Karnival Johor’96



On the 15th August we saw a flurry of excitement because the day after would be the day for the departure of our little air armada of 13 micro-light aircraft the largest group ever seen in Malaysia. Our destination was Malaysia Technological University (UTM) at Scudai in conjunction with the “Karnival Johor 1996”. For the first time our Batu Pahat group had assembled a wide collection of different types of micro-light such as the GT 500, the Challenger II, Vectors, Quicksilver Mx’s, 4 Sports model from 4B Flying Club, an Aero-chute (Conti brothers) from Australia and some para-gliders Eric Lee and his team. The Karnival would also include demonstration flights, joy rides, static display and workshops.

The organisers for promotion had arranged hand painted batik on a 2-km long cloth with some local artists participating for submission to the Guinness Book of World Records. The carnival was sponsored by the Tourist Promotion Board held it’s 5th year being the biggest in terms of activities and participation. For the foreigners and Singaporean it was an opportunity to sample good local food, try out fruits like durians despite it’s offensive smell or to watch the cultural performances.

That night our air boss Mr. Tay had gathered all the pilots and gave a briefing on our flight plan. The 4B Flying Club Quicksilver Mx’s and that of ours have to stopover at at a place called Benut for re-fuelling owing to their small fuel capacity. The GT500, the Challenger, the Polaris Trike and the Vector could proceed direct to UTM without having to refuel. Fortunately in that morning Chris and I had time to drop in at the University to survey our improvised landing ground.

It was the football field stuck right in the midst of the huge complex; long enough and already clearly marked out and we felt that it should not be of a problem. What we were worried was that the approach to the landing was rather tricky. The path would take us by the hillside with buildings, antennas and descending there were other obstructions, a piling-tower, lamp-posts, trees and the fence before the landing ground. Anyway we were glad that we did observe all that we needed to know for our safe passage in. We then proceeded on to Batu Pahat quite happy and contended.

On the 16th August with Chris as co-pilot, we took off at 0930 hours after our air boss Mr. Tay. We were following our leader as he trekked coastal heading south and the weather had not been that promising. After passing Benut, the weather had worsened with dark clouds building up and coming from Singapore blowing inland. Mr. Tay in his GT500 was ahead and we watched him disappeared into the clouds. We were worried as the dark clouds appeared threatening and we did not want to risk going through. So we avoided by heading out to sea that was on our right. As the threatening dark clouds passed we turned inland to cut across hoping to catch a glimpse of the GT500. The visibility was excellent but “shit” there was no sign of our leader, it appeared that he had evaporated into thin air; so we pressed on hoping for the best. We were over the area of Kampong Kelapa Sawit with the mountain ranges of Gunong Pulai on our right towering up to 2,147 ft.

We were flying at about 1,000 ft and through low-lying clouds when we spotted the North South Highway around Kulai, so banking right we continued our way south. I was flying IFR but not instrument as “I Follow Road”. After a short while we were over lower end of the mountain when we were rewarded before us a spectacular sight of the sprawling University Complex. We circled overhead on look out for our leader but there was no sign of him.

So we decided to go in for a practice or a dummy run over the runway to familiarize ourselves before going in for real. We descended from north over the hillside with buildings and antennas and lined up with the improvised runway, coming in between another building and the piling tower. We then came over some trees, lamp-posts and finally the fence before the threshold appeared. Making a low pass to the other end and climbing again for a “go around”. As we got around we retraced the same flight path leading to the landing. That was over the hillside, the piling tower, the trees, the lamp-posts and the fence. We managed to put her down gently but the ground was wet, soggy and bogged us down. The loose turf was everywhere and some got inside our small clearance left wheel pants and jamming the wheel. We swerved to the left with the wing dropping low almost touching the ground. Fortunately owing to the drag and lost of power, the Challenger up-righted itself in nick of time. The VIP’s including the Manager of DCA Johor, Inche Rahim were at the grandstand watching. I am sure that they had their eye-balls almost bulging out of sockets when they saw the plane tilted dangerously.

Meantime we ourselves were shocked at what happened and later learned that the landing ground was in such a mess because previous day it had rained and the field was used for the game of polo. Just imagine a dozen horses running about chasing a ball, churning up the turf and turning the field into a quagmire. We nervously taxied to where a marshal directed us to the parking area and we shut down for the day. It was un-expectedly a harrowing experience and up to this day we had never forgotten. We were the only ones that got through that morning. In the evening the rest of the group from Benut and Batu Pahat appeared overhead and came in to land one after another. We were allotted to stay at the hostel within the campus. I decided to become a human dobberman to keep watch over my aircraft and pitched my tent beside it.

On the 17th August, the event as described by Paul our spoke person that a total almost 20 micro-light aircraft were exhibited. Some of the aircraft put on flying displays in the morning when the weather condition were fair.

A crowd of spectators were especially thrilled at the aerial performance by the three aero-chutes as they flew in formation, with one proudly towing the Malaysian flag. A graceful flight of the Para-gliders also mesmerised the crowd; it was like a ballet performance in the sky. There had been an accident when an aircraft from 4B flying Club had over-shot the runway and aborted landing by pulling up but could not clear the trees obstacles at other end. It hit the branches and crashed onto the road. Fortunately the pilot and the passenger walked away with minor cuts and bruises.

The heavy rain in the afternoon caused the cancellation of most of the flying activities that had been planned. Datuk Wira Mohd Ali bin Mohd Rustam, the deputy Minister of Transport arrived at 1500 hours and declared the Air Carnival open. A number of aircraft taxied pass the VIP Grand stand in salute.


Micro-light on display at the UTM, Scudai

Interviewed by Datuk Ali Rustam (From left is 3rd) 4th is Inche Rahim.

On the 18th August as in the past two days, hordes of people came to view the micro-light that were on display. Some of the University graduates dressed in their graduation attire came to pose at our aircraft for photo-shoot.



Aerochute flying over UTM, Scudai displaying Malaysia flag

At about 1630 hours we were preparing for our departure, some especially the Mx’s would have to stop-over at Benut for refueling purposes but the rest would fly direct to Batu Pahat.

I had started my engine warming it up whilst waiting in queue for my turn. The Mx’s before us took off one after another and headed north for Benut. I had a passenger I forgotten his name. Anyway when our turn came up I pushed the throttle forward to full power. The Challenger II begun it’s run gradually gathering momentum, however the ground was wet and soggy and had many pockets of water. As we ran over, it impeded our acceleration owing to the drag. It was frightening having run more then half the field creating many sprays and still no lift. The fence ahead of me grew larger and larger as I sped towards it. Somehow I sense I could not make it and so I aborted the take-off by shutting down the engine. I managed to swerve to portside in time to avoid crashing into the fence. I slowly taxied back to the starting point and reluctantly disembarked my passenger.

Without that extra weight it would be less drag and I was sure the chances of lift was more likely. Finally at 1730 hours I took off after a long run and just managed to clear the fence. I flew west along the Pulai mountain range towards the catchment area. The aerial view of it was fantastic, very beautiful and I headed for the coast flying over Pekan Nanas towards Pontian. The two nights roughing out in the tent had been rather taxing and suffered backaches and lack of sleep. The sleeping bag did help to cushion but apparently not enough for the ground was hard and uncomfortable. Anyway I was glad that it was over and I was on my way back to base. I was alone and overhead Benut with the comforting sound of my engine assuring reliability. The monotonous rhythm was so soothing to my ears that I was drifting to slumber land. Suddenly I realized the danger that I was dozing off and gave my face a tight slap to awaken me. Then I kept myself occupied by singing some songs to keep alert. That paid off and soon I was approaching Senggerang and beyond that our base Tanjong Laboh. Upon arrival at Tanjong Laboh I circled overhead as usual to announce my presence before coming in to land at Runway #33. I landed smoothly and taxied slowly to my hanger. The time was 1900 hours and I had taken one hour and thirty minutes.