By the age of 15, I had made up my mind that I would like to be an aeroplane pilot. I had kept this to myself, but those knowing me would have noticed my great interest in aviation. I was not academically inclined, but more pragmatic using my hands, feet and brain rather than just on
book knowledge.
Deciding to do something about it, I approached the Royal Perak Flying Club, located in Ipoh, to pursue my aspiration. I met my first flying instructor, Freddy Fisk, who worked in RIDA, a national rural development authority, and a part time flying instructor with the flying club. A British national, Freddy was impressed with my gung-ho attitude, in seeking such an early start, to achieving my flying aspiration. After all, I was still only a school boy. But Freddy Fisk, being such a noble gentleman, encouraged me very positively, and advised me that as I was too young to hold a student pilot license, he recommended me to start flying gliders. The minimum age for a student pilot license was 16, and I needed to be 17, before I could fly solo in a powered aircraft. However the minimum age to fly gliders was 15. Freddy then plotted out a special program for me to kick start my flying training. After several flights with him, Freddy spoke to my father to arrange such a training program, recognising my flying potential. However school work and financial considerations impeded the program. I was to learn much later, that Freddy was himself a Professor in psychology.
Every weekend, I was at the airfield, learning the rudiments of gliding, taught by Freddy. After a few flights in a two seater T21 glider, I was strapped in a single seat Primary glider. A Primary glider, is a rather hideous looking, steel airframe, very open with a single seat in front. It looks like someone trying to build an aircraft, but without any skin covering, except for the wings. Attaching a long steel cable to his Citreon vehicle, Freddy pulled me along at very high speed along the runway. Following his instructions, I managed to take off and flew straight and level. By the time he slowed down, I made such a hard landing that I thought I was going to fall out of my seat, and wrecking the glider. We came to a grinding halt, as Freddy got out of his car, walked up to me and with an extended hand, congratulated me on my first glider solo. I was elated! He then informed me that I had qualified for my 'A' certificate. Subsequently, we did another run and this time, I released my cable and flew unassisted without the cable, making another very bumpy landing. This time, I qualified for my 'B' certificate. This certificate was issued by the UK Royal Aero Club, of which we were affiliated. The date was 12th August, 1956, shortly after my 16th birthday. My next goal was to qualify for a 'C' certificate.
To qualify for a 'C' certificate, I had to remain airborne in a glider for a minimum of 15 minutes. Simple enough? Not so. A glider, after being launched into the air, without any engine, will start to sink until landing, a duration of only about 5 minutes. In order to remain airborne, I needed to fly into a 'thermal', a mass of up current air, which will give me the uplift to gain height. By circling over this, the glider will gain height and thus able to remain longer in flight. A winch, a modified stationary lorry, with a huge drum of steel cable, was used to launch a glider, pulling it up to a thousand feet in height, before the pilot released the cable to fly away.
By this time, I had graduated to flying the Grunau, a single seat sailplane, which looks like a small jet aircraft but without any engine. Painted in yellow, it had an open hood and visor and made a whistling noise when flying. Built in Germany, it was certified as being very safe and not prone to spinning.
I have been trying very hard to qualify for my 'C' certificate every weekend, and Freddy was encouraging me to go for it.
On the 18th November, 1956, a bright and sunny Sunday, I was launched to attempt for my 'C' certificate. After releasing the cable, I started to look for thermals. An open fire on the ground, with smoke rising, is a good indicator of a thermal. In the absence of an open fire, a bump from below, will also indicate flying over a thermal. By circling over this bump, the glider gets its uplift. Inside the instrument panel, there is a variometer. It consisted of two small liquid tubes, one with a red marker and the other green. When the green marker rose, it indicted an upift. When the red marker rose, it indicated a sink. So by turning, and feeling the bump and watching the variometer, I started to search for thermals to stay aloft. It became turbulent but I did not make much progress trying to stay airborne.
Sensing this, I decided to return to the airfield for a landing, as I was losing altitude fast. Flying downwind and parallel to the airfield, I suddenly felt a bump which sent my green marker up. Immediately, I started to circle over the spot. Noticing that the glider nose was pointing down and increasing the speed, I eased back on the stick to try and maintain the correct speed. I must have eased back too much, for the next moment, the nose pointed up and the speed dropped drastically. I managed to recover from this by pushing the nose down. I was still circling and suddenly, I felt the nose pointing straight to the ground and the glider spinning round. Tried as I could, there was no response to my stick movement. I was very frightened, when I saw the ground coming up very fast, and realised that I was very low. The next moment, I saw the glider heading straight for a building. Bracing myself for the impact, the glider suddenly swerved and hit the ground with one terrific bang. After the roar of the wind, it suddenly became very quiet, and I found myself hanging by my shoulder straps. I noticed my hands were shaking badly, a sign of shock, and the front of the glider was reduced to wood splinters. There was nothing in front of me! I had just missed a school building and a tree. (See picture above.) People were running towards me and one fat man came and carried me up. I remember telling him I was alright before he put me down. I was in a daze and noticed some blood stain on my shirt but could not ascertain my injuries. I was disoriented and then only did I realised that I had crashed. My Ray Ban sunglasses was completely ripped off my face. I started to look for it amidst the strange looks of the crowd that had since gathered. The people seemed so distant as I wandered around in a daze. Just then, my brother turned up in the car and putting me inside, drove off to the hospital. I had crashed inside Pasir Pinji Village, which was adjacent to the airfield. On the way out, an ambulance was seen heading in. Someone had alerted for the ambulance. Still in a daze inside the car, I felt some pain on my right eye and chest.
When I got to the hospital, I discovered I needed three stitches on my right eye lid. Apart from bruises and abrasions, I was alright. My father and sister had in the mean time rushed to the hospital. I was later sent home.
While I was on the way to the hospital, I was full of misgivings and feeling guilty for the crash. I anticipated some form of punishment and retribution for my rash act. How could I face Freddy and other members of the club. Surely I would be most unpopular and sacked from the club. Look at the damage I have done. How was I going to repay for the loss of one glider. It was then that I decided I was going to resign from the club and forget about my flying career.
While resting at home that afternoon, Freddy came to visit me. He was very jovial and laughed over the incident. I told him I was very sorry about the crash but he told me not to worry about it and told me that he wanted me back in the air as soon as possible. Did I hear right? My mind boggled at the turn of events.
Freddy then told me that he was flying in a Tiger Moth at the same time, and saw me in the glider. He went on to say that I had got myself into a spin earlier on but managed to recover. But the second time, I was too close to the ground and did not recover. However, he complimented me on my action of pulling my dive brakes out, just before the impact, thus reducing the angle of the dive, and minimising my injuries. This statement was also published in the newspaper. I could not remember this action in my state of confusion. I was told that the glider was not supposed to go into a spin, as certified by the manufacturer. A spin is a condition, in which one side of the wing is stalled, as the aircraft spirals down gathering speed. A stalled wing has no forward movement, and at zero speed, the other wing moving at great speed sends the aircraft into a spiral dive. To recover, the control stick must be pushed forward to increase speed, followed by kicking the opposite rudder. The aircraft would then recover from the dive. Unfortunately, due to my inexperience, and not having been into a spin myself, I was unable to cope with an actual spin. The glider cost $5,000.00!
I was visited by my friends from the club, who were very friendly and did not bear me any malice for the crash. They all urged me to return to my flying. Coupled with this, my father also advised me to return to flying, for he knew of my flying aspiration. He also decided that he would join the flying club to lend me support. All these developments caught me by surprise, contrary to my thinking, when I was on my way to the hospital. And so I did not have to give up flying after all.
The crash made it to the newspaper, with pictures of the wreck, and descriptions of the boy pilot. My right eye had swollen, and I had some difficulties reading. So I missed school for a few days. When I returned to school, I was the 'hero for the day', garnering much interest from the teachers and students. Some of my classmates even thought that I had died! It was also end of the year examination time. With my swollen eye, I could not see properly, and was excused from the examinations. The teachers aggregated my previous two terms results into three, and due to my good performance, passed my third term.
This happened a long time ago, but it remains in my memory and I still have the newspaper clippings. I have much to thank Freddy Fisk, my first flying instructor, who nurtured and encouraged me. I do not know where he is now. Also to Delmi Radcliffe 'Pedro', who has passed on now, and to all my other friends in the club, who believed in me.
book knowledge.
Deciding to do something about it, I approached the Royal Perak Flying Club, located in Ipoh, to pursue my aspiration. I met my first flying instructor, Freddy Fisk, who worked in RIDA, a national rural development authority, and a part time flying instructor with the flying club. A British national, Freddy was impressed with my gung-ho attitude, in seeking such an early start, to achieving my flying aspiration. After all, I was still only a school boy. But Freddy Fisk, being such a noble gentleman, encouraged me very positively, and advised me that as I was too young to hold a student pilot license, he recommended me to start flying gliders. The minimum age for a student pilot license was 16, and I needed to be 17, before I could fly solo in a powered aircraft. However the minimum age to fly gliders was 15. Freddy then plotted out a special program for me to kick start my flying training. After several flights with him, Freddy spoke to my father to arrange such a training program, recognising my flying potential. However school work and financial considerations impeded the program. I was to learn much later, that Freddy was himself a Professor in psychology.
Every weekend, I was at the airfield, learning the rudiments of gliding, taught by Freddy. After a few flights in a two seater T21 glider, I was strapped in a single seat Primary glider. A Primary glider, is a rather hideous looking, steel airframe, very open with a single seat in front. It looks like someone trying to build an aircraft, but without any skin covering, except for the wings. Attaching a long steel cable to his Citreon vehicle, Freddy pulled me along at very high speed along the runway. Following his instructions, I managed to take off and flew straight and level. By the time he slowed down, I made such a hard landing that I thought I was going to fall out of my seat, and wrecking the glider. We came to a grinding halt, as Freddy got out of his car, walked up to me and with an extended hand, congratulated me on my first glider solo. I was elated! He then informed me that I had qualified for my 'A' certificate. Subsequently, we did another run and this time, I released my cable and flew unassisted without the cable, making another very bumpy landing. This time, I qualified for my 'B' certificate. This certificate was issued by the UK Royal Aero Club, of which we were affiliated. The date was 12th August, 1956, shortly after my 16th birthday. My next goal was to qualify for a 'C' certificate.
To qualify for a 'C' certificate, I had to remain airborne in a glider for a minimum of 15 minutes. Simple enough? Not so. A glider, after being launched into the air, without any engine, will start to sink until landing, a duration of only about 5 minutes. In order to remain airborne, I needed to fly into a 'thermal', a mass of up current air, which will give me the uplift to gain height. By circling over this, the glider will gain height and thus able to remain longer in flight. A winch, a modified stationary lorry, with a huge drum of steel cable, was used to launch a glider, pulling it up to a thousand feet in height, before the pilot released the cable to fly away.
By this time, I had graduated to flying the Grunau, a single seat sailplane, which looks like a small jet aircraft but without any engine. Painted in yellow, it had an open hood and visor and made a whistling noise when flying. Built in Germany, it was certified as being very safe and not prone to spinning.
I have been trying very hard to qualify for my 'C' certificate every weekend, and Freddy was encouraging me to go for it.
On the 18th November, 1956, a bright and sunny Sunday, I was launched to attempt for my 'C' certificate. After releasing the cable, I started to look for thermals. An open fire on the ground, with smoke rising, is a good indicator of a thermal. In the absence of an open fire, a bump from below, will also indicate flying over a thermal. By circling over this bump, the glider gets its uplift. Inside the instrument panel, there is a variometer. It consisted of two small liquid tubes, one with a red marker and the other green. When the green marker rose, it indicted an upift. When the red marker rose, it indicated a sink. So by turning, and feeling the bump and watching the variometer, I started to search for thermals to stay aloft. It became turbulent but I did not make much progress trying to stay airborne.
Sensing this, I decided to return to the airfield for a landing, as I was losing altitude fast. Flying downwind and parallel to the airfield, I suddenly felt a bump which sent my green marker up. Immediately, I started to circle over the spot. Noticing that the glider nose was pointing down and increasing the speed, I eased back on the stick to try and maintain the correct speed. I must have eased back too much, for the next moment, the nose pointed up and the speed dropped drastically. I managed to recover from this by pushing the nose down. I was still circling and suddenly, I felt the nose pointing straight to the ground and the glider spinning round. Tried as I could, there was no response to my stick movement. I was very frightened, when I saw the ground coming up very fast, and realised that I was very low. The next moment, I saw the glider heading straight for a building. Bracing myself for the impact, the glider suddenly swerved and hit the ground with one terrific bang. After the roar of the wind, it suddenly became very quiet, and I found myself hanging by my shoulder straps. I noticed my hands were shaking badly, a sign of shock, and the front of the glider was reduced to wood splinters. There was nothing in front of me! I had just missed a school building and a tree. (See picture above.) People were running towards me and one fat man came and carried me up. I remember telling him I was alright before he put me down. I was in a daze and noticed some blood stain on my shirt but could not ascertain my injuries. I was disoriented and then only did I realised that I had crashed. My Ray Ban sunglasses was completely ripped off my face. I started to look for it amidst the strange looks of the crowd that had since gathered. The people seemed so distant as I wandered around in a daze. Just then, my brother turned up in the car and putting me inside, drove off to the hospital. I had crashed inside Pasir Pinji Village, which was adjacent to the airfield. On the way out, an ambulance was seen heading in. Someone had alerted for the ambulance. Still in a daze inside the car, I felt some pain on my right eye and chest.
When I got to the hospital, I discovered I needed three stitches on my right eye lid. Apart from bruises and abrasions, I was alright. My father and sister had in the mean time rushed to the hospital. I was later sent home.
While I was on the way to the hospital, I was full of misgivings and feeling guilty for the crash. I anticipated some form of punishment and retribution for my rash act. How could I face Freddy and other members of the club. Surely I would be most unpopular and sacked from the club. Look at the damage I have done. How was I going to repay for the loss of one glider. It was then that I decided I was going to resign from the club and forget about my flying career.
While resting at home that afternoon, Freddy came to visit me. He was very jovial and laughed over the incident. I told him I was very sorry about the crash but he told me not to worry about it and told me that he wanted me back in the air as soon as possible. Did I hear right? My mind boggled at the turn of events.
Freddy then told me that he was flying in a Tiger Moth at the same time, and saw me in the glider. He went on to say that I had got myself into a spin earlier on but managed to recover. But the second time, I was too close to the ground and did not recover. However, he complimented me on my action of pulling my dive brakes out, just before the impact, thus reducing the angle of the dive, and minimising my injuries. This statement was also published in the newspaper. I could not remember this action in my state of confusion. I was told that the glider was not supposed to go into a spin, as certified by the manufacturer. A spin is a condition, in which one side of the wing is stalled, as the aircraft spirals down gathering speed. A stalled wing has no forward movement, and at zero speed, the other wing moving at great speed sends the aircraft into a spiral dive. To recover, the control stick must be pushed forward to increase speed, followed by kicking the opposite rudder. The aircraft would then recover from the dive. Unfortunately, due to my inexperience, and not having been into a spin myself, I was unable to cope with an actual spin. The glider cost $5,000.00!
I was visited by my friends from the club, who were very friendly and did not bear me any malice for the crash. They all urged me to return to my flying. Coupled with this, my father also advised me to return to flying, for he knew of my flying aspiration. He also decided that he would join the flying club to lend me support. All these developments caught me by surprise, contrary to my thinking, when I was on my way to the hospital. And so I did not have to give up flying after all.
The crash made it to the newspaper, with pictures of the wreck, and descriptions of the boy pilot. My right eye had swollen, and I had some difficulties reading. So I missed school for a few days. When I returned to school, I was the 'hero for the day', garnering much interest from the teachers and students. Some of my classmates even thought that I had died! It was also end of the year examination time. With my swollen eye, I could not see properly, and was excused from the examinations. The teachers aggregated my previous two terms results into three, and due to my good performance, passed my third term.
This happened a long time ago, but it remains in my memory and I still have the newspaper clippings. I have much to thank Freddy Fisk, my first flying instructor, who nurtured and encouraged me. I do not know where he is now. Also to Delmi Radcliffe 'Pedro', who has passed on now, and to all my other friends in the club, who believed in me.
Double click on the picture above for an enlarged view of the wreck. Note the smashed nose and the seat I was strapped in. Also note the building and the trees behind that I had just missed!
Till then....
Till then....
2 comments:
It's me again...enjoy reading your blog. I wasn't even born when you had your first air crash! Nice getting to know you and your old man better. Lily
You are welcome to read my blog. Nice to know someone is reading it. You make me so old! My old man was nice to me during those days. When I moved to Singapore, he booted me out of the family and I was ex-communicated for 20 years until he died. Please continue to read my blog.
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