Sunday, April 16, 2006

Singapore Sling

Most drinkers would know what I am talking about when I wrote this title for my aviation blog. However, for those who don't know what this is, let me explain. It is an expression for a jaunt in Singapore, where I am presently. For the seasoned cocktail drinker, it is also the favoured alcoholic drink created at the Raffles Hotel (a heritage property and a real expensive hotel) in Singapore and has become famous the World over. A little deviation from aviation in this case, let me try and give my reader a recipe for making this drink:
30ml Gin,15 ml Cherry Brandy,120 ml Pineapple Juice, 15 ml Lime Juice, 7.5 ml country, 7.5 ml Dom Benedictine,10 ml Grenadine, A Dash of Angostura BittersGarnish with a slice of Pineapple and Cherry. Shake it all up in a cocktail shaker and you have the signature drink of this country-Singapore.
I have been fortunate to make a trip to Singapore a few times in the past and presently here on, what else, but aviation works. A company here called Hawker Pacific is located where they do Aircraft sales of Beechcraft (Raytheon) and Hawker Jets sales and service. My client in India has brought me here to this tropical paradise, to identify the right Aircraft for their operations and to get the same customised. I will be dealing with three Aircraft, two turboprop and one jet Aircraft, all executive configuration. Whats that, you ask? Executive Aircraft are meant for charters and for in-house travel of company executives, The Aircraft interior, unlike a commercial Aircraft, will have overstuffed chairs, sofas/divans, well appointed toilet, conference tables, in short it will be an office in the air. We are going to gold plate some of the fittings like cup holders and stuff.
The jet Aircraft is in Australia and thats where yours truly is headed next week. My job there is to look up the Airplane, check all the records and log books and then fly it to Singapore. I should be back here in Sing (as popularly called in short) by next weekend. The flight will be about 8 hours long and should be interesting. I will blog about that next week. I have done flights acroos the North Atlantic a few times. My preferred fuel stops have been Northern Scotland and Iceland and on occasion I landed at two places in Greenland. By the way, it is interesting to note that iceland is rather green and lush and Greenland is full of ice all year round (polar ice cap and all).
Although I have flown in around 23 countries, Aussie land has always eluded me. This trip will therefore be different and interesting, not only because of Aussie land but also because the Airplane is a new generation full glass cockpit jet. Whats that again, you ask? Glass cockpit is a term that we use to describe an all electronic cockpit. No dials and regular instruments here. Only large TV type CRT screen and there are buttons to push to get readouts on all the parameters of the flight. The same screens can show the weather radar, TCAS II (see my earlier articles to know what this means), engine parameters readout, ground Proximity warning and many other conventional readouts. Early aviation had lots of instruments and dials in the cockpit, these days, all new gen Aircraft have glass cockpit. Hope this helps explain a few things. Until next week, let me say Cheers and try a Singapore Sling on me!!

7 comments:

GVK said...

Heady stuff, this full glass cockpit. Would think, you need a stiff one (Singapore sling) after a run through of plethora of readouts on board.

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

Yes Sir Mr. GVK, after a long flight, like the one I'm going to make between Sydney and Singapore, nothing like a tall glass of the Sling after arriving, to get me back to reality. I hope some of the readers (I don't want to make anyone alchoholic)manage to try the recipe' some time. My wife tells me that this article may get a few people addicted!

Anonymous said...

Addicted - I hope - only to the blog. Real heady stuff. Will keep a watch out for more heady stuff - including where you are headed to.

Govindraj Ethiraj said...

Capt !

You reminded me and may I thus recommend you pick up Alexander Frater's Beyond The Blue Horizon, if you haven't read it already.

Its one of my best travel-aviation books. Frater (also author of Chasing The Monsoon) travels and relives the legendary Imperial Airways eastbound route..once the world's longest scheduled route. The journey begins in London (Croydon, not Heathrow !) and ends in Brisbane, Australia. He uses commercial air-routes and sometimes, in countries like India, even the train.

Along the way, he touches Athens, Baghdad, Muscat, Karachi, Udaipur, Delhi, Kanpur, Allahabad Calcutta, Dhaka, Rangoon, Singapore and on.

The anecdotes and insights are fascinating..Jodhpur became an international airport before Delhi, , the original Imperial used to land on the `Jumna' in Allahabad for example, refilling from Burmah Shell barges..countless more..

Cheers

GE

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

Mr. Ethiraj, thanks for the details. I have read chasing the monsoon but not beyond the blue horizon. I shall certainly pick it up soon. Interesting fact about Jodhpur, i did not know this! Thanks again.

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

Blogging your own trinkets, sorry mate, i got you hooked again! regarding beer, thats what i am having now (Victoria Bitter!), in Sydney Australia at my sister Nirup's house located in Warriewood, NSW (suburb of Sydney for short). She has an indian restaurant called "The Spice bazaar" at Narrabeen, close by. Incidently, I flew the high tech Premier 1 Aircraft this afternoon on a familiarization flitgh over Bankstown NSW and will be flying the same machine to Singapore from here on saturday. I will surely blog about this after reaching Sing. Thanks again and don't hit the bottle too hard!

Govindraj Ethiraj said...

Capt !

Yes, you must get hold of Frater's book. There is a lovely interview with JRD Tata in the book as well, in the context of his Bombay-Karachi Pussy Moth flight..the book was written in the 80s.

Interesting that you are shopping around for executive jets. The last one I flew in (a few months ago) was a Dassault Falcon 2000.

Subsequently I read that both pilots had been poached by a rival airline, I mean company !! When last heard, the aicraft was grounded !

Cheers

GE