Friday, February 13, 2009

"When the wind blows and the rain falls.."

Alright!
After the depressingly depressing last entry, (which i wont do again.promise),
its time for something more upbeat.
Luckily i've a story to share, to ears that wants to listen and eyes that wants to read
about it.

Well, the day before yesterday (Wednesday), i went for a solo short navigation.
Which basically means u don't have to land anywhere, just go out and land back where u came from. So as it happens i went up, set my track, and it rains.
Nothing heavy, just a drizzle u might say. so i continued.
Upon reaching my first reporting point, i realized that the door was not properly latched.
But i decided to continue (hoping that the door would remain closed for the rest of the flight).

By the time i reached my third (or was it fourth? im not entirely sure), the clouds have already build up to a gigantic size, dark in color, and im sure the carrier of thunderstorms.
So i diverted. Upon calling the tower to inform about my diversion, it started raining.
Luckily for me, it rains a few miles away from my airplane. i could see the rain, im just not in it.
then the tower instruct me to track straight to the airfield because, in his word, 'very bad weather' is building up towards the east and west side of the airfield.
(oh, and i forget to mention, it was very hazy that day, i think the visibility is just around 7km.)


As i was approaching the airfield, i could see on my left and right(east and west of the airfield, respectively) that its raining and dark, a big cloud, almost like Galactus (from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) ia approaching the airfield, fast. Even the tower reminded me to be careful. haha and all i could think of was how beautiful it was.



I've been cleared to join to land, and another view struck me.
The runway lights and the PAPI lights are lighted!
(Because its dark and the visibility is bad. But in truth the runway here in Johore is so big and long you can make it out miles away)
It was, again, a beautiful view, and i managed to snap a few pictures amist the frenzy of the tower reminding me to be careful, the preparation to land the aircraft, the winds etc. etc.



I managed to land safely, taxy the aircraft back, tie it down, walked to the flight operation room, fill up all the necessary forms, drive baack home, when, it started raining cats and dogs. nah, scratch that, it was so heavy the rain, its more like raining elephants and hippopotamus.
Luckily (thank God) i've safely landed by then and in the comfort of my own house.
Can't imagine what would have happened had i been stucked in the rain.
maybe get struck by lightning, or crashed in the hills.
that would've hurt