Hisham Albakri

Phoenix Models will be introducing this one in 1:400 ... gonna get one for myself

ANA's Blue Whale?!? Don't you think Southwest's Seaworld Shamu or Alaska's Salmon are nicer ... I don't know Sandeep, perhaps beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Bro! Coming from you ... I'm not surprised of your choice! You are really a pro-Brit guy You don't like the Tartan Scotland tail?!?

Whilst on the topic of spotting; me and my son Adam went spotting yesterday. I realised that a barricade (removable fence) was placed on the entrance to the road leading up to the hill behind Petronas Even though I could remove the barricade (as it was not that heavy), I decided not to proceed to the hill out of fear! Is this area permanently out of bounds now? We however proceeded to the hill at the Weather Station and spotted loads of take-offs We bumped into Jonathan (well, I think it was Jonathan - recognisable from various photos of him here) and said 'hi' just as when I was about to leave and him arriving.

So which world tail?!? Nalanji, Wunala or Water Dreaming Uncle Hisham wants to know lah

G'day Liam - no new Nalanji?!? Those @#$%&* at QF VH-HYB ... that's the miniature version of the VH-INJ isn't it?!? Happy Boxing Day

As a very biased Malaysian ... I reckon both Wunala and Nalanji are much better as it reflects a unique Australian art ... those of the aboriginals from the Aussie outback ... Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi! ... jeez ... I could feel the rotten eggs being pelted by my fellow Malaysians Anyway, I don't think Yananyi Dreaming is anywhere near both Wunala and Nalanji ... however my all time personal favourite is the VH-OJC, Formula 1, City of Melbourne ... real beauty! I saw this one live in SYD way back in 2002. Sad that QF decided to do away with this livery! By the way Liam, do you know whether QF will repaint any of their existing planes with the Nalanji livery now that VH-EBU is already history? My other personal favourites, apart from MH's Hibiscus and Heliconia and QF's aboriginal series, includes Thai's royal barge series, NZ's LOTR and All Blacks series, SAA's Ndizani and Ansett's Sydney 2000 series in particular VH-INJ. Real beauties

Guys - my apologies if this has been discussed before; but does anyone here knows whether MH's decision to repaint some of their aircrafts to the Hibiscus and Heliconia livery has anything to do or influenced by QF's Wunala and Nalanji (and also Yananyi) Dreaming liveries? Personally, I find the QF's version much nicer than our own MH's. Somehow I have always had this fascination towards the Oz aboriginal paintings.

I always thought I feared the gondola/cable car more than an airplane but my gondola ride with my wife and kids in Queenstown, NZ in June this year was surprisingly ok as compared to my fear during the much more harmless gondola ride from the Tooronga Zoo jetty to the zoo proper in Sydney (December 2003). However, our flight back from AKL in June via Air NZ to SIN was really scary and I consider it to be my worst experience in and airplane About an hour out of AKL whilst cruising along the Tasman Sea towards Oz, the plane encountered (what the pilot described as) an invisible turbulence. The B767-300ER was really shaking and rocking for almost half an hour non-stop This happened just when the FAs were about to serve lunch. The pilot had to instruct all FAs to return to their seats to buckle up and all inflight services were temporarily suspended. All in my family were nervous s#1t except for my youngest son, Anas, who was 3 and a half years then ... he was shouting all the way to his siblings trying to create a conversation. The 6 of us were seated in three A and B seats in a row (forgot the seat numbers though).

Oh ... ok ... thanx for educating me bro

So I take it that the NST article was accurate! Kukup must be close to Tanjung Kupang then!

Excuse my ignorance guys I'm not all that familiar with the geography of JB, but isn't JB the southern most town in Peninsular Malaysia? The attached NST article stated that Tanjong Kupang was sitiuated 48km southwest of JB ... so is Tanjong Kupang a piece of land that belongs to Malaysia/Johor but somehow or rather situated in Singapore (like our KTM land in Singapore)?!? Error right?!?

Apparently the alleged suspect behind the alleged hijacking was the Japanese Red Army. There's a Japanese passenger onboard ... so put one and one together to equal two lah

I still remember this tragedy. I just finished my Standard 6 then, and my dad was supposed to bring the family to Singapore for a holiday about a week or so after the crash. The son of one of the deceased actually joined me in my school as a 1st Former 2 years later in 1979 when I was in Form 2. Although those in my batch knew that this individual's dad passed away during the crash, nobody had the heart to actually discuss this with him. I do bump into this guy once in a while (the latest being 2 weeks ago) but definitely no reminders whatsoever at all of this particular tragedy. A truly sad day, Al-fatihah!

I know for a fact that Lauda double caters from KUL for their flights from KUL to Australia and back to KUL. I was advised so by Lauda's reservation personnel in KL when I flew return to MEL in 2002 and to SYD in 2003. On both occasions I requested for Muslim meal but was advised that meals onboard Lauda are halal as all meals into and out of Australia are catered from Malaysian caterers in KL. I'm not so sure of the VIE sector though, and also now that Lauda's operations into and out of KUL are taken over by Austrian. The lasagne I had for dinner on the SYD to KUL flight in 2003 was indeed delicious and hard to imagine that it was cooked by Malaysians Apparently, meals served onboard KLM in the KUL to AMS sector is also halal. During my flight in April this year, I requested for Muslim meal but was served the normal meal onboard. When I queried, the FA replied, "Sir, meals served out of Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur are all 'ayay'!" It took me a while to figure out that 'ayay' was actually 'halal'

Why not?!?

My 2 sen ... even if half of the story in the email is indeed true, then perhaps our beloved Malaysia Airlines is indeed doomed! However, looking at it on the bright side, and taking a cue from Ansett's demise a few years ago, the price of Malaysia Airlines souvenirs could also go up in the near future ... $$$

I just would like to share with you guys some of my own personal unique experience when it comes to airline meals. 1. ADL to SIN on a Qantas B747-200 in November 1983 - I requested for Kosher meal (for those who don't know, this meal is considered 'halal' for those from the Jewish faith). Each meal that was served will come with a standard card that contains specific "do's and don'ts" reminder for a Jew whenever they are away from their familiar surroundings. Amongst the "don'ts" were "Do not forget to read the Torah everyday!" I find this kinda unique ... 2. MEL to SIN on a Qantas B747-300 in November 1985 - I requested for Muslim meal. During the flight, both me and my girlfriend (now my wife ) were served a meal that was suitable for those from Islam and Hindu faith. Eliminate all those that Muslim and Hindus cannot eat and we ended up with alfafa sprout sandwich for 'refreshments' before landing at Changi ... and compare this with the juicy looking turkey and ham sandwich the guy sitting next to us was having! Argh!!! 3. AMS to KUL on a KLM B747-400 in April 2005 - again, I requested for Muslim meal. During the main meal, the utensils that were provided to me and my sister (who was travelling with me and also requested Muslim meal) were the normal stainless steel ones with the exception of the cutting knife, which was made of plastic! What was KLM thinking of ... muslims with plastic knives on an airplane, dangerous combo huh?!? ... any comments Pieter?!?

I was 1 of the 7 in Pelangi Air's 19 seater Dornier during a flight from KL to Kerteh way back in 1993 or 1994. As for a wide-bodied aircraft, the Qantas B747-200 that I took from ADL to SIN in late November 1983 was only approximately half full in Economy, and almost one third of those in Economy were Malaysian (and a handful of Singaporean) students going back home for our summer holidays. Those were the time when Qantas had an all B747 fleet. This particular route was changed (I believe) by Qantas to a B767 when B767s were introduced to Qantas' routes around about 1985/6/7. This was the one and only time I took a Qantas B747-200 from ADL to SIN as I subsequently transferred to Melbourne in February 1984.

I'm kinda used to the kelate pronounciation ... but it has to be uttered by a kelantanese, else, geli le ... Btw, I'm not a kelantanese, it so happened I married one Hey! Let's stick to the original topic le!

Uncle?!? Please lah!!! When I first met Fendy last Sunday (did some swapping for his MasKargo/Air Atlanta safety cards) ... I really, really, really felt old! So much so, sampai tersasul when I told my 9-year-old son Adam to "give the magazine to the Uncle" ... "Uncle" here was meant to be Fendy ... sorry Fendy Don't you think 'Abang Hisham' sounds more manja or perhaps 'Abe Ishe' as how my wife's siblings calls me

Yeah, a bit off-topic too on my part ... perhaps it's my age that's catching up with me! I'll be 40 in less than 2 weeks, and if you follow the islamic calendar, I'm already 41+ now, with white/grey hair some more! ... but I agree with you, nothing beats the 80s ... best years of my life; late teens and early 20s

Lucky ... you bet! Back in the 1980s, even MH flights to MEL and SYD were served by the same plane; i.e. from KUL to MEL and the continue to SYD. There were only 3 or 4 flights per week to MEL and SYD then. Always pack full like sardines in cans. I had the pleasure to fly on both 9M-MHI and 9M-MHJ then; a real pity these 2 classic B747-200s are no longer with us! Students then also had the option of flying on Lufthansa's B747-200 from SYD and MEL to KUL, but unfortunately, I didn't have the pleasure then to fly on LH. Also, QF's flights from ADL to SIN were served by B747-200, unlike B767 today (or are they using the A330?). My biggest regret during my time in Oz in the 1980s was that I didn't get the chance to fly on Ansett. Now I'm really feeling old ... talking about the good old 1980s ...

My first ever flight on a jumbo was on a BA B747-200 in January 1983. The flight took me and a few other Petronas scholars from KUL to MEL via SIN and SYD. The stewardesses on BA were really old then - about late 40s to early 50s ... I reckon my mum was younger then I then took a connecting flight on Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) (later changed it's name to Australian Airlines - gone bust now and bought over by Qantas in the early 1990s) from MEL to ADL on a DC9. I also had the pleasure to fly on a QF B747-300 on it's 300 series inaugural flight from MEL to SIN via SYD in November 1984. The QF plane then flew on to LHR via BOM (or a middle eastern airport - can't recall). I recall seeing some of the older stewards going panicky not knowing how to use some of the new equipments on board. My connecting flight from SIN to KUL was on a MH A300. Ahh ... those were the days - classic planes now! Also a relief to finally shoot out my first ever posting on MW!