Andrew Lim

If an F-16 cannot get into a firing position on the Raptor, are you sure a Skyhawk can? Like I say, I believe both the Raptor and SU-30 are equally manouverable. In a dogfight, both would have smilar odds of winning. But there is no point in risking a billion dollar jet in a dogfight when you can smack the Sukhois from 50nm away with AIM-120s.

Nice vids Denny, but i cant really tell what the turn radius were or each fighter. Personally, I believe the Raptor and Su-30 will be evenly matched in a dogfight. However, as Iwan pointed out, that is not the Raptor's strength. Neither will the USAF deploy the Raptors this way. The doctrine will see a flight of two Raptors mixed with four Eagles. They will be expected to take on about the same amount of hostile fourth generation fighters (F-16C, F/A-18E, SU-30)from BVR range without a single loss. F-22s might have proven that they can take on up to six adversary at a time in a Red Flag scenario but i doubt this can be replicated in a real air war. Raptor pilots will also be limited to fighting from a stand-off position. The unit price is just simply too high to have these birds shot down in a dogfight.

The F-22 Raptor has been given a baptism by fire last year at Red Flag. It achieved total superiority over the Aggressors’ F-15s and F-16s in both BVR and visual engagements. Apparently, no tactics worked against the Raptors. Six Aggressor jets, on their way to the target, tried to elude a lone Raptor by flying nap of the earth. All six were ‘killed’ outside visual range. Even by overloading them with numbers in a close in dogfight, only one Raptor was ‘killed’ in a 1 vs 4 engagement when the last F-16 managed to shoot the lone Raptor down in a head to head snap shot. The F-16 pilot was quoted saying that the biggest frustration was not being able to put his gunsights on the F-22 in a dogfight “You have to sacrifice three of your own guys just to get you into a firing position. Even then, I only had time to fire a single missile before the F-22 disappeared from my HUD. That was a very lucky kill” Obviously, all these have not come cheap as it seems the F-22’s production may be limited.

If I read the article correctly, Air Asia is technically our national airline now?

Whoa... becareful what you say dude. That's not a very nice comment. Don't be a flamebait...

Emmm.. how you know Sukhois are better than Raptors? Any evidence?

The Pentagon is once again trying to shut down the Marietta production line of the F-22A Raptor and Georgia’s congressional delegation has once again launched a preemptive strike to save the plane. And this time they’re wielding the sword of truth. 14-12-2007 - Washington -- Top Pentagon officials may say they don’t need the Raptor to win wars, but Georgia lawmakers wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates to assure him that dumping the Raptor would endanger national security, encourage America’s enemies and cost 25,000 Americans, 3,000 in Marietta, their jobs. Congressmen aren’t usually that up-front about their true concerns - jobs back in their districts - when it comes to saving weapons programs the military says it doesn’t need. Many weapons programs, in fact, are often designed to include contractors and sub-contractors from as many congressional districts as possible to ensure the program’s longevity. In their letter to the defense secretary, the Georgians mostly talked weapon-system talk about “fifth-generation” fighter lines, “supercruise” and “rigorous campaign-based analysis.” But the bottom line, they said, is they want the Pentagon to build 60 more Raptors after the current three-year contract for F-22As - won by the Georgians against Pentagon resistance - runs out in 2010 to keep local voters working. The $5 billion price tag of those planes, the Georgians said, would keep 25,000 Americans working, provide business for about 1,000 contractors in 44 states and help about 75,000 other people who would benefit “indirectly.” How many of the 75,000 work and vote in Georgia is not known. Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution Photo: USAF

Singapore Airlines Boeing-777 Emergency Landing in Moscow On Saturday a Boeing-777 of Singapore Airlines flying from Dubai to Moscow carried out emergency landing at Domodedovo airport in the Russian capital. There were over 200 passengers aboard. No one of the passengers or the crew was injured. As the airport’s press-service reports, some trouble occurred in one of the plane`s engines during the flight. The plane crew asked for emergency landing reporting about a technical problem. At the airdrome the plane was met by rescue services: firemen and ambulance, which help, however, was not necessary. http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/5832/ Sources from A.net says it's flight SQ376 SIN-DXB-DME Will the Triple Seven lose its ETOPS certification if this trend continues?

Singapore Airlines reports engine trouble, lands safely in Japan Monday, February 25, 2008 11:01 AM TOKYO (AP) - A Singapore Airlines jet shut down one of its two engines after suffering mechanical trouble Monday but landed safely in Japan, transportation officials said. There were no injuries reported. The Boeing 777-200 plane, flying from Singapore to Nagoya, reported the engine trouble about 30 minutes before arriving, said Yasuki Shigeno, a Transport Ministry official at the Central Japan International Airport. The plane landed with only one engine operating, but none of the 210 passengers and crew members was injured, and there was no damage to the plane, Shigeno said. Airline officials were investigating the cause of the trouble and were to report to the Transport Ministry, he said. http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=7626246

Nice Naim, But no Astro service where I'm at. But I'll see if I can catch it on the History Channel here. I love dogfights... 'No Kill Like A Gun's Kill'

Really? I'm intrigued... Can you justify your comments please?

It's called a spoiler/speedbrake... depending on usage.

Not if the Caravan's being used as a dirty bomb. A nuclear/chemical device exploding at 10,000ft will definitely make the headlines, regardless of the location. KL may not be within the blast radius but will feel the aftermath as the contaminated air starts drifting north. I think I've watch too many hollywood movies.

News article only mentioned that Koh Samui ATC warned its Malaysian counterpart about the intrusion. Nowhere else does it suggest that RMAF had been informed or RMAF picked the aircraft up on radar. If the Cessna pilot was ignoring warnings from the Thai ATC, there's a high possiblity that he wasnt talking to the Malaysians too. Anyway, no one implied that RMAF wasn't aware. We were just asking the question.

Not if you present yourself properly... I think that as long as you dress up smartly, act confident and speak reasonable english, then you shouldn't get asked more questions than usual by the immigration people. At least this works in LHR. Don't know about elsewhere.

Have you guys ever wondered that maybe the RMAF wasnt even aware of this rogue little Cessna flying over their airspace until they read it in the news? Hence, Mr Chan playing down the incident...

Both LHR and LGW are equally far from my house but LGW is easier to get to as I can use the motorway.Personally, I also prefer LGW... it looks newer and doesn't make me feel like I'm in some third world country airport. I believe customer service people aren't allowed to hang up until the customer wants to.she must have been in a really really bad mood huh...

The one in Earls Court, London.

Good one!

I believe the pushback truck is under the airport’s authority and therefore fingers will be pointing that way when the blame game starts? This is not a very good time to be driving the new aircraft in the mud.

I have, very recently, booked return tickets to KUL from LHR. The booking officer at my local MAS office told me the airline will definitely not be operating from Gatwick at the moment or the foreseeable future.

Obviously you’ve never heard of drunken passengers in Europe being thrown off flights/arrested because of their aggressive behaviour after being served alcohol. I’m not saying Asians don’t do that as well, but you shouldn’t generalise and say that ‘white men’ are well behaved. The kiasu bug exists in everyone, not just Malaysians or Singaporeans like you’ve erroneously pointed out… If you disagree, maybe you should try working in a multinational company in Singapore or better still, live in an European country. You will realise that everyone is as kiasu as the other; kiasuism is not restricted to race. I hate to say this but your one sided argument regarding kiasuism might have just proved my point about racial bias. Demanding things that are out of the norm is definitely an unacceptable behaviour, but are you suggesting that only ‘locals’ do it? You seriously need to open up your horizons a bit, even though you may be a pilot and have seen more of the world than I have. In one incident, I was due to board a Virgin Atlantic flight which was been delayed for 2 hours due to low visibility at LHR, but this father of a non-Asian family was screaming and shouting at VA staff asking for partial refund due to the stress of having his big family wait in the airport till the weather improves. His point was that if utility companies can charge customers for paying late, then he believed he is entitled to charge the airline for failing to take him to his destination on time… which I though was a brilliant argument. That show kept me entertained until I could finally get on the plane… But anyway, I was just making a comment in response to a relevant subject, based on my own experience… no need to drag other Malaysians or Singaporeans into the picture.

A misconception happens when a person believes in a concept that is objectively false. In this case, as I've mentioned, the preferential treatment is something I have experienced myself, so classifying it as a misconception is definately a mistake. If you think I've misjudged the situation between myself and the cabin crew, then a more appropriate word to describe me would be 'perasan'.

The pilot seemed to have left the cockpit real quick though... I wonder how he managed to find time to transmit that 'knock it off' message before he punched out...

As much as I dislike most service based industry in Malaysia, I'd have to concur with the news article this time. In my personal opinion, MAS cabin crew are generally friendlier and more helpful than their SIA counterparts... especially in the economy class. Myself and a few of Singaporean friends have experienced racial bias on board SIA flights... You get a feeling that there is some sort of elitist atitude amongst the cabin crew whereby there is preferential treatment against the favour of Asians. However, I cannot comment on the Business/First class service on SIA flights as I havent used it before.