Welcome aboard flight CW 0168 bound for…*check destination list*…”ahah, it’s Osaka“. Your flight captain for today is Captain Cavin Wong. He is most experience in crash landing flights and will be joining us for take-off and landing. The weather for today is cloudy and we are expecting some rain and heavy thunderstorms. Please keep your seatbelts fasten at all times as the seatbelt lights are out of service for the time being and shall be fixed, hopefully soon. An extra note for all passengers. Due to the heavy flights to Kansai International Airport, Osaka and the packed runways, we shall not be landing right exactly at the terminal. Our landing spot will be next to it. We will broadcast the emergency evacuation procedure shortly. Please pay extra attention to the screen in front of you as the evacuation exercise will commence 5 minutes before arrival time. We wish you a pleasant bumpy ride and thank you for flying with CW 0168 to Osaka.

Hahaha. How’s that for a start ?

I couldn’t resist saying that for once.

Paid a visit to MAS Flight Simulator Centre today. Purpose: meeting.

The Chief Pilot Instructor showed us around the centre where pilots train for their simulator flights exam. It’s really a thrilling experience for an outsider like me. A chance of a lifetime. I mean how often can you just walk into a centre like this.

Sat in the cockpit and mingle with a few buttons. Tried my very best not to break them, least.

(Boeing 747-400 simulator)

The so-called simulator can actually move. Well, at least it’s meant to be, else we won’t call it a simulator, right. ‘Kampung’ (village) boy first time in a flight simulator, can’t blame. After all, not like everyone can afford a machine that cost tens of millions USD.

The cockpit is basically equipped with miniature monitors, funny looking switches, meters that I doubt it’ll move anyway, weird handles, keypads, and the steering wheel ?

Cavin: “I think it’s good to have the auto-pilot function in the craft. You know why ? Coz they can MSN their friends during the flight using this miniature monitor and keypad.”

Colleague: “That would be disaster…”

(Inside the cockpit)

Could it be that bad ? One of our Japanese male pilots can handle a Boeing very well but totally lost control of a four-wheeler. Speaking of which, another Japanese female pilot of mine seem to be in need for speed. The normal average speed for an aircraft at 20,000 ft is about 500 km/h. On the ground, she seem to be comparing her Proton with a B-737, which I think is crazy. Amazingly enough, her current record for speeding fines is 4 tickets in a week. I really wonder how fast her Proton is flying…
I reckon if Boeing would to replace the standard aircraft steering wheel with a forklift steering wheel, our pilots wouldn’t have to go through so much trouble in a four-wheeler on the ground.

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