Hunt The Wind

             *     *     *     *     *      I reported on Saturday, 22 nd August 1987, for my first revenue flight at SIA Dispatch, Changi Airport.  I was scheduled for a nine-day trip to the following: Maldives, Bahrain, Zürich, Brussels, Paris and Dubai.       Wow, dear reader, verily a “stroll” around the international block - excluding Paris - an expedition to all new territories for me. Changi International Airport          For the 15-minute commute to the airport, I had sat up front with the hotel’s van driver, so I’d enjoy an unrestricted view of the five-lane ECP (East Coast Parkway Expressway).        Discovering the ECP lived up to its name; it was as if we were driving in an immaculately landscaped park; sans electrical poles, nasty industr...

                    *     *     *     *     *      Back on my balcony at the Sea View Hotel, sipping my wine, observing another SIA 747 continuing its approach to Changi in the soft evening light, I considered my situation with Singapore Airlines.       Which, quite frankly, dear reader, my left testicle told me was none too secure.      When SIA offered me the job, they indicated I’d have a three-year contract.   Except after I arrived for ground school, they presented me with a two-year contract instead; informing me I would never upgrade to captain.      This meant, dear reader, I was merely a “temporary hired gun,” who could be dropped by SIA anytime they fell on economic hard times, or felt they were paying me too much and could get ano...

                      *     *     *     *     *      Following this - in my SIA 747 check out program - was my old friend the instrument flight simulator; that monstrous, flying computer, which replicated the 747 cockpit always at night.  SIA’s 747 simulator was also located at the Paya Lebar Air Base. What the massive Flight Simulator looks like on the outside – gyrating on its spindly legs. Inside the B-747 Flight Simulator – an exact replica of the cockpit – flight simulation always conducted at night .      SIA would give me ten hours in the simulator, then, if I performed well, they’d put me in a real 747 and have me perform three actual takeoffs and landings.      It never ceases to amaze me at the amount of information stored in my subconscious.  I hadn’t been in a 747 for two...

                     *     *     *     *     *      Upon completion of ground school and all the required exams, the company gave us a couple of days training on SEP (Safety Equipment & Procedures).  After teaching us how to use all the safety devices (escape slides, life vests, escape reels, life rafts, oxygen bottles, fire extinguishers, smoke hoods, etc.) and giving us an exam on it, then came the fun part: “Emergency Evacuation Drill.” In the event of a fire; only the crew were issued Smoke Hoods. Not the passengers.      We pulled on these white overalls and socks - then jumped out of a mock-up of a 747’s L-1 Door!  It was roughly a 17-foot drop to the concrete floor!  Fortunately an escape slide had already been deployed.  Crossing our arms in front of us – keeping our legs straight and f...