ANNOYING PIMPLE ON MAH NOSE
okay let's get on with this blog post shall we? :)

So finally!! The airshow that everyone's been talking about! (everyone = everyone - air force peeps, i dont know why xD ) This year's airshow somehow felt a lot smaller than the previous years, which were held at paya lebar air baseeeee but the airshow was still amazing!! especially with those uber cool looking planes :D makes me feel like spray painting one xD i mean like how cool would it be if you could buy a scrap airplane body, deco it and put it in your garden! :D as i looked through the videos that i took, realised there's like only 1 video of the Singapore black knights that seems good enough to be posted xD i'm still pretty amateurish with my camera's video settings, and the focus zzzz it alwauys goes off. but anyway! The airshow is really really good! :)) especially the black eagles from Korea!!!  Apparently, they are the best acrobatics team for last year, and they're really good! :D

Actually, the reason why my blog is named 36000feetabove is because of the altitude that planes fly at. At 36000 feet, that is where you see the sea of clouds below as you look out of your plane window. :) I've always loved the view at that altitude, especially when you have a crimson sky of red clouds, and an awesome bun, with a slab of butter inside, airplane style :P i call it the airplane bun :P somehow, i totally LOVE those kinda buns hahahaha ahhhhh retarded me xD But yeap yeap i love airplanes, i love the feeling when one becomes so carefree and simply sits there and takes in what the scenery has to offer at 36000 feet above. :) That, is actually how i got my blog url. Let's get back to Singapore Airshow 2014 shall we~!

LINKS GALORE TIME. just to make the life of those not-so-plane enthusiasts have a much easier time to read through this blog post, :) all the aircraft names are surely going to confuse somebody!

BOOMZ first confusion. This is an upgraded heron apparently. not ours!

Moving on, most of the aircrafts that singapore use are featured in this airshow! well the ones that couldnt make it for the airshow include the C130 and the KC135. Of course the phantom plane wasnt there xD Cool thing is that both of the UAVs, the Heron and Hermes were there. Well when i go outfield, we tend to work pretty closely with the UAVs xD All the helicopters were there... like the apache, (which has an enormously long tail), the chinook and the Super Puma, the seahawk was there too! hehe by far, i find the seahawk the most cool looking 8) okay i have photos of the apache, chinook and super puma, so dont panic!! :)

Chinook

Super Puma

I've always loved planes since young, and i still remember always buying all sorts of plane magazines, Always wanting all kinds of different airplane models when i was a kid! I would then neatly file the magazines and put them in a protective cover, reading them whenever i'm in the car. :) You know how cars have those back seat pockets? yeap i use em to put 2 airplane mags when i was younger, while my bro's side would be empty! yes i ALWAYS sit on the left side of the car back seat xD.


I also remember randomly throwing helicopters out of the window at my grandma's place when i was still young in a crib, thinking that they could fly. Poor grandma would always walk from the 6th floor all the way down anfd back up, only to see me throw it out of the window again, as though it was a second sortie! and the process repeats. Every time the helicopter is in my hands, it soon finds its way out of the window. :) Wow i can totally imagine grandma doing a vertical marathon man :/ darn i'm evil. Not to mention, she's never scolded me before and i only have a recollection of her smiling and going out of house to pick up that helicopter from the first floor! But still, thank you grandma for always going back down to pick up that helicopter toy of mine!! i still have that very toy in my house, it's a die cast Cobra helicopter with desert camo on it :) That company who made that toy should deserve a medal man....

Amazingly, i managed to find the toy being sold on ebay! :D

Yes my love for airplanes and how such a heavy load stays mid air for prolonged periods still continue to wow me :) Which is also why i wanted to be a pilot! :D well our planes cant fly with a peace of mind if they dont have Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) people protecting the skies isnt it?! So that's what i am in, 3DA! It stands for Defence Artillery. Pretty different from the usual Artillery that people would think about hence friends also mistake what i actually do for national service :P
Here is a photo showcasuing the various GBAD platforms that we have! with the middle one being PSTAR, the radar team that does give us air pictures too! These are all the different missles that the RSAF uses to shoot down air-nemies HUE HUE HUE all of them having different ways to control, and different ranges that they engage their target :)

The photo below is the very vehicle that i have been hiding in during various outfields! It's a really really noisy vehicle, but fun when you take it as a joyride :D like when we had family day! ACTUALLY, the Singapore Airshow too was the family day for the whole RSAF! funny thing is we had our unit anniversary on the day before :) Every thing stacks together pretty sweetly to guarantee ourselves a long weekend! In fact, i am only returning to camp on THURSDAY. which means i'm booking in on wednesday night!! how awesome is that :D SO this is the plan, thursday shall be a "i have no idea what's going on, let's just sleep thursday" then friday is WOOT valentines day!! but for me it's gonna be foreveralone day!! :D
Well the vehicle has a mounted RBS-70 set on it as you can see, and at the bottom, you can see me sitting on the dismounted set! HAHA having been exposed to this equipment for so long, i've learnt how to set up and use a little bit of this equipment! though i am signal-trained, which means i communicate more with Hermes the UAV (wow now hermes sounds like some kids show mascot or something) and with the other firing units! One firing unit = 1xV200. :) oops i forgot to mention, the vehicle above is called the v200! Looks real hardy but the interior is EXTREMELY CRAMPED especially when you have everything mounted inside! if i have to wear y iLBV, or the vest that you usually see the army people wear, its nearly impossible to squeeze out of that vehicle. :/
Well these are the fellow comrades who have accompanied me on this NS journey of mine!! Even though some of us are drivers, some of us are operators, some as signallers, it is also because of our different vocations that keep us working together, helping one another whenever a need arises :) that makes outfield even more fun, because you have different people operating different equipment!

 Here, you have the F15 SG, a variant with upgraded blah blah blah for singapore's needs! Its HUGEEE as compared to its F16 counterpart.
 Here's another photo for comparison sake,
look at those massive thrusters behind!!!! absolute boss :P
Ah but i sill prefer the F16, due to its design :) i mean like since i've never flown in any of these 2 planes, other than playing around with the simulator, i cant really comment much can i! but the f16 looks wayyyy cooler xD though it's payload seems considerably a lot smaller than the F15

C130, Hercules plane. They had a US version here too! lemme find that photo..
 there it isssssss

 An air force personnel looks on as a kid has a go at the f16 flight simulator.

THey have quite a number of simulators here, dont know if we can try this xD though i must say it looks SO COOL :D as you can see on the screen, its like as though he is examining an entire aircraft, down to the little teeny bits inside

 I have this weird idea :P how about, you take this simulation set and wear it to bed :P then you can play with it while lying down on bed!! though it will be kinda weird on why someone would want to fix aircrafts while lying down in bed. A new wa y to count sheep to fall asleep i guess? :>

Also, i so happen bumped into Sam!! HAHA he is one of the friends i met during my Finland trip, Singapore is sure such a small island isnt it! That's why i love going on group tours, because you get to mix around with others too! hehe he happened to be working part time there :) shuks he's taller than me!

Remember i told ya about the Korean pilots? well the US too did bring some of their stuff over too, like the Osprey which is a Vertical Take Off Landing (VTOL) plane, a C17 Globemaster and a C130 hercules that i showed earlier! :D i was SHOCKED when i saw the C17 alright! its so hugeeeee! i've always wanted to see a C17 and a C5 Galaxy. So half of my wish has already been fufilled!! :'D i've always wanted to see the B2 Spirit bomber too! :P although i know that's probably NEVER gonna touch Singaporean soil...

 A mustang??? O.o oh well~!

 This is the Osprey, heard it's getting increasingly popular with US marines! *shrugs shoulders*

and my favourite C17 Globamasterrrrrr :DDDD

WELL OF COURSE I WOULD KEEP THE BEST TO THE LAST (just like how i do so with my food unless bro is there then everything changes) the F35, the stealth joint strike fighter. This is the very aircraft that can hover on the spot like as though it's a helicopter! :D thus its able to do VTOLs too!

WOW SERIOUSLY i've never had a blog post with this much links alright!!
I want a new pianoooooo :(((

Haha alrighty alrighty now let me bring you to the airshow part! the BEST part of the whole airshow, other than the awesome f35 :D i have two photos here as appetisers for ya, while let me go prepare the main dishes alright!


 I have a four course meal prepared for ya, do enjoy it alright! Tips and props goes to my wonderful, trusty Canon SX40HS which has served me so well in extreme conditions, and this time, serving me well with its whopping 35x optical zoom lens :3

TIPS FOR ALL WHO ARE GOING TO THE AIRSHOW:
please...PLEASE bring some massive sunglasses and massive zoom lenses. they come in VERY handy. if you have those massive zoom lenses, you can even consider hiding under shelter while letting your zoom lens and steady hands take over the job, though i'm pretty sure it wouldnt go well xD (why suggest it in the first place wowowow) i had quite some bit of fiddling with my hands with my 35x zoom, because of the speed of the aircrafts, as well as the glaring sunlight. It's really hard to keep track of the aircrafts while recording! In fact, sometimes i just trust that the planes are in the frames and i just move the camera accordingly, while watching the show :P worked out better than expected xD

go full screen peeps :) make sure HD is on too!
you have to set the settings all the time from what i gather, my YT refuses to stay on 1080p. :((
Here are some of the acrobatic performances, if you're GOING for the UPCOMING airshow NEXT WEEK, please do NOT watch the videos!! Instead, just enjoy the airshow when you're there, be early! :) Also, please do stay on and watch the other performances like the black eagles performing, after our black knights do so! The sequence is:
1. Black Knights,
2. USAF
3. Black Eagles (Korea)











That's all folks!! Well it's been quite a long time since i've done a post that doesnt have snow in it! :P