I recently got my hands on an old unserviceable aircraft transponder from my flying club. The tinkerer me was obviously very curious on what’s inside this piece of equipment. What better way to find out then to do a teardown!

I get a lot of flight requests from friends ever since I got my PPL last year, on average once every other week. At the same time, I have questions posed to me on the safety and environmental concerns of General Aviation (GA) within Singapore. Some questions were posed to me in shall I say, “less than respectful” tone.

The costs of flying General Aviation (GA) is a question I get asked a lot ever since I started taking up my family and friends.

A private pilot once told me “when you write about your private pilot experience online, be prepared to be deluged by plenty of people asking you about your experience and picking flight schools”. I initially didn’t believe him, but after writing many blog posts on this topic, I’m forced to concede after receiving many direct messages.

I told a friend I was heading to Malacca over the weekend. Asked how I was going there. Car? Bus? Train? Don’t tell me boat? How about PLANE!

Having obtained my FAA PPL earlier this year, I decided to join Seletar Flying Club (SFC) to maintain my flying proficiency and to also rent aircraft to bring friends and family up to the skies.

Ever since I got my Private Pilot’s License (PPL), my friends have inundated me with many aviation questions. So I decided, why not compile everything into a blog post?

This post continues from Part 1 of my Private Pilot training journey. This part details the flying portion I did in San Diego, USA. It’s divided into the following sections:

I finally got my Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Private Pilot Certificate or Private Pilot License (PPL)! It seems so surreal, but I can actually fly a plane with my family and friends. This journey was almost a year in the making which I made immense sacrifices in time, money and much more. 

2 weeks ago, I put my life on hold in Singapore to come over to the birthplace of aviation to achieve a life-long dream to fly a plane.