MalaysianWings moving into the 2nd Year

[Gavin Andrew David 6]

Dearest members .

 

Thanks alot for your most wonderful contributions to this forum , without which , there would be no forum at all . Hope that this has been a comfortable place for you guys to ' chill ' and talk about aviation and I hope that you guys continue to enjoy it .

 

Gavin Andrew David

MalaysianWings Administrator

[Kelvin B 0]

Dear Member No.:1,

We have to thank you and your entire team for making this website possible for us...! its been great, keep up the good work

 

[Sneeze Lam 0]

Thanks everyone in the forum, you have brought to me happy time throught the internet here in HKG.

Thanks to all of your kindness to me and enjoying of my photos and speeches.

 

Funny, Open minded, Freedom of speech and postage are the most attracting factors making the forum success, so please keep them work well.

 

Hope more and more people around the world will going to celebrate for the 2nd birthday of MWing, as well as more and more people from to world to meet in KUL for the gathering party.

[S V Choong 4]

Thanks Gavin, it has been a wonderful year and indeed MalaysianWings is a comfortable place. Also many thanks to other founding members like Fendy and Uncle Pieter!

[Min Chun 0]

Enjoy here so much as I registered a year ago when MalaysianWings was still a newly launched forum!

I joined MalaysianWings when it was just the 9th day after 'birth' was given~

Long Live MalaysianWings!

 

 

Edited June 25, 2006 by Min Chun

[BC Tam 2]

..... Thanks alot for your most wonderful contributions to this forum , without which , there would be no forum at all .....

And without you bunch of chaps, there will definately be no forum either !!

Thanks a zillion again for the effort

[Nizam 0]

I really enjoy here ...

 

Before this, I look like someone who trap inside another world because not sure whether there is anybody has interest like me ..

 

Finally, I'm glad, I found you all who can share the same interest ..

 

Thanks to Jerry Ang coz introduced MW to me ...

Edited June 25, 2006 by Nizam

[Tamizi Hj Tamby 1]

Congratulations to MW for the 1st anniversary!

 

I would like to extend my gratitude to fellow member Delwin,who introducing me to this website via Friendster.Thanks a lot and all the best in years to come!

 

Cheers to MWings!

[Adrian M 0]

It is been a great year. Thanks to MalaysianWings I get to learn a lot more about aviation, cameras, photoshooting tips, DSLR info, got the chance to meet pilots and become friends which I thought I weren't able to back then..

 

I also had the chance to known lots of spotter friends who share the same interest of talking, spotting planes and have great chats about planes. And to Uncle Pieter who also fellow Fokker-maniac that I really glad to know and know more about KLM cityhopper and AMS.

 

For that, I wish to thank Gavin, his team and other members who make MalaysianWings possible and for making MalaysianWings such a great place to hang out everyday and night. (it's such an addiction!)

 

*Salute!*

[Jerry Ang 0]

A year older, a year wiser!

 

MWings is a great place to be where ppl are open, friendly and helpful! I really love it here, its so far, the best aviation community!

 

To Nizam, im glad that u enjoyed MW. Thanks for the 2 KIA books! Will work hard on it! I wish to thank especially flightsim editors (scenery designers, aircraft repainters, or whoever who contribute in any ways) for giving me the inspiration to further my interest in flightsim. Thanks a billion to those who help me in one way or another, and i wish that we'll continue to lend a helping hand to each other for the benifit of the whole big MW family!

 

Together, lets continue to sail MalaysianWings through the skies till the heavens above! cheeeeeeh....!

 

Panjang umur!

[Delwin A 0]

Happy 1st anniversary to malaysianwings

 

How fast time past by since i first joined mw last year. Many thanks to Nick for introducing me to this website. Since then, this is the website I use to hang around when i'm online most of the time. Its also a pleasure to meet other malaysianwings members who work in various fields such as pilots, engineers, other jobs and also fellow students like me.

 

Cheers

[Tony 1]

It's been great pleasure knowing everyone on MW, people who come from different fields of work & study as well as people who are experts in different areas e.g. photography, sim, FFPs etc.

 

Joined quite a while ago but wasn't active until I re-visited a few months back and noticed big changes and improvement. To all MW crew, well done! I'm impressed!

 

Good thing whilst I'm browsing and posting on MW is "no pressure". And I guess that makes this place a comfy spot for everyone to hang around.

 

Hopefully I'll be able to meet up with you guys when I get back to KUL or if I do visit any other countries you're based out at.

 

One recommendation: Should we start promoting MW to the ladies? I'm sure there are some who are interested in aviation too!

 

Again, huge appreciation to all admin and mods! Thank you!!

[Maarof Kassim 0]

Aeroplanes, Cameras and The Computer.

 

 

When I joined spotting on the 1st Anniversary of Malaysian Wings meeting familiar names like Gavin, Norman, Attan, Jonathan Kong, Edwin Yi, Kelvin Teh, Nizam, Yong, T. Azahan and of course the great Pieter I wondered how I got myself involved in this, something which I never dreamed of until a few months ago. Then I realised the main reason is my love for the three things above namely aeroplanes, cameras and computers. If I only love one or two out of the three then my aeroplane spotting is not complete. I think these loves are also shared among fellow spotters. So I produce this story as my way of sending my Anniversary or Birthday wishes to Malaysian Wings.

 

 

 

1. Aeroplanes.

 

 

I think age wise I am among the oldest of Malaysian Wings members, if not the oldest. I was born during the Malayan Emergency in a kampung (village) situated in a Black Area, as opposed to a White one.

 

 

I remember seeing my first aeroplanes during my pre school days. We called them 'kapalterbang patung' or 'dragonfly planes' because they really looked like the flying insects. Everytime I heard their drones I would be running out of my house to look at them. Then something like rain water would drop from the planes. The drops would become bigger and bigger until I could see what they were. They were not food or medical supplies like now but leaflets.

 

 

These leaflets, just smaller then A4 size were appeals from the then Malayan British led authorities for the communists to surrender themselves. I think the logistics then were not as good as now because the leaflets felled in the wrong places. First of all none of my kampung people were or are communists. Secondly we are all Malays, yet the leaflets were all in Chinese, sometimes with cartoons. Sometimes a bundle containing something like 500 sheets just dropped undisturbed.

 

 

So what did we do with the leaflets? We collected them rather than letting them littering our kampung. These 'surat terbang' fell on the padi fields, rubber plantations and my school paying field. They had their uses too, like covering our text books or simply covering the holes on our wooden house walls. I had a good collection although none of them exist now. I had a competition with my brothers as to who collected the most 'surat terbang'. Unfortunately the 'old newspapers' people were not in business yet, otherwise I would had made a few bucks.

 

 

So the 'dragonfles' kept coming until my area was declared White and the Emergency lifted. These 'dragonflies' would eventually be replaced by the Charlie 130 and Sikorsky S61A or Nuri as they call it. At the same time my love for aeroplanes grew although I never dreamed of becoming pilots like Leech or TK. For young people like Gavin and Kevin Teh if you want to know what the Emergency, White and Black Areas mean look at your history books.

 

 

I was happy when the KLIA was built at Sepang which is quite near to my home. I was at KLIA the very first day they operated. This was followed by numerous trips there mostly to the Observation Hill to watch planes land and depart. At the same time I had my flying experiences too.

 

 

In June 2004 I managed to attend a 6 weeks training stint organised by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Fukuoka, Japan. There is a subway station beneath my hotel and you know what, the subway ends at the airport. I think the journey from the hotel to the airport took only 10 minutes. So with every opportunity I would be at the airport doing the thing I love that is watching planes. For this FUK has a good Observation Deck at the top floor.

 

 

The word 'spotting' was still foreign to me so the only pictures I took were video shots and a film photo of me standing with JAL planes as the back drop. I did see a few occasional spotters but unfortunately I never interact with them. Sometimes on weekends I would be spending the whole day at the airport. There was at least one day when after waking up, praying and having breakfast I went to the airport and was back at the hotel lobby just in time to join my fellow trainees without any of them knowing where I was.

 

 

 

 

2. Cameras

 

 

After entering school and given books I began to admire pictures and really dreamed of taking them myself. So it was no surprise when the first thing I bought after working was a camera. My first model was the Yashica J, a rangefinder they called it and a manual in every sense. Eventually the Yashica brand became Kyocera and I think they are extinct now.

 

 

Of course a camera is not complete unless it is a SLR. I used to buy 'Life' magazine which is now extinct too. The magazine contained lots and lots of pictures. I was captured by the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic advertisements. What more, my favourite pop group The Beatles used them. I think they got them free as a promotional gimmick. So I bought a Pentax SLR, a manual one at first followed by an auto one. By that time the name 'Asahi' was already dropped, a marketing strategy I think. My Pentaxes had served me well. I would have gone for Pentax digital cameras if not for the reasons I will tell later.

 

 

As Capt. Radzi and Norman might tell you SLR cameras started with the screw mount for their interchangeable lenses. Then this clumsy method was changed to the present bayonet mount. Don't think only soldiers use bayonets, we spotters use them too.

 

 

One interesting thing about the Pentax SLR was their mount which was called 'the K mount'. This was a standard mount and used by brands like Ricoh, Chinon, Topcon and Casio. Some of them are now extinct too. An advantage is you don't have to buy your own camera brand's lenses. I use Ricoh zoom lenses for my Pentax. They are cheaper than Pentax own lenses. In fact Pentax have special exclusive and expensive lenses called Takumar something like what we have as Carl Zeiss now. Top brands like Nikon, Canon and Minolta use their own mounts, like now.

 

 

When the digital revolution came I was a bit slow because I still trusted the 35 mm film. I was a bit disappointed too that Pentax was and is not in the forefront of the digital cameras. In the film category they were at par with Canon and friends. So my choice was a Sony Cybershot mainly because there is a service centre in my town. By that time too I was already having a Sony videocam too.

 

 

Just like the film version a digital camera is not complete without the SLR. So I had to upgrade my digicam to a DSLR as they call it. So I bought this Canon and it is now my loyal plane spotting partner. Please don't ask me why I chose to be a Jedi instead of a Sith Lord.

 

 

 

3. The computer

 

 

I began using the computer when Windows was not born yet and Wordstar, dBase and Lotus 123 were kings of the day. The moment I touched a computer I fell in love with it and I have never stopped loving it until now. But I am still new to the email, chatting and forum things. Sometimes I chided my children for chatting on the net as a waste of time. But this changed when I was sent to Japan.

 

 

In Japan I realised that the cheapest way of communicating with members of my family was through the email. Since I never had an email account I created one there. In Fukuoka there is one place called The Rainbow Plaza. As some of you might know here foreigners are given free internet access limited to one hour per person per day. So beside my airport stints I must spend one hour every day at this place. One day I sent an email to a friend and he replied 'where are the fotos?' I told him that I haven't learnt this yet.

 

 

My involvement with Malaysian Wings started when I found Airliners.net. The shots really amazed me so I told myself why not make make my very own airliners foto collection. So I went to KLIA again although this time not only to watch planes but to 'shoot' them. It was at KLIA that at first I met Chaity and then TK and they were the ones that told me about Malaysian Wings. Thank you very much, both of you.

 

 

So my life is never the same now thanks to Malaysian Wings. I learned many things here and I hope to continue learning. Somebody told me the day you stop learning is the day you want to die. I hope that's a long way from now.

 

 

Bye.

 

 

[S V Choong 4]

Interesting story there Maarof

 

In June 2004 I managed to attend a 6 weeks training stint organised by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Fukuoka, Japan. There is a subway station beneath my hotel and you know what, the subway ends at the airport.

 

If memory serves me well, there is a long walk from the Fukuoka Airport Station up to the international terminal. Fukuoka also has an outlook balcony area where spotters will shoot like machine guns.

[Maarof Kassim 0]

Interesting story there Maarof

 

 

 

If memory serves me well, there is a long walk from the Fukuoka Airport Station up to the international terminal. Fukuoka also has an outlook balcony area where spotters will shoot like machine guns.

 

 

 

Now you don't have to walk because they provide a free shuttle bus service from the domestic terminal (where the subway station is) to the international terminal. Yes, spotters can shoot like machine guns on the Observation Decks of both terminals.

 

 

[Edwin P K 0]

Maarof,

 

Great story that you have written there, it was great to imagine what its' like to be in your shoes during that time. I'd be great if you still have those 'surat terbang' so that the younger generations can have a look.

 

Ya know what, those 3 things that you mentioned, aeroplanes, photography, and computers, are totally spot on. Took the words out of my mouth. When my little interest in aviation started, I begun to google for more information especially on the Malaysian aviation. Google brought me to this group of aviation fans, and since then, I had never actually looked back. It seems that it's a daily routine to visit this site, I even have it as a quick bookmark on my Firefox browser.

 

This forum, eventually, led me to buy my first Prosumer camera. The pictures that are shared by all members have inspired me to take my own spotting pics. I am still very excited about this weekend's spotting plans that I have lined up myself. I have even declined my friend's meeting this saturday, just to go and spot my first plane with my new camera.

 

All in all, this forum is fantastic. The people have made it a great forum, and this is actually the first forum that I have joined that required users to use their actual name...hehe

 

Anyway, moving forward, cheers to year 2 of MW!

[Pieter C. 5]

Thanks Gavin, it has been a wonderful year and indeed MalaysianWings is a comfortable place. Also many thanks to other founding members like Fendy and Uncle Pieter!

 

Thanks...all the fantastic members make this site a worthwile place to be; it's all about sharing, whether it be pilot stories, pictures and/or knowledge...

 

Let's keep up the good work together !!!