to make when he said that the one thing he would have liked to see changed is the attitude of people taking ownership of their faults and responsibilities. I have to concur because I see far too many people who adopt a "fight or flight" mentality when it comes to handling issues, be it at work or at home. What's so wrong with being wrong? What right about being right all the time?

My soldier was a typical example. He tried to "tai-chi" his way out of the situation, implicating his very own platoon-mates in the process. He was being dishonest while trying to make himself look faultless. I'm not sure if he realised it at that point of time, but his guilt as apparent as a kid trying to convince everyone that the cookie crumbs on his shirt did not come from him stealing from the cookie jar.

The same thing applies in the cockpit - or in flight school, for that matter. One of my most invaluable lessons while in the Singapore Youth Flying Club (SYFC) came from a certain instructor who forced me to identify my errors and provide a rectifiable solution to them. That's how we learn, and learn fast. (Read The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle for more on this)

In a similar way, our mistakes should be seen as something we take ownership of. It's part of a pilot's mindset. In taking ownership of our mistakes, we own them and we convert them into our learning points that will stick with us for the rest of our careers. So what if our faults have consequences? That doesn't mean that we should fight against them or take flight from them. Fighting consequences by lying to cover up mistakes lead to even bigger lies, or consequences even. Look at history for a good example of how many crashes were attributed to pilot error, or under the sub-heading of not reporting events that went amiss during the flight.

In my humble opinion, the leadership responsibilities that Leading Stewards and Stewardesses play up in the air are very similar to the ones that us Cadets or newly minted SOs and FOs hold. Just as the LS/LSS-es are in charge of their FS/FSS-es, galleys, and meal services of their respective aisles, we cadets are in charge of the mistakes and learning points that we make in our entire learning process. In the same way that LS/LSS-es have to be accountable to their bosses, we cadets have not our bosses, but our careers to be accountable to. There is no point in keeping mum about a mistake and allowing bad practices to form habits.

So if you're hoping to get through the interviews, I hope this post sticks the mindset of mistake ownership firmly in place. Nothing disgusts an interviewer more than coming to face with a cadet that cannot place himself in a position to learn or be humble enough to admit that he has made a mistake.

Now anyway, it's time for me to go back to my comfortable JCL-turquoise eyeshades, and wish me luck so that I don't get awoken by soldiers trying to score offs and night-outs with me for the next one hour.

Sea Fever by John Masefield

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

I came across this poem while reading Highest Duty: My Search For What Really Matters by Capt Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger. He was the Captain of Flight 1549, which originated from La Guardia Airport but ended in the Hudson River. This book has become a classic on my shelves and I hope to review it soon enough.

I've always wondered if any of you, my fellow pilots to be, have felt an innate calling to the sea before as well. It's a feeling I find hard to explain, the connection between the sea and sky. Drop me a comment to let me know.

Migration

The last time I attempted to upkeep a blog was years ago. It wasn't until sometime in 2011 that I started using Tumblr, which was at that time, the hip and trendy way to be blogging. However, it seems like Tumblr has its limitations and I have decided to revert back to Blogger, which has a little more flexibility in its layouts and exporting functions.

My decision to take this blogging project seriously comes in the wake of my realisation that I will be starting work as a project manager in a social advertising firm soon. While the job may take away my time, it will never take away my dream in becoming a pilot some day. I hope to retain my identity in the headwind of the new job environment that I will soon be thrust into.

Some of the next blog entries will thus be entries that I made on Tumblr a while back, including some stories and details of my interview experience. It's been almost 2 years since I went for my interviews so there is no way that I can relate those experiences as vividly as I had done so back then as compared to now. So that's a reason why I will not be re-blogging on those experiences, but taking them as they are from my Tumblr blog instead.

I will be my migrating my account over in parts, so stay tuned to keep yourself updated on the entire story!

To fly, to serve.

This has traditionally always been the hardest part of setting up a blog: choosing a domain name/title for the blog. I considered the following:

cadetpilot.blogspot.com

pilotcadet.blogspot.com

pilotcadetinterviews.blogspot.com

storiesofthesky.blogspot.com

talesofthesky.blogspot.com

agreatwaytofly.blogspot.com

And there were many more. However, the time as I plough away on my keyboard is 2358H, and I think I've got a long night ahead of me. So I decided to be quick and decisive. I settled on:

toflytoserve.blogspot.com

Maybe some of you might be familiar with this ad, which was aired by British Airways (BA) in 2011. If you haven't seen it before, I think this clip might just stir up some emotions.

But the real reason why I settled on "To fly, to serve", has a slightly different reason to it. (Yes yes, fine, agreatwaytofly was taken, but that only made it easier for me to settle with this one.)

My convictions, values, and morals are built upon a simple virtue: servitude. As a Catholic, I do my best everyday to model my life after my saviour, Jesus Christ. But anyhow, this blog isn't about religion. It's about aviation, flight, and becoming a pilot. Apart from Jesus, another person who greatly influenced me during my foundation years was a man named Roger Brendon Poulier. He was a teacher in SJI. He was ironically, an ACS boy. But it took one to mould many SJI boys into men of faith and integrity.

The thing that Roger, and my God have in common, is how they taught me to serve. Though as a pilot, you might find yourself spending far more time in the cockpit than in the cabin, where the cabin crew are doing the REAL service orientated jobs, I think it takes a great deal of maturity and sensibility to become a pilot. There are many routes to attaining maturity and sensibility. But I find that the most direct route, or as we pilots love to say, as the crow flies, is in leading a life of humility, and serving others. In doing so, it allows an individual to grow exponentially.

So that's my take on "To fly, to serve". In fact, I find that it goes the other way round too, "To serve, to fly". But let's just get down to it.

I want to help anyone who's interested in becoming a pilot, become one. Now that being said, I can only help you get past the interviews, as of now, at least. I too am a cadet pilot wannabe, who's passed the Singapore Airlines (SQ) cadet pilot interviews in 2011. Unfortunately, the economy isn't looking very good in the cyclical sectors, which means that airlines suffer too.

As a matter of fact, Air France-KLM just reported a "net loss of 1.19 billion Euros after a 471 million Euro restructuring charge and a 890 million Euro increase in its fuel bill." Crude oil prices continue to hover at $100 a barrel. Amidst the challenging environment that surrounds it, SQ however, still manages to keep its account sheets in the black, reporting a $131 million profit for the third quarter of FY 2012-2013. The breakdown of profits are as follows:

• Parent Airline Company Operating profit of $87 million ($137 million profit in 2011) 
• SIA Engineering Operating profit of $31 million ($28 million profit in 2011) 
• SilkAir Operating profit of $34 million ($32 million profit in 2011) 
• SIA Cargo Operating loss of $29 million ($40 million loss in 2011)

(Notes taken from http://www.singaporeair.com/pdf/Investor-Relations/Financial-Results/News-Release/nr-q3fy1213.pdf)

So as you can see, times are tough but that still doesn't change some things. For "once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." (Leonardo da Vinci)

If you are waiting for your turn to enter flight school like me, I welcome you as a brother, to stay steadfast, and continue to ride out this storm with me. If you are looking forward to becoming a pilot, then I invite you to read on, to see the world through my eyes, in the hope that I might be able to inspire or guide you along the way to passing the interviews. And if I might so one day, be able to fly with you  as well.