Aviator from down under....

After flying for more than five hours from Laoag the day before, I decided to fly a friend of mine to Subic. Rey, a native of Cebu and studied flying in Australia, came back to the Philippines to work in Omni as an instructor. He just arrived doing the routine pattern orientation flight with Capt Bod. Pilots, they never get tired of flying.....



Our flight plan took us first to Plaridel, Bulacan. This gave him a chance to be oriented with our standard entry and exit landmarks. Exiting Clark's control zone to the south, one would have to pass by GuaGua, Pampanga. On the other hand, entry to Clark control zone from the south is via San Fernando, Pampanga. Every Omni pilot knows how to navigate to Plaridel even without a map.



From Plaridel we went straight to Subic. This former US Naval base, boasts its long runway, good beaches and good night life. Its low volume traffic and good navigational facilities makes it a haven for both VFR and IFR trainees. Light rain and a majestic rainbow greeted us before Sta. Rita. We spent a total ground time of 30 minutes and headed home. This was my first time flying with this guy and he gave me a lot of pointers. Thanks and nice flying with you captain....

A perfect excuse....

It has been almost a year since I've flown on an executive helicopter. Sometime last summer I was at my desk on my previous job when I received an SMS message from Capt. Joy Roa.





Capt. Joy Roa, owner of Air Ads and now starting his new product Asian Air Safari, wanted me to join him to test flight one of his magnificent collections in his hangar. I've been to the said hangar many times and indeed his collection of aircrafts still amazes me.His collection of planes includes the Cessna 421 (executive twin engined aircraft bought from the Prince of Cambodia), Beechcraft Baron 58 and the Agusta 109 Power Helicopter. Aircraft were only in my dreams I'll be able to fly.

The Agusta 109, owned by one of the tycoons in the Philippines and was ferried on a Jumbo from Europe, is a twin turbine helicopter. Built for executives, has a plush cabin interior, good air-conditioning system and comes with Bose headsets to cancel the noise. It can fit 6 passengers at the back comfortably and cruises somewhere around 150Knots (almost 300KM/H). Of course, the avionics are top of the line as if one was flying an airliner.




The test flight took us around Manila Bay and to the edge of Pampanga. Cruising along Manila Bay, at 500' one can get a good view of Manila and you can see Mt. Arayat which was 80 KM away. The test flight, consisted of hover,high speed and handling tests, was completed flawlessly. In no time we were lining up on Runway 13 and landed at the Air Ads Ramp. Despite the short flight, it was a perfect excuse to get away from a boring desk job.