What better time to blog, than while sitting in the business class lounge of Singapore Airlines at Changi International Airport in Singapore, waiting for my departure. This is getting to be a habit, blogging, I mean. I am turning my blog into a bit more than pure aviation, to include my travels, details of countries that I am passing through, a bit about the people and their culture and things like that. I have been aviation centric so far. But, not to disappoint my aviation friends and readers, the bulk of my blog will still contain all aspects of aviation.
I am well and truly States bound, leaving for Los Angeles on a 14 hour direct flight. My job there is to do an overnight, drive up to a place called Oxnard, near Santa Barbara and do pre-purchase inspections on two Beechcraft C90B turboprop Airplanes.
After a few days, I leave for a short trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma and then back to Singapore via LA. I will be blogging about the Airplanes after I finish the work and test flights. Tulsa is not confirmed yet but if that happens, my friend Kevin St. Germain, whom I mentioned about in my last blog "Fast Jet from Oz", will fly down in his airplane, pick me up and fly to Wichita, where he lives. Incidentally, Wichita is also the city/town where Beechcraft manufactures it's line of Airplanes and so does Cessna and so do a few others. Kevin is on the way back from South Africa where he had gone to pick up a Hawker 800XP executive jet for re-delivery back to the US. He is States Bound, too. A few more things about Kevin is that he has been instructing companies and even the various State Government pilots in India. There used to be a company called Gujarat Airways that was flying the B1900D Aircraft (18 seater) and he had been working for them at that time. So, his association with India has been for a while now, he loves going to India and he absolutely loves the food. His wife Divya, Nepalese as I had mentioned last time, is supposed to be a good cook and makes Indian food. More news as we go along, after this short trip.
7 comments:
Santa Barbara. Isn't that the town known to us, Third Worlders, because of a mega serial ? The last time I passed through the place, some years back, we, my wife and I, spotted a well-worn coconut rope 'charpai' and a 'hooka' (the type Haryanvi farmers smoke) showcased in an antique dealer's shop. Checked at the 'charpai' price tag. $50.
The Harvard experiment the initiative of a few Harvard students to help Third World artisans find market for their product in the affluent USA.
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Thanks Mr. Rao. What do you mean by spicy? Please let me know what would interest readers a bit more and I shall endeavour to write in a way that makes it look like an interesting article than a boring travelogue.
Thats right Mr. GVK, Santa Barbara is perhaps the same as in the TV serial. Going there today, actually, near there.
While you are there, Capt.Murthy, you could, perhaps, check out the price of our charpai
OK Mr. Vijendra, got your point. I will try and explain a bit more whenever I write. Sometimes, I guess I take it for granted that my readers already know something about aviation, and that is a mistake. I am not a writer as you know and I am evolving into one, hopefully. I will need all the help I can get, from seasoned writers and bloggers. Keep the comments coming, the only way I learn more about blogging and putting my point across is by writing more.
To answer your question briefly: in all commercial airline Aircraft post 9/11, the cockpit doors have been re-inforced and have an inside locking mechanism. Standard Operating Procedures have been modified for access to cockpits these days and only pilots control this. Some airlines, mainly in the US allows pilots to carry guns and there is a debate going on about that. Don't know if this is a good idea. Some rules, I guess, were a result of knee jerk reactions to the 9/11 incident. However, when the bad guys can come up with outlandish and never before thought of plans, isn't it better to try and be a step ahead?
Mr. GVK, there was no time to check the charpai unfortunately. Can't seem to be able to get away even to buy sundry items. Today I wil be flying one of the shortlisted airplanes on a test flight and once again it is going to be a full day. Some other time perhaps, when I come back to the US mid June/late June to pick this airplane up and fly it to Singapore.
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