The Chopper Ride



After school I begun working life hopping from one job to another and for some years been
out of touch with aviation. It was only in 1985 when the opportunity to fly arose, I was
then working for the Singapore Soviet Shipping Company. The company was a joint
venture between the USSR Government and our rubber magnate Dato Ng Kwee Lam
The ship’s owners wanted an aerial photography of their bulk-carrier passing the straits for
advertisement purposes.

I was delighted and upon confirmation set about making arrangements, fixing hire of
helicopter with Heli-Orient Company and engaging a professional photographer Frederick.
The day came, 16th March and I thought what an appropriate present as it happened to fall
on my birthday.

Frederick picked me up first and then we proceeded to Seletar Airbase, where our colleague
Francis Lim joined us. After security check at the guard house we went to the hanger, where stood a Bell Jet ranger helicopter all set and ready to go. The portside sliding door removed for purpose of photography. We met our pilot, Capt. Patrick Tan who gave us a Pre-flight briefing and in case of emergency the use of lifejackets. We got unto the chopper, I sat in the front left seat and Francis sat behind with Frederick the cameraman.

This was the first time I sat in a chopper and was amazed with a magnitude of instruments all
over the place, front panel, sides, below and above our heads. We could see the sky above our heads through the sunroof and the same below at our feet through the Perspex.

As we settled down properly strapped and ready, the pilot started the engine and the rotor
blades started to swirl around slowly at first, then gradually increasing momentum creating
a high pitch whining sound until it reached required rotation speed. By then the sound was deafening and the vibration became more apparent and we had a good shaking-up. As Capt. Tan applied more power, we felt a jolt followed by a feeling of floatation; we realized we were airborne hovering just above the ground.

We moved slowly forward to the center of the field where there was a marker painted in
white forming the letter “H”. Apparently this was the holding area awaiting clearance from
the control tower. After a short while we must have obtained clearance as the chopper begun to ascend, climbing gradually and gaining height over Seletar Island in the Johore Straits. We made 180 degrees “U” turn and headed South for the Straits of Singapore flying over Khatib, Yio Chu Kang. Noticeably at a distance a battery of Bloodhound surface-to-air missiles stood out prominently in immaculate white finishing with contrasting black tips sitting in their respective launching pads all poised and ready to go. Nearby was the tracking module with the radar activated and revolving slowly. The newspapers had reported that they were our guardians of the sky and that gave me the assurance that I could sleep peacefully at night.

Bloodhound S.A.M. on launcher

It was manned by the 170 Squadron of the Singapore Air Defence Artillery and became fully operational in the year 1974. They provided the missile shield as a second line of air defense should the enemy be able to penetrate our first line fighter interceptor screen equipped with Hawker Hunters FGA9. The high-level defense system had an exceptional range of 50 miles.

Over Mandai catchment area we saw some golfers exercising their skills in the blazing morning sun. The Mandai forest reserve covered quite an area with an impressive canopy of gigantic trees that spread like a huge green carpet surrounding the reservoir. The Radio Tower on the top of Bukit Timah hill was conspicuous as it stands on the highest point of the island at 166 metre. As we approached Clementi area I got excited as I searched to spot my block, the canal that ran besides Pandan Gardens looked flooded with the banks almost overflowing. I noticed my block at the far end of Teban Gardens and felt extremely rewarded
by this lovely sight. It was fantastic especially looking down from above for the first time and everything seemed to have shrunk like a miniature town set.

We flew over the Caltex Oil Refinery, cramped with a lot of storage tanks and headed
towards sea. Overhead the western part of Singapore we could however see a distance up to
Kukup Island just off the western coast of mainland Johore. Below us many vessel riding
anchor at West Jurong Anchorage within the boundary and safe waters of the Port. A little
further out we saw some vessels sailing pass, keeping to the two-way Traffic Separation
Scheme of North and South bound. It was obviously a very busy and congested water- way.
At our altitude I found it difficult to identify the vessel. We tried to communicate by VHF
radio on the marine channel but of no avail.

We had no alternative but to descend lower and check out each vessel. Finally we flew pass
Sultan Shoal Lighthouse towards eastern part of Singapore. Incidentally we spotted a large bulk-carrier sailing eastward; it appears to fit our specification of having twin-funnel. So to check it out we descended still lower until we could read out the vessel’s name at the stern as the “Aleksandr Matrosov”.

By then the ship’s officers had gathered at the portside bridge-wing and began waving and
we acknowledged by waving back. Our photographer Federick wasted no time and
immediately began to shoot as many shots at different angles. The bulk-carrier had unusual cargo on deck, there were two large sea-going hydrofoil passenger boats plus 4 other smaller ones. All were being secured down by lashing.

We circled several times for Frederick to shoot away with his Mamiya camera until he was
satisfied. He was seated on the open-side, being exposed to take advantage of un-restricted
view. For safety measures he was strapped to a monkey-harness secured to his seat.
I lost count of how many circles we made in order to get a good shot.

Finally the job was done and as we broke away, waved “Farewell” to the ship’s crew;
ascending slowly we made our exit gracefully. We flew towards Pasir Panjang where we saw our Fish Factory ship named “Sulak” had berth alongside the wharf for loading of ship’s
stores. We flew towards West Coast, Pandan Reservoir and steadily retracing our route back to Seletar.

Overhead Bukit Timah Turf Club we saw horses galloping furiously for the entertainment of
a multitude of fortune seekers. At Ang Mo Kio we noted that the MRT still under
construction with the workers busily going about with their activities. Nearing Seletar airbase we could see from a distance 2 light planes flying in circuit pattern over the airfield

In the cock-pit of the Bell Jet Ranger helicopter

Our pilot was again busy talking to the Tower before coming in for landing, descending gradually and lining up with the runway for the Finals. Keeping to the centerline we could see the Runway marking reading # 03 conspicuous in immaculate white, just after the black and white quartering piano keys.

We paused for a short moment allowing a small aircraft to taxi before we crossed over to
our hanger. Some golfers near by had to abandon their activities as the down draught was
stirring up a lot of the dust, creating a temporary nuisance and sending them racing for cover.

Finally we hover in front of our hanger before Capt. Tan put her down gently and safely.
We emerged from the helicopter feeling happy and contented of having accomplished a
successful mission. It had somewhat rekindled the spark inside which over the years seemed to have slowly flame out.