Monday, August 13, 2007
Monday comes something really exciting that we have all been looking forward to! Today we were having Helicopter raining, and it was very fun! It is my first time riding in a helicopter and training as if it was a real wartime activation. The helicopter we were going to ride today is a Super Puma AS-332.
Imagine a a 4 blade rotor chopping 1 meter above your head, a small screaming engine behind you and rock solid ground 3000 feet below you. What really made that impression were the screaming engines, and the heat from the engine exhaust, just being several metres away, you will be greeted by a blast of heated air and imagine 2 crazed women screaming at the top of their lungs beside your ears, that's what a helicopter's engines sound like.
We were finally seated down and belted down and all our equipment and gear secured, the puma lifted off effortlessly, I didn't even feel the acceleration, and by the time we knew it, we were staring at the ground several thousand feet away. And I spent the time staring at the lush landscape passing us below throughout the 12 min ride.
The Aircrew specialist that attended to us displayed negative attitude, but I couldn’t blame him, imagine doing this everyday day in and day out, you’re bound to get bored and frustrated. Yeah, the first few times can be a very interesting experience, but as a long-time career, you’re bound to get bored and irritated.
When we landed, everyone was never so serious before, I never felt so serious before and I helped to unload all the equipment off the helicopter in the fastest possible time. It was like a real war, with our battle-orders, life-vests and goggles, I felt like I was in a movie like "Black Hawk Down" and the down-force of the helicopter rotor-wash was really immensely powerful, blowing sand-particles everywhere in a maelstrom of sand.
Then when the helicopter lifted off, the blast of air was so powerful I was literally blown back. As the IC, I was the last one to de-bus the helicopter and the helicopter lifted off a mere meter or two away from me! Very exciting experience in a blast of wind, sand and engine exhaust heat.
We deployed, then hung around waiting for the next helicopter to pick us up at night, and we deployed many cyalume sticks so that the helicopter could see us and when it did, it was another smooth eventful 12-min ride back to the base, where we could see all the lights lighting up the Singapore's skyline and all the cars running about through the expressways. The whole of Singapore looks like one big living creature with every spot of light a cell and all the cars on the expressways and roads very similar to that of blood cells hurrying through blood vessels. Singapore looked so alive at night with all that activity.
It was totally like a war-time experience. Very exciting, and a very memorable experience.
2:32 AM
