Visit Malaysia Year 2014 - Air Adventure Flying Club, Subang

To support Visit Malaysia Year 2014, I will be writing on various tourist attractions in the country. Let us work together to bring in tourists to our lovely Malaysia.

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At one point in my childhood, I did consider becoming a pilot. Maybe it was the idea of roaming freely up in the air or the limitless feeling attached to the job. However, the dream didn't pan out for various reasons which was ancient news. 

Cessna-172

Yet, I had the opportunity to live out my childhood dream late last year through Air Adventure Flying Club, a private flying club where you can take flying lessons here and become an official pilot. While my session did not lead me to becoming a pilot, it did give me a chance of seeing the aerial view of Kuala Lumpur. 

Flying with Captain Godric

Manning a small Cessna-172 with supervision of a licensed pilot, we flew around the city and what a view. Everything looked like stacked up Lego toys. We got to see the terrible traffic the city is famous for and mind you, it was still early in the morning, 2 hours before lunch break. 

 

Aerial view of the city

The best moment, however, has to be when we flew right next to the twin tower. I have seen the national landmark up close but not from this angle and this height. That was truly priceless. 

Up close and personal with the twin tower

Captain Godric, the pilot I flew with, told me how much he loves his job. I can definitely relate to that.

Info Box

Air Adventure Flying Club,
Light Aircraft Hangar Site, Subang Airport, 47200 Subang.
Their office starts from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. but if you want to catch sunrise or sunset, you can arrange with them.
For more information about the flying lessons as well as the prices, click here.

Hotel Review - Empire Hotel, Subang

In just another week time, the whole gang of #TSBreakAway will gather again for the award ceremony where the deserving winner will win the grand prize of RM 10,000. There are also CANON prize and a People's Choice Award where the public can cast their votes. Do vote for me, please? You can read my entries here.

Lobby

For the whole 5 days of the program, we stayed in Empire Hotel, Subang, a beautiful boutique hotel attached to the Empire Shopping Gallery. The entrance on the ground floor is just a small area for you to wait for the lifts (there are only two of them) to bring you up to the lobby at secondary floor. Receptionist area, in-house brasserie called Kitchen Art and meeting halls are all in this floor. Besides the aforementioned 2 lifts, there are another 2 extra lifts close to Kitchen Art, bringing in total of 4 lifts.

Where the ballrooms and meeting rooms are

Our room, located in the eighth floor, is very comfortable. The room is divided into 3 sections of sort, working area, bathroom and sleeping room. This is a quite a good planning especially if your room mate has works to be done. He can do so in the first section without disturbing you from sleeping. Wi-Fi is available inside the room.

Working area

Bedroom

Bathroom

Overall, I find the hotel quite a lovely place to stay in. The only con that I can think of is its food, especially buffet breakfast. The choices are the same every day, which is rather bland. If you were staying for a night, of course there is nothing wrong with it. But imagine us who stayed in the hotel for 5 days and having to eat the same breakfast throughout our stay. They should change it everyday to spice up the customers' appetites.

#TSBreakAway - Come Fly With Me

Captain Godric Hong was passionate when he talked about his works as a ground instructor and club pilot. "It was my dream to become a pilot," he told us as we waited for our turns in a cafe inside Skypark Terminal, Subang. There was no reason to doubt him.

As the other team, Anis and Isaac, roamed around the city skyline with Captain Badrul Zaman, Vanessa and I were chatting away with the young captain who just graduated from a flying school in Langkawi this year. "At the moment, I am working here in Air Adventure Flying Club while waiting for replies from airline companies," he said. According to him, he was among the lucky ones for securing a flying gig not too long after graduated. Apparently, there were many pilots in Malaysia unable to land a job.

While unemployment rate in Malaysia is still in a manageable level, there are many fresh graduates unable to find a job. Economic downturn causes most companies to downsize. I myself is part of the unemployed group, though in my case, it was my own will. For me, I rather be temporarily not working than slaving away in dead-end jobs.

Cessna-172, a small aircraft we flew with

We took off in a small aircraft enough for 4 persons, a Cessna-172. Both of us took turns being a co-pilot and a passenger with Captain Godric in charge of the plane. This allowed us to experience both sides, we were told earlier during briefing.

Captain Godric Hong, with Vanessa as co-pilot

I may not be a strong advocate for KL skyline but the city sure looks pretty from up here. We flew by both the city's landmarks, the KL Tower and the Petronas Twin Tower, and seeing them up close was just amazing. The scenery changed from clustered skyscrapers to dense housing areas as we moved further away from the city centre. The greenery shrubs we saw while up in the air astounded me. I didn't realize there are so many recreational parks and forests still exist in the city.

We passed by both KL Tower and Petronas Twin Tower

Where the earth and sky meets

When it was my turn to man the aircraft, excitement overwhelmed me. I have been on a plane before but never the one to pilot it. Although our control was restricted to just maneuvering the vehicle up and down, left and right, it was more than enough for me. I can just imagine the pressures that come with being an actual pilot, the need to do everything right, knowing that lives are stake even for a minor error.

While we were flying around the city, Captain Godric told me that he never get bored with the city sky view every times he took a client for a spin. "Now you understand why I like flying," he said. I believe I do.

Flying is the theme of Day 4 of #TSBreakAway, a pilot program initiated by Tourism Selangor. 12 Xplorers were divided into 3 groups, each having its own adventures. However, due to unforeseen weather complication, only piloting and paragliding took place. The other adventure, paramotor, had to cancel and the paramotor group merged with paragliding as one.