A taste of Working Life

Inside 'torque box'.

Change Hangar and Line again,we have been changing from one place to the other for 2 times already . Now I am at MAS hangar 3 Line 8 , currently there is a third party aircraft with the registration num G-MKBA which is belongs to MK airlines in UK .



MK Airlines is a cargo airline registered in the United Kingdom and providing worldwide freight operations. Its main base is Ostend-Bruges International Airport, Belgium, with hubs at Luxembourg-Findel International Airport, Kent International Airport, Kotoka International Airport, Accra and OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg.[1]. Other routes operated by MK Airlines Ltd include, MFM (Macau), LFW (LOME) and ALA (Alamaty).

It operates services throughout the world linking Africa and the rest of the world. MK Airlines' Commercial, Flight and Ground Operations, Technical, Finance and Administration teams are all based at their UK base in Upper Hartfield, East Sussex.

MK Airlines Limited holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.


Aft and Bulk cargo compartment of B747-200.

This aircraft is undergoing C check .I was assigned at Aft Cargo Compartment (from STA1480 )and Bulk cargo Compartment ( till STA2100 ), (ATA Chapter 25 , 53) . Although the place is confined and always hot inside as though you are in a sauna room. Hahaha that means I did sauna for a week ,Non Stop Em emm..

I always equipped myself with barrier cream , latex ,cotton gloves , ear butt , mask before I start work in the morning . The break time is kind of short if I compared to the usual time given in my training school.

In my zone, we need to open the floor panel (hold the floor), remove,install the actuator(control the movement in the cargo container using the automated system) ,remove, install Blanket (the blanket is made from fibre glass which can reduce the weight of the aircraft and protect the wall,floor).


Glossary:
STA=station

AMM=Aircraft Maintenance Manual

C check= This is performed approximately every 12–18 months or a specific amount of actual Flight Hours(FH) as defined by the manufacturer. This maintenance check puts the aircraft out of service and requires plenty of space - usually at a hangar at a maintenance base. The schedule of occurrence has many factors and components as has been described, and thus varies by aircraft category and type.

Aircraft registration num= An aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies an aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile .
G , stand for UK registration. 9M , stand for Malaysia registration.


Blankets already 'sticked onto the metal parts.



Climbed inside the ‘torque box’.

Basic Stew Recipe + Mash Topping

Basic Stew

I stumbled upon a piece of recipe from a book from Jamie Oliver (Ministry of Food ) . The way of cooking is somehow similar with the vegetarian Shepherd Pie (see at the end of the entry).

Here are the ingredients :

2 stick of celery
2 medium onions
2 carrots
2 tomatoes
olive oil
6 tablespoons of tomato puree ( Spaghetti 's sauce also applicable)

Meat:
(Chicken and White wine)
5 stalks of Thyme fresh leaves (from Tesco's vegetable section)
300 g mined Chicken
7 tablespoon of White wine

Instruction:
-Preheat oven to 350 F/180C
-Trim the ends off celery and roughly chop the sticks
-Peel and roughly chop the onions
-Peel carrots, slice lengthways and roughly chop
-Roughly cut tomatoes
-Put a pot on medium heat
-Put all vegetables and your chosen herb into the pan with 2 lugs of olive oil ,fry for 10 minutes.
- Put few grinds of pepper and salt sparingly .
-Add a splash of water if it looks a bit dry .
- Remove the stalks of herbs .

For your mash topping:
2 palm size potatoes
3 tablespoon of butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a sprig of fresh thyme

Instruction:
-Preheat oven to 375F/190C.
-Peel the potatoes ,cut them in half and boil for 10 minutes.
-Drain in colander and return them to the pan.
-Add butter and pinch of salt and pepper.
-Mash until smooth and creamy .

-Roughly top the stew with the mashed potato-don't worry about it being smooth and even .
-Pick a few thyme leaves off the stalk and lightly push into the potato.
-Cook in oven for 25 minutes .

Previously,I have tried

Vegetarian style Shepherd Pie
I have made a vegetarian style of Shepherd Pie from a very simple ingredients .

Baked Mushroom with Mince Meat

I remember once when I watched a TV show , the host was demonstrating the ways to cook some small and easy stuff for teatime .

Here are the ingredients:
200 g of chicken meat
3 tablespoon of leas and perin sauce
8 fresh white button mushrooms
1 tablespoon of butter
2 diced 5 cm long carrot

Instruction:
-Preheat oven to 350 F/180C
-Make 8 fifty cents coin size meatballs with a mix of leas and perin sauce.
-Apply butter on the mushroom and bake for 5 minutes .Drain excess water away on tray.

- Flip the mushrooms over.

-Insert the meat on top of the mushrooms.Carrot is put between meat and mushroom.
-Bake for 10 minutes .

Bye Bye Nike + Welcome RunKeeper

I got a replacement for the expensive Nike + device which track your exercise while you are running. It is called the RunKeeper which is application for iphone . I like this application because of its GPS function, total journey , speed of your exercise along with the time spent and how it compares with previous runs, all on a Google Map. Not only that you don't need a separate device for tracking and recording your exercise. Nevertheless, it can guide you throughout the whole exercise by giving you real-time voice prompt . You can program them before you set out, and the audio cues will coach you through your workout.

Every time you complete a run you can see how far you went (to the best of the phone's tracking capabilities), along with the time spent and how it compares with previous runs, all on a Google Map.

I tried it during my morning exercise in Botanical Gardens ,Penang. It really works. I like it very much .



While running I set it with my favorite iPod playlist to start up automatically when i start tracking a new RunKeeper activity.

Phew... What a relief

As I was about to pack my stuffs going back Penang for my Raya holiday , I get a green light to try for the last flight to Penang which is MH 1149 . I was doubt about the chances of getting a flight to Penang . As far as I know , the frequency of flight to Penang is very high compared to Kuching . My friends had told me that he had to sleep in the airport for 1 night before he can go back Kuching because of flight overbooked and also no empty seat available. I never try my luck in KLIA to secure a seat near to Hari Raya. Last 2 years , I remember took off from my studies for a few days before coming back for holiday .

Once arrived at KLIA , I straight away went to the ticketing office at the Arrival Hall to print my e ticket . There were about 8 people in before me so I decided to put my name on the stand-by list at the Departure Hall first . After knowing that there were 4 people before me on the stand-by list ,I knew that what am I supposed to do.Plus, the MH 1149 was over-booked , the booking was around 148 people but the flight accomodate up to 144 passengers.

After I took my ticket , I went to the Flight Operation Office which is on the next building . I went across using a link bridge but I was not permitted to enter because I don't have the staff card to swipe . I pressed for the security and I was ushered by a security personnel from the entrance to the Flight Operation Office .

Once I was there , the place was like in the TVB Drama Triumph in the Skies . The pilots were there to attend the briefing before departure ,big LCD monitors showing the flight operation data. I was told to went into the office to ask for a Jump seat .

A jump seat (or jumpseat), officially known as an auxiliary crew station, is a seat in an aircraft cockpit for individuals not operating the aircraft. These might include training pilots, off-duty crew in transition to another airport (see deadheading), government officials (such as Federal Aviation Administration staff), or other airline staff.

My identity was verified by the Flight Op staff . I saw some of the staffs were busying checking the flight schedules and also the local weather of a place etc. Finally after 20 minutes of waiting , I was given a Jump seat by the captain of the flight MH1149 .


I went to the ticket counter in Departure Hall to get my boarding pass . After that , I went straight to Gate A4 . I was waiting for my turn to get on the plane, but my name was called over the P.A. system . The operation staff told me that the Captain had cancelled my Jump seat . And I asked him for the reason and he told me reason which was not acceptable (from my point of view) . How can this be happened to me?

I supposed to get on the last flight of the day to go back Penang and then I was stuck. Without any option available , I expected the worst which is 'sleep in the airport'.
After some confusion over at the desk which is next to the gate entrance , the staffs were sorting out the no-show passengers and calculate the total amount of passengers inside the aircraft .

No-show: A no-show is a passenger who fails to board the plane either because he/she has not fulfiled check-in procedures within designated time limit,or because he/she does not holdpropertravel documents.A no-show passenger may request a change of the flight or a refund of the ticket.If the no-show passenger wants to fly a Carrier's subsequent flight,the Carrier shall change the flight in accordance with its relevant regulations. If the no-show passenger requests a change of the Carrier or a refund of the ticket,50%of the ticket fare will be assessed as a no-show charge.

I over-heard that there were two Uganda nationality were stopped by the immigration who were supposed to be on the flight. Therefore , their seats were empty and I was given a seat 17 C which is an aisle seat . Phew.....What a relief.

Valuables Looted from car

There are lots of criminals cases involving car break-in, I read and heard from news and also emails. But that day was a really unlucky for me to be one of the victims.
That day was Wednesday , 26th of August , I, with other 3 schoolmates were on our way to have our dinner when the mishap happened. We were not sure whether the thieves were observing us for sometime before the day it happened or they just acted spontaneously .
I parked my car near to the Ramadhan bazaar at a parking lot in front of a row of shoplots . 2 of my friends placed their bags into the car boot after they came down from the car .
(That was a crucial point where I think the thieves saw it)


After half an hour , we were backed into my car and I drove back home. I didn’t realize a thing until I opened the boot and they noticed the bags were missing . I asked them whether they put their bags at the passengers’ seat (That moment I didn’t know the final location of the their bags ) . The feeling was like thunder has striked my mind. My hands were trembling and heart was racing . I was stunt by the reality which happened just now. I still can’t believe my eyes of what I was seeing . We watched at each other with an empty look.

After that , we decided to go to the place of incident and do some investigation work. My friend drove his car and we reached the place after buka puasa time. We frantically searched the place around and looked at everyone who passed by us. We were showered with rain while everyone was trying to get out of the place as quick as possible . Everyone looked suspicious to us . I walked into the back lane of rows of shops and looking into the drain for anything resembled the bags which belongs to my friends. At the end ,I found nothing.

One of my friends, who noticed two dark skin colour guys who were holding the bags which resembled theirs on the shoulder but he was not sure the look of the suspects. I was unsure about this because I was walking to my car using an umbrella but they walked under the roof along the corridor of the shops.

They (my friends) asked the shop person who talked to the suspects but the shopkeeper didn’t want to reply anything related to the incident . A few shops away , the shop assistants also notice the suspects .

(We made the mistake for not calling the police if we called after realizing the thief maybe they will be caught )

Next time remember to bring down any of your belonging from your car before left car unattended.

Italian Pizza minus Cheese

I brought an oven to my rented house in Subang, therefore I have been thinking of making something out of the oven . Even though I have no experience of using one, I am sure that the recipe I found will guide me through the whole cooking process. If i have succeeded in making my own dish then I think it would be waste of money to spend money in buying those food.

I have tried before using a small toaster oven to make oatmeal cake , but I think the control and also the setting of the oven are more comprehensive and manageable.The small toaster oven don't have the temperature setting that make it even more difficult to bake something.

I found myself in the mood of making a pizza dough . I bought the flour and rising powder. Follows are the ingredient:

The ingredients for pizza dough:
0.5 kg of flour
2 tablespoon of rising powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/3 cup of water


Instruction:
Pour the rising powder , warm water, salt and sugar into a bowl and mix it .
Wait until the solution has bubbles on it , then pour the flour into the solution.
Mix well until the dough is formed ,and use hands to mix it until it is not so sticky .
Leave it aside and let the flour and rising powder rise .
After 45 minutes , press the dough to become flat . Place it on a shallow baking plate.

* Remember to drizzle some olive oil onto the baking plate before placing dough for baking.This is to avoid the pizza base from sticking .

Set the timer to 20 minutes , and temperature to 250 degree Celsius.



In the meantime , let prepare the ingredients for pizza toppings:
half bulb of capsicum (any colour)
3 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoon of tomato pasta sauce
a dash of oregano powder
a dash of paprika powder
a pinch of salt
150g of fresh chicken breast meat

Cut the capsicum into smaller pieces and dice the garlic.
Cut the meat into chuck size and marinate with tomato pasta sauce , salt and oregano powder.
After the base is set, spread the meat with tomato pasta sauce on top of the pizza base .
Set the timer for 10 minutes with temperature 250 degree Celsius .

After it is done, spread capsicum , garlic, paprika powder on top of the chicken chucks.
Set the timer again for another 10 minutes with temperature 250 degree Celsius .

*To add cheese , please make sure that the ingredients of the topping is dry to avoid sogginess after the covering with cheese. Mozzarella or Parmesan cheese would be perfect.

The chicken pizza is ready to be served!