Jimz

It's gonna be an exciting June. USAF coming with the Raptors.

Hi all, been following as a silent reader all this while and finally feel the urge to share a lil bit. It’s not an air defence unit jurisdiction to control air traffic. Should they need to respond to every unidentified blips then we’ll be having fighters scrambling every minute for interception. As lame as an analogy could be but shall we consider this? A kid on his way to school. Somewhere along the way he changed clothes and diverted elsewhere. Well the parents obviously thought that their child is at school not until the teacher calls home asking the parents where their child is. Culprit 1 – Parents Not monitoring their child movement. Culprit 2 – Teachers Not/late informing the parents/police/whoever of the child not coming to school. Culprit 3 – Police For not ensuring that the child goes straight to school. Culprit 4 – The child Either he acted on his own or he got a friend waiting at a junction or worst, was kidnapped on his way to school Anybody can judge and blame any of the culprits. With regards to our situation right now, CULPRIT 3 is public enemy no. 1. It’s easy for us, a bystander at the roadside to point fingers demanding explanation. A kid walking on the street wouldn’t raise any suspicion to the police on his patrolling round. Likewise, an anonymous airliner flying in the airways will not trigger the red button not unless it is observed to be diverting going straight to klcc or the kl tower. Being the guy in the air defence radar room, he obviously was not in the know of the flight plan of these aircrafts simply because those are not the thing that’s required off him to know. An air defence radar as the name imply monitor threats coming from the outside or any pop-up unidentified tracks. Primary radar sees hundreds of blips on real time as long as an element produce a significant radar return. Air defence and air traffic control is two different business altogether. An unidentified blip originating from a known track flying steadily on an airways in a non-suspicious manner wouldn’t warrant the red button being triggered. Yes, could have been better should the radar operator picked up his phone and call the ATC to reconfirm, as in the school kid scenario where the police on patrol could have stopped and asked the kid of his intention. But on a street where there are hundreds of kids walking, how on earth could he know which kid is which not unless he saw one running around wielding parang or one pedaling his bicycle ramming straight into their patrol car! Even so, an abducted kid subdued and dragged in a Myvi would surely pass most prying eyes. Like a security guard in the mall. It’s just not feasible for security guard to interrogate every passers by unless there are clear sign of malice or ulterior intention. Therefore the model (dressing) is important and remains relevant. A guy sporting a balaclava entering a shopping mall or a nice looking lady in a blouse wandering through to the management floor or a report raised of a shoplifting in one of the premises would certainly be off a concern to the security guard rather than an anonymous browsing the stores. VPG after all is just another point on the airways and any aircraft transiting through M765 from Igari to Penang is bound to fly overhead Butterworth. Mind you, the track is not deviating well deep inside the peninsular as failed to be mentioned by various media but merely an incursion in the top North bordering with Thailand on a steady Westerly heading and flying on a stipulated airways. Having said all that, certainly an improvement to the SOP’s of national ATC is required. If i recall correctly even the acting transportation minister did suggested earlier of integrating RMAF officers into the DCA. If only it was done sooner. Not that i’m defending the authorities when they themselves have a lot of other accountability issues. But lets have some respect to those working hard in the effort rather than engage in the endless blaming game. Some information is just beyond our paygrade so lets focus on things that we know rather than speculative assumption. To come to a conclusion that RMAF is sleeping on their job is for me purely immature and speculative.

When the gov bought the Bae Hawks back in the 90's..MAS got more landings in Heathrow as part of the off set perks..IINM..hmm..One would think this latest development fm AFrance have the Rafale's flight plan in it too..oui?

One first need to have an in depth knowledge of the air force operation to be able to look at the big picture of what's goin on and appreciate the current state of our air force. By not seeing an aircraft performing in an airshow doesn't imply to that aircraft being abandon or less worthy. Mind you, airforce business is not about doing aerobatics manouvre in the first place. Sadly enough, given the interest shown by publics on the affairs of the air force some enthusiast still fails to distinguish between the decommissioned skyhawks with the still operational hawks. The air force pilots are channeled to the various types of jets for their operational flying and it certainly doesn't take half of their career life to progress in their piloting career. Like i said earlier on, the workings of RMAF doesn't constitute to climbing on board a MIG or Hornet, or SU30 for that matter as a career progression. These misconception aroused from scant knowledge of air force in terms of career progression, pilots qualification, training, operations..etc Air force being an armed arm of an armed forces can't simply lease their men to other nation as it will create conflict of interest when it comes to security and national's policy but there is such thing as exchange program that is being exercised involving RMAF's personnel with foreign services albeit more towards the training capacity rather than operational. And again contrary to the popular believe, the current pool of pilots do maintained a healthy hours of flying especially for the young wingmen compared to their big brass counterpart. Life in the armed force be it air, naval or land is oftenly associated with hardship and discipline. Screwing and getting screwed, despite all the sugar coated media reports alas military is always a military. Apart from the overly exposed spare parts, maintenance, missing engine issues, the reality remain the same that this lifestyle doesn't appeal enough to current generations of Ipads, BB's, X-Box360 teens whose main aim upon graduation is a promised yuppie life of glamor and flamboyant conspicuous consumption. Nonetheless, be assured that the air force is not in dire state as there are still capable and promising cadre of graduates enticed to join the air force. :-)

they're training for a coming parade to be held in WMKB.

it's a practise.