We Fly Again

Hello and welcome to another episode of "Planes On Rooftops" again.

Now as you know at SPAVC, we all derive certain pleasure from seeing planes fly around in circles and watch as hapless trainee pilots attempt to effect a proper landing of their dinky Depron planes that will never happen in this century or the next. We all laugh in the face of these frankly useless pilots and dream of one day shredding their planes with our mighty ducted-fan, eleventy-million horsepower RC fighter jets.

But one thing we desire the most is to watch the guy on the ground, holding his controller uselessly and watching in dismay as his plane flies overheard, behind a building and lands spectacularly on the rooftop where no man has ever gone before.

See, it's easy to fly a plane but quite another thing to handle it precisely. And that is what Alex precisely forgot how to do when he landed his "flying wing" (we have no idea what to call it) atop the sports stadium complex's roof and had to climb all over the place to get at it. Nothing would get between him and his beloved aircraft so he effected a daring rescue in broad daylight which earned him cheers and praise all round. He climbed over the parapet wall, walked gingerly on the roof (lest it broke and he fell through and died. It's okay, we have hot glue.) and saved the plane from death.

Nevertheless the freshies had their fun taking turns at the controls of the orange (and plastic) B-2 Spirit. Of course, Alex and Yiming were on hand to save the day should any of those intrepid pilots take a nosedive and spectacularly obliterate that multimillion-cent plane.

And here be pictures...

Names, Schmanes

As you can see from the just-closed poll that many readers and viewers have favored the name "SPAVC Red Warriors" over "SPAVC Black Knights". 

Owing to the way things are done in club there will still be much discussion over the names, which will then become an argument and then finally degenerate into an all-out fistfight over who should name the team what. 

Nevertheless an overwhelming number of you chose 'Red Warriors and we thank you for taking time out to do our little survey.

New Post!

Great News!
What?
The blog's back!

Would have been back earlier, if not for our imbecilic blog administrator dragging his leaden feet and making all of us wait. Remind us to shoot him on sight.

Anyway, a quick recap of the week. Bear in mind that we're on the verge of a major event (we're not going supersonic yet, by the way) and all this stuff is leading up to it. First off was our first flight simulator session for the greenhorns. As much as they crashed so much that it made the Battle of Britain look like a passing shower, overall they did brilliantly. After much practice though they managed to fly smoothly, some going a bit further and threw their plane around the screen, which unsurprisingly crashed. But great job guys, you all did superbly for first timers.

Next up, which is tomorrow, we'll probably be having some more simulations to make you greenhorns be less green and horny and probably Alex - our resident genius and pilot extraordinaire - will be teaching you some basic electronics relating to the servos and motors and rubber bands and whatever other gizmos that make a plane fly.

And no post will be complete without some Youtube. And here it is! 3 planes flying over SP over the first time. Not exactly in formation or any particular order because we're still cadets but it's still cool. Watch it!

New Activity!

Stop slacking around, dear members.

Because we're gonna have the first activity after the exams! And speaking of your exams, how have they been? Good? Rubbish? Remember to tell you parents your marks, we don't want to be inundated with calls asking us how come their son/daughter have been spending on CCA but not on studies. You have been warned.


Anyway to cut to the chase, there will be a CCA session tomorrow, 2nd of July at 1530-1800. There will be flight simulator training and some more interesting stuff to look forward to. Do meet at FC5218 which is where our clubroom is located.

Bring along yourselves, an adventurous mindset and a healthy dose of fun pills. We shall not hesitate to feed you into our propellers should any of these rules be broken.

Above All

Ever look up at the skies during National Day and wonder where had all the fighters gone? Those sleek, majestic machines, every bit as polished as a Formula 1 car, screaming across the sky and enthralling all in their very supersonic wake. Well this year, they're going to make a comeback. In all their livery. The Black Knights will come back to makes the crowds p*** their pants with their spectacular maneuvers. Dips and dives and rolls and spins, such maneuvers are testament to the efforts these brave men who have put in so much to bring out the very essence in aerobatics.

Which isn't to say we can't be like them. We've some highly qualified pilots around here so we're not that short on talent. Problem is, we're short on planes. And that's where our new Extra 300s come in. Of course they're not as big as the actual F-16s used in that aerial ballet you see. They aren't even real Extra 300s to begin with.

They're made out of foam! Depron, to be exact. And 10 of us Chosen Ones be flying them during our very own National Day in SP. The school however isn't exactly organising things the way we'd like to be so we're making this happen on our own accord.

It isn't easy, this. We've got plenty to learn, not least of which is coordinated formation flying. Anyone who has had to privilege of seeing any of us fly know that our flights end mostly in losing control and crashing sensationally in a shower of Depron and servos. So that's one area we need to improve on if we want to deliver a show worthy of its weight.

Bring on the afterburners.

MST

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.


No duh.


But all play and no work makes Jack even more of a idiot.


As such, SPAVC wishes all our members who are mugging hard for their Mid-Semester Exams GOOD LUCK and we do sincerely wish you score well for these important examinations so that you may advance with the speed of the wind and tenacity of a typhoon in your course.








P.S. If your name ain't Jack then it don't apply.

SPAVC Freshmen Welcoming Camp

Take a look at that picture and tell us you wouldn't like to be part of our fantastic group which over 2D1N's worth of fun and games have bonded into a dynamic and highly motivated group.


Tell us you'd rather have your face painted bright pink with sunflowers and rosebud petals in your hair.

Tell us that you'd rather join SP Drifters.

You wuss.


So then...exactly what is so fun about a group of aviation-crazed guys and gals coming together for a camp? Well for starters, we had something called fun. And fun is what happened...

The first day was especially for ExCos and seniors to bond with each other (Ed: Gay romps in the clubroom are not counted. You know who you are.) and it was spectacularly exciting in every sense of the word. Our secretary's face got painted by Glendon, who busied himself in "face art" i.e. dabbing splotches of black camo paint on any face he could find. He was especially cruel to our secretary who bore the full brunt of his "talent" and who was subsequently the brunt of our jokes (all together now: Yiming is a/The Joker...). We played several games like Trust Fall and something which involved moving a stack of cups from point to point without demolishing them. Some pictures to prove our point that ExCos are not boring...

Multiracial family. There's Gopal on the left, Ahmad on the right, and some random Chinese guy...

Let's all stop laughing at our secretary. We mean it. (Ed: This isn't the worst picture. I have another.)

Gentlemen, start stacking

Armageddon is brought forward a couple of years


Lina turns a blind eye to everyone...


...but doesn't mind a boogie with the woogie.



* * * *

The second day started off with a bang for everyone involved. The realization of the camp actually starting hit everyone hard and we all psyched ourselves as best as we could, ready to face the challenges that they day had in store for us. 16 of you freshmen arrived and everyone did their best to make them feel welcome. As much as we would have liked to give you guys a warm and fuzzy welcome to the camp, it is unfortunately not in our veins. So we decided to shake things up a bit by making them sit on each other and also do the caterpillar. No butts were harmed in the making of this game...

We hate to mention it, but Glendon and Wai Siong look like they're having fun

More "sit-on-me!" looks

This water is really, really cold. Kai Yi's face says it all.

We know a caterpillar has more than a few pairs of legs, but this is ridiculous

Edwin does the smart thing by directing everyone. He got it in the end.

Have you ever felt like the hair on your body was being ripped from its roots? Well actually that was exactly what happened to several unfortunate people while playing this game that involved saying your name while at the same time performing a series of claps in tandem. Get your timing wrong and get your hair pulled off. Problem is, it's not your head or facial hair: it's your legs that suffer. We'll spare you the gory details and instead let you focus on the pictures taken of these victims of torture and abuse. And they say females make better beauticians. Ta.

Clapping hands belie the torture awaiting those legs

Those faces look worried

Self-explanatory. Oh the humanity!

A freshie's leg getting ready to be landscaped.

Hmm...Alex's or that poor freshman's?

Alex relishes the thought of having his manly strands being forcibly removed

After we had finished, well gardening, we made our way to have fun with some more activities before heading for our Amazing Race. Exciting bit that, with many teams doing their best to race to the next station before the others caught up. It went relatively smoothly and all the teams had a great time - either having fun with ketchup or trying to shoot beans onto aluminium plates at the different stations. It was all thanks to Lina and Wai Siong, who did their best to keep everything running smoothly and properly. Though the game progressed with some hiccups, they managed to tide it over. Good on them!

With the race ended, it was time for some nightlife after dinner. Not exactly bartop dancing stripper stuff, more of the scare-me-silly kind that only a Night Walk can give. The freshmen were made to watch the film Shutter, which was obviously meant to scare the s*** out of them before sending them out. And effective it was too. We name no-one but some of us did hear loud screams and cries of HELP MEEEEEEEEEE from the frightened fellas whom we sent out. Either they were really frightened or it was from someplace else...bwahaha.

* * * *

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and the third day was there for that exact reason. But Aviation Club being Aviation Club, we won't end such a fun day without something really exciting. And that's where the War Games came in. Waterbombs flew, people (and cameras) got hit, a security guard came by and a van got blasted by blue, yellow, green, orange and red waterbombs. What more fun could you possibly, possibly ask for?

Devious masterminds masquerading as Yi Wen and Wai Siong

"...Bomb bay doors are open, we have a clear target"

"I can't believe I'm holding a blue bomb. Like, spiffy, dude."

Yu Ren gets intercepted by a gang of black-clad men, intent on stealing his playtoy

"Mr President, your balloon is in danger"

As the camp drew to a close, we had a closing ceremony for the freshmen, where they were presented their parting gifts in the form of the camp t-shirt, a bright orange affair with "SP Aviation Club '08" printed on the back in stylised form, and where some of them received awards for the Best Glider and Most Good-Looking Glider. Eh, prizes damn good okay. Got potato chips and plane wheels and Milo packets. Don't say we didn't treat you well...

El Presidente presenting some cereal to an unsuspecting soul

El Presidente presenting some crackers to an unsuspecting soul

Pretty much sums up everything: planes, t-shirts and beautiful girls

And hence drew to a close the first ever Freshman Orientation camp ever properly held by SP Aviation Club. Everyone indeed had fun and made some new friends during the course of this camp, and those who already knew each other before the camp got to know a little bit more. No doubt some screwups happened and they affected the course of the camp somewhat, but in the end they were corrected and everything was normal again. In the future, we shall be more prepared, to bring you guys a better oiled and slicker camp, and we hope that we shall see all of you soon again.


SPAVC FOREVER!