MONGKOK SHOOTINGS

The new that 2 police officers were shot in TST last night (1 subsequently died) pisses me off somewhat. The HK police force are a fine organisation and I find their officers professional and polite. Though I'm guessing, I bet the idiot who traded rounds with these guys was some dumbass mainlander II. It's all very well demonstrating for unrealistic causes and ideas when we are younger. But I'm for stricter immigration rules and policing along the HK/mainland border. I am one of the few taxpayers here. And these crims are shooting dead the people i pay to keep HK the safe city it is.

I am not impressed. While I'm on the subject...has anyone heard a local taxi driver express his joy at local rule recently....er...no. HK citizens now live in fear of the mainland invasion. Not the "white ghost". When all the jobs have gone to cheap mainland labour and the social services are overwhelmed, Old "Fat Boy" Chris Patten is going to look pretty appealing, not to mention his daughters...

Anyway. It's Friday and the lads and I are meeting at the Bridge for some cold ones and the dvd from last weeks flying. Grace is still in the Philippines and I'm missing her. Never mind. I'll see her next Tuesay in Manila. Work are putting up in the Shangri-La resort for 4 nights so I can attend a "conference". Hehe. I'm going to book Grace and introductory lesson on the Saturday in a Cessna 152. I hope she's not a natural. Going mountain biking with Wayne tomorrow on Lantau and trying to organse a barby with the lads for Sunday. Saw Fingers for the first time in ages last night which was good. He pisses me off sometimes but he's a good lad. Can't believe I'm gonna miss the rugby 7's this year as I'll be in the Philipines. Just been reflecting this afternoon. This time last week I was on a flight from Singapore to Manila having spent the night before cycling roundSingapore. I will never move to Sing. ...

Flying isnt all stress and worry though. Boy will be boys and of course we still find the time for a cold beer and the craic. Here we are in Misty's. Our favourite hangout in Angeles City. Misty's has the best music in town and I can ever run a tab there. Imaging running a tab in a country you don't even live in...hehe

Here we are admiring Moray's "reward" for ringing the bell. Ringing the bell requires no particular skill...just a lack of financial awareness blended with a little stupidity and some alcohol thrown into the equation. Rumor has it that this little evening cost Moray 20K Hong Kong. Enough to buy a nice used car or a couple of African nations...mad!!!!!!! Anyway. they say a picture can tell a thousand stories...

Spent this weekend at Omni aviation in the Philippines. For the plane spotters among you, here we have RPC 3 Niner 1 in "clean" (left) and "dirty" configuration. On the left, Fog is joining the circuit for Linguien strip and is yet to deploy flaps and dirty up the aircraft. On the right, 3 Niner 1 is being pre-flighted by the Fog. e has just switched on the master and deployed 40 degrees (max) flap. This increases lift and also increases stalling speed allowing the pilot to land slowly.

I spent the weekend doing touch and go's. Touch and go's are tiring and mentally demanding. the involve all regimes of flight being compressed into a short space of time. We take off, fly a circuit and land briefly, build airspeed and rotate the aircraft back up into the circuit. Omni is short, narrow and has HT wires at one end. After one hour of circuits I am always bathed in sweat. Here is a typical circuit. Remember each only lasts 5 minutes.

After pre-flight taxi to holding point.
Me: "RPC One zero four niner holding short Omni 20"
Tower: "1049r, report airborne"
Me: "will report airborne, one zero four niner"

Advance throttle and taxi onto threshold. turn 180 and align aircraft on centreline. Close window, check instruments and fuel again. Advance throttle applying back stick to help aircraft get rolling.

10 knots approx and hit main runway. Rudder inputs to compensate for crosswind if necessary and aerilons into wind.

40 knots and airspeed indicator comes alive. Midfield now and airspeed at 50 knots.

55 knots. Roll aerilons level and rotate aircraft. Stall alarm chirps briefly and nose lowered. As aircraft climbs out, maintain runway heading using handy cloud.

Me: " 1049'r airborne"
Tower: "report base"
Me: "will report base, 1049'r"

Passing 700 feet indicated - flaps up.

Passing 800 feet turn into left hand circiut towards Angeles Church.

Approaching 1000 feet throttle back, nose forward, turn downwind.

Maintain 1000 on downwind dropping 10 degrees flap abeam the new mall.

Tower informs me of traffic in my vicinity and asks if i have a visual. Negative is the reply so he aske me to extend my downwind leg.

Begin my turn onto base as tower informs me I am now number 1 to land. Looking for Fog's aircraft but stilll can't see him.

Me: "RPC 1049'r on base"
Tower: " Report airborne"
Me: " will report airborne, 1049'r"

drop 20 degrees flap and decending now on base leg. Aircraft balloons as flap comes out so nose lowered. Adding power into final turn onto long finals.

Still low and slow. Apply power while feeling for the distant centreline. Adding more power and drop final 30 degrees flap.

Zoom. Foggo and RPC 391 pass me on same track at 2000. I focus on Fog in his 172 and allow too much speed to bleed off the aircraft. Damm.

Still slow and low. Throttle way in and still no appreciable speed gain. can't lower nose. airspeed dropping again. Stalll alarm sounds...damm windshear.

Throttle right in and maintaining 60 knots IAS just. Off centre, correct, drift correct...

Break the glide, hold , hold...now flare...

the nose comes up, stall alarm sounds continiously and aircraft touches down hard.

Way off centreline, rudders to compensate. Half runway used, flaps to 10, carb heat in, throttle to full. airspeed building.


50 knots, looking for 55 but not going to get it. Rotate, beep from stall warning. Looking for powerlines. damm that was low... maintain ground track, retract flaps and report airborne.

You have just spent 5 minutes with me in the cockpit.

And we pay to do this?????

Promised you some hiking / BBQ
shots so here they are. The girls invited some friends to come with us. What you can't see are the high heels and furry boots the girls decided to hike in...Needles to say progress was slow. The shots are taken in and around the house on Lantau island.

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me...

I can't believe I am 34! Here's a shot taken from my birthday party at the Excelsior hotel. From left to right are; Stef, Grace, Babes, Jason, Jenny, Fog and Johnny Fingers. Stef most of you know. Babes is married to Jason. Jason lives near us and spent new year in the Philippines with us. Jenny we don't talk about anymore. Fog (Mike) tells us not to talk about Jenny anymore and Johnny Fingers is , well, Johnny Fingers. John has a minor celebrity status at the moment as he rolled a nice Mercedes SLK that did not belong to him. Oops. Jason is also know for crashing vehicles, his latest beign a motorbike in the philippines. Foggo has also destroyed his fair share of roadside furniture but is doing this less frequently as he has traded his Nissan Skyline for a mountain bike. He is also famous for crashing at my old gaf on a regular basis. Stef crashes light aircraft frequently ( ie 2 days ago) so is on a par with me aviation wise. Grace has crashed several pushbikes while I don't think Babes and she who cannot be mentioned have crashed anything.

Latest images taken from the trouble hit Balloch area of Inverness. A state of emergency is now in place. This is the first time troops have been on the streets of Balloch in over 14 days. Despite pleas for calm from community leaders, raping and looting appears to be continuing as normal. Solders have been give the all clear to shoot anyone wearing a shellsuit or carrying a television on sight. As you can imagine, casualties are mounting.

Kate Adie, BBC News , Moray Park Avenue.

This blogging thing makes one quite sentimental. I was moved enough to look out my Moray Park Avenue shots from last summer. Brings a tear(gas) to a glass eye. I am always moved by the community spirit on display in this suburb of bonny Inverness.