First base - Jakarta

Some four weeks ago, with my fellow aviators, Ibu Susi and Christian we were discussing where we want to be based within SusiAir, where we want to be posted for start, what we want to achieve in our flying career etc, etc. Me smart arse partly seriously, partly jokingly noted that I would like to go to Jakarta as my first base so I do not have to go back any more. Well be careful what you wish for is the saying that pops in to my head ;)
Tomorrow morning 1/8 I will be flying my last four sectors from Jakarta base before moving to my next one - Medan.
Jakarta was pretty slow and easy start for two of us new Co-Jo s fresh from the type training. We both flew around thirty hours in last three weeks, mainly on two main routes Jakarta Halim to Cilacap and Jakarta Halim to Nusawiru.
Both airports, Nusawiru and Cilacap are on the south cost of west Java.
We fly Cilacap and back three times a day mainly carrying workers and management from the oil industry based there and Nusawiru is mainly SA corporate transport mixed with some holiday makers and surfers heading to Batu Karas.
Flight that I always consider highlight of the day (or week) is corporate flight to unlicensed beach strip in Pangandaran.
Landing on beachstrip is pretty cool experience itself but this trip comes with other benefits like visit to popular Relax restaurant (check Indonesia Rough Guide) or one of the beach bars if you staying overnight.
I cant say much about Jakarta city because I have not seen much of i t and what I have seen was not that impressive but I have enjoyed flying here a lot. It was a great introduction in to Indonesian ATC, local specifics, customs and line flying generally. On this note, great Thank You goes to all Jakarta Captains for this experience!
So as the locals say - Happy Landings!
F;-)

Line training

As I mentioned in previous post, first two and half week of ground training were pretty intensive but on the other hand second half of the training was much more relaxed and certainly more fun because it was the practical part ;)
Basic handling, circuits, emergencies, un-usual attitudes and more circuits ;)
Highlight of my flight training was as for most of us landing on Pangandaran beach strip. I'm sure that this one is not one of the most challenging strips but it was cool experience to land parallel with the beach ;-)
In the meantime we also did two DGCA exams - well chapter itself ;-)
Radio practical:
bloke with the strongest Indonesian accent pretends to be ATC, you fly from A to B and make appropriate radio calls - so far standard used in Europe - only with one difference - all radio calls and phrases are numbered and written in front of you ;-)
CPL theoretical test:
Two part test with 100 questions based on FAA exams and military phraseology plus C208 knowledge test based on legacy and with strong focus on de-icing - very important for flying in Indonesia bellow 10'000 feet especially considering that our vans don't have deicing ;-)
Well let say it was guess work that worked ;-)

Now to the line training - this is pretty cool experience and awesome feeling to have fare paying paxs on board especially when you look back just before reaching cruising altitude to find most of them asleep ;)
I have started with observation flight sitting just behind pilots with my headset plugged in and taking notes where ground training differed from every day practices - not many tho... Biggest fun comes with ATC - their strong accent, lack of training and laid back attitude is a deadly combination and thats why ATC is always mentioned as a major threat on preflight briefing along side with animals on runway, kites, birds and traffic in congested airspace like Jakarta Halim - just different world...
The other day we received three different squawk codes between start up clearance and lining up - you make the maths ;-)
My first flight was flying some corporate peeps to company HQ in Pangandaran and than reposition aeroplane for maintenance in near by Nusawiru.All captains I have met and flown with so far were very helpful, professional and calming so my eager beaver attitude was not an issue this time. Saying that flying at 10'000 and have nothing to do than monitor the flight gives me itchy feeling "What am I missing? Should I be doing something?"
...but captains answer is always the same, sit back, relax and watch world passing by ;-)