100 Years of Aviation in Singapore

It's been a 100 years of aviation in many Countries around the World this year. For us in tiny Singapore, the 16th of March marked the 100th year of aviation here. On 16th March, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore organized a gala dinner program for aviators and Airlines based/operating into Singapore. The event was at the huge banquet hall of the new "Resorts World" at Sentosa. This blog is more like a news report, mentioning the event and the celebrations.


(Bristol Boxkite that flew from Belmont Race Course in Australia, also in 1911)

The evening began with audio visual presentation of what people thought about aviation in Singapore titled "People, Passions, Opportunities". It was on the evening of 16th March 1911 that a French pilot Joseph Christiaens piloted a Bristol Boxkite Biplane. He took off from the Old Racecourse at Farrer Park from an unprepared airstrip, offering rides to many people for $50 a head! Pricey it may have been, apparently it had many takers. Farrer Park is now just grassy area near the Farrer Park MRT station on Race Course Road. There is no Race Course here but the name remains. Race Course Road is now famous for many Indian restaurants and Singaporean Indian restaurants that are famous for signature dishes such as the "Fish Head Curry".

The Bristol Boxkite was first built in 1910 by the British & Colonial Aeroplane Company (later known as the Bristol Aeroplane Company). The Boxkite was powered by a 70 horsepower "Le Rhone" rotary engine. First flight of this model was on 29th July 1910 and later on became a highly successful model selling units around the World.


(Bristol Boxkite)

The program was well conducted, as expected, everything works with clockwork precision in Singapore. There was an aerial symphony with dancers climbing on long curtains and conducting graceful movements set to music. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who is also a former PM spoke on aviation and Singapore, keeping the speech brief and relevant. Then they collectively pushed a button to launch the start of year long celebrations called as the Singapore Aviation Centennial Celebrations which will end next year at the Singapore Air Show and that's going to be something special for sure. Watch this space for reports and pictures/videos that event.

Soon after the Minister's speech, another video presentation was shown on large screens set up throughout the vast hall, this one was titled "Our dreams, Our journey". This is particularly relevant to us here in Singapore, for growth of aviation here in future and for all the success of the past. Yes, its been a 100 years and tiny Singapore catapulted into the World stage far better than most other Countries with among the best Airports in the World in Changi and among the best Airlines in the World with Singapore Airlines.


The newly expanded Seletar Aerospace Park where yours truly has spent the last 4 years, is going to be the showpiece for General Aviation and Aviation technology leadership in the region. For Singapore to continue as a leader, it will have to innovate and come up with new concepts to forge a competitive aviation hub in this region. I suppose we all need to pull our socks up and get to work!

There was a musical finalé to the evening, songs were sung by locally famous artists Dick Lee and Ms Julia Abueva and she did sing very well indeed. All this while we ate a four course meal with free flowing drinks. As we left the hall, there were CAAS representatives who handed out large gift bag with a box in it, that turned out to be a scale model of the original Bristol Boxkite, made beautifully out of wood and thread. That's sitting on my desk right now as I write this piece. A fitting way to start off the Centennial year of Aviation. Cheers!

Blue Blistering Barnacles

Sea dog, pirate, sea cucumber, billions of blue blistering barnacles, ten thousand thundering typhoons...anyone who's familiar with Tin Tin comics will surely know what I'm talking about. I did feel a bit like Captain Haddock but wasn't cursing like him for sure. Would have loved to swear like that, but I had guests on board the new yacht (yacht is pronounced as YOT-most Indians say it like "hatch" but with a "Y" and a dear friend in Mysore suggested I make this clarification for the benefit of interested Mysoreans and Indians in general) that we acquired and that would not have made a good impression for sure. I wrote briefly in my last post about us acquiring a yacht on my new company called SEAJET and here I am going to crow about it a bit more.

(Our Yacht)


The yacht is a Carver Cruiser, made in the U.S.A. and just less than 60 feet in length. That makes it a good sized boat but not nearly the size that captain Haddock would have commanded. I did not have Tin Tin and snowy on board but I did have my colleagues and a few guests from overseas, Cessna chaps in particular, who had come in early for the Air Show. Now the Airshow is just two days away, opening on the 19th of February and I'm going to be making a splash with Cessna. Like I'd mention before, the Citation Mustang will be making its first entry into Asia when I bring in the first one. I'm taking delivery of the new Aircraft at Cessna facility in Independence/Wichita in late March. So, how's that for a first?

(Me and colleague director Selvam)


Back to the yacht story and we launched in the evening from One Degree Fifteen Marina located on Sentosa Island, south of Singapore. The sea had turned a bit choppy and most of us decided the upper deck was the best place to be, to have the wind blowing into one's face and for acquiring some "sea legs". Haddock would have shouted obscenities for sure. The yacht has a living room with sofas and chairs, cabinets, Television and so on.

(Living room sofa)

The dining area has a nice kitchen and seating area with a dining table. There are two bedrooms, one is a master bedroom with an attached toilet and shower and there's a guest bedroom that has access to the common toilet as well. There's a mid deck with outdoor lounge sofa and an upper deck where Captain Haddock would sit, in this case it was Mr. Razak (and he wasn't swearing!). The upper deck has some sofa style seating as well.

(kitchen, dining and gest room entrace in the background)
As the sun set, I had the captain head out to sea, rounding out over the southern islands of Singapore. We first went past the turtle island, so called because one can find many turtles there and legend has it that a turtle saved some fishermen who had fallen into the water. They've built a Chinese temple on the island and the temple is dedicated to-what else-turtles!

(Captain Sea Dog on deck!)


(Some of our geasts taking in the sights of Sentosa from the sea)

Heading out further, we aligned ourselves in parallel to Sentosa southern coast where the "Songs of the sea" lazer show is organized every evening. The waters here were calm and it was time for the drinks to come out. We served some nice "St Julien" grape wine and seafood canapés. Every one took to the wine although I had stocked the fridge with Heineken beer as well. There was no whiskey on board and Haddock would have been livid and called me a sea urchin for sure! Maybe he’d have me thrown off the deck too.


Heading back to home base after watching a bit of the laser show from the boat, the sea had calmed down, making it nicer for people to relax outside and consume more wine. A sit down dinner at they yacht marina finished off the evening. We are all steady, as one can be after a yacht ride and drinks, making it back home elated and relaxed. The guests were boaters in the States and loved doing the same in the tropics. They'll carry good memories from their first trip to Singapore. I needed to have this casual meeting with them and it was a chance to catch my breath, the last few weeks has been hectic. I'm doing exciting stuff though, so I won't complain. Next one's going to be about the Singapore Air Show and I'll try to blog while the event is mid-way. Cheers...hic!