Cadet Pilot 1st Stage Assessment

TODAY is my exam day for the AirAsia cadet pilot assessment. I had a few hours of sleep the night before as I only reached home after midnight from Malacca. Managed to crawl out of the bed at 6.45am after several alarm snoozes and after a hot shower I prepared myself before leaving for the academy located at near the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT).

The AirAsia Acedemy

By the time I arrived it was 8.05am. Many candidates were seen waiting outside the gate. I read through some notes for the last time before leaving the car. Out of the 69 person sitting for the exam, there are six females. I also recognized one air steward whom I saw during one of my AA flight, is taking the paper as well. I think he was one of the cabin crews trying their luck to become pilots.

Candidates waiting outside

Our first paper, English started at 9am, lasted for an hour before moving on to Physics and Maths. There are 30 minutes break between every paper. During that time, you can see some really semangat people still holding their books, memorizing every single formula into their head. Madness.

The main lobby

The test is not difficult as I thought would be and I’m glad I did not study much. Some questions are pretty straight forward. Though, there are a few who do not have answers. They said it meant to be like that. Catchy one! Among the panels in the hall that I could recalled were Alan, Selva, Najib and Captain Feavin. Not sure of their position though.

Cafeteria where we had break and lunch

However, the last paper, IQ was quite a tough one. Lots of complex calculation and questions involving layers of cracking and understanding. Like Inception. I am only able to answer like, five out of the 20 questions. It was IQ anyway, there is nothing we could study.

Apart from the pool and the mock-up plane where they are used for training, I also saw several simulators of different aircraft inside the academy. Looks kinda cool!

There is a mock-up plane and pool

There are two friends which I got to know on that day, Harry and Mei Yin. So there were some chatting to keep us occupied before the papers. Harry took his SPM in 2009 and Mei Yin has just completed her SAM in Taylor’s College. I guess I’m one of the eldest among the candidates. By the way, Mei Yin’s father is a pilot in AirAsia. According to her, it was him who inspired her to become a pilot. Not forgetting her cool cockpit seat belts story.

With Harry and Mei Yin (hope I get the names correct)

Well, as told, we will get to know the results after two weeks via email and they will shortlist the number of candidates to 120 (out of 500) for the 2nd stage assessment. So…let’s see.

Will I be back again?

Pilot vs Architect

EARLY of the month I was surfing AirAsia's website and I noticed they are recruiting for cadet pilot position. So without much hesitation I quickly sent an application with an attachment of my CV and SPM results. After that I didn't really put much hope in it as I am still one semester away in completing my degree.

It was until Jan 19th when David (who applied the cadet position too) informed me about receiving an email from AirAsia and so I checked my inbox.

VOILA, I GOT ACCEPTED TOO!!

In the email it is stated that I have to attend a Stage 1 exam which falls on the third day of CNY. The timing of the exam is already a test itself. There will be three papers to be assessed on that day: Maths, Physics and English.

So David and I have to flip back some SPM revision books to refresh our memories. It's been 7 years since we finished our Form 5. How to determine the force when a mass of 2kg falls from above with an acceleration of 5kgms2? And what is the calculation of an inverse matrics?

Ohm's Law, Snell's Law, Fleming's rule all those craps

From what I checked out in the forum, it shows that out of 3000+ application online, 700 were selected for the Stage 1 exam and out of the 700 candidates, only 20 pilots will be chosen in the end. Those selected will be sent to a flying academy in Canada for training earliest by April. Gosh, isn't that a bit too rush?

Nah anyway I'm just going to give it try. Besides, becoming a pilot was one of my dream and who knows, one day, I might be doing architecture in the sky. Haha.

Credits

Borneo Again

THANKS to AirAsia 50,000 free seats promotion, I am again travelling to East Malaysia at an afforable price of RM173. At the end of the year my coursemates and I will be heading to Kota Kinabalu (6 days), then Sibu (2 days) and Kuching (4 days). All by flights except the Sibu-Kuching journey where we are still thinking whether to take a boat ride or bus. It would be quite an experience I hope.

Anyway this is still a long way to go but at least there is something to look forward to. =)

Siam ah!

LEFT for Bangkok, the capital of Thailand on last Friday afternoon. Recently, the Malaysia Airport has implemented a rule on restricting passengers to carry liquid, aerosol and gels into the air cabin for all the international flights. Those include drinks, hair gel, shampoo, perfume, deodorant, hair spray, toothpaste etc.

However, you could only carry them if they are in containers not more than than 100ml. And all containers must be fit into a transparent plastic bag. What a troublesome rule!

The mineral water bought from the departure hall is tightly sealed

As you know, AirAsia is having this policy where no outside food and drinks are allowed on board. You have to purchase them from the cabin crew if you wanna have something to chew during the flight. The selling price is not very cheap either. Better make sure your stomach is filled before taking an AirAsia flight.

The food and drinks menu on the flight do make me feel hungry somtimes.

The chicken rendang was very tempting

Got model to pose somemore

Yes, now everyone can fly. But not everyone is able to eat or drink on board .

After almost 2 hours flight, we could see the land of Thai and we arrived at the newly opened Bangkok International Airport (Suvarnabhumi Airport). It was just opened at the end of 2006.

View from the plane

Arriving the airport

Waiting for luggage

The moment I exit from the arrival gate, there was a crowd of tour agency and the hotel staff, holding their respective banner to greet the customers they are waiting. People calling names and waving. For a sudden moment I felt like I was a superstar when I stepped out the gate.

We looked for our tour guide at the gate on the other end of the airport. Our guide, Mr Kareen explained the itenary of our tour before sending us back to the hotel in Bangkok city in a tour van parked outside the airport.

Locating our hotel

The journey from the airport to the city by road took about 45 minutes. A train service connecting the airport to the city (similar to our KLIA express) will be ready soon. It was still under construction.

Approaching Bangkok city

We reached our accomodation at Bangkok Palace Hotel. Most of the hotels I've seen over there do not have main entrance at the front but the side or the back of the hotel. Maybe it is how the hotels are in Thailand.

The van dropping us at the back entrance

The hotel lobby

The room we (me, dad and his friend) stayed

Our hotel, Bangkok Palace

The hotel beside is even nicer though

After checking-in and settled our stuff, we stepped out the hotel and began our walk in the streets of Bangkok.

Shoppings, food, people and visiting spots in Bangkok next... =)