WHILE SOME FAMILIES HAVE ROAD TRIPS, NG PLANS AIR TRIPS. HIS PLANE, A TURBOPROP TBM900, HAS A TOP RANGE OF 3,200KM, WHICH MEANS HE MAKES SEVERAL STOPOVERS ON THE WAY TO THE UK. ALL THE BETTER TO SEE THE WORLD, WE SAY.
WHILE SOME FAMILIES HAVE ROAD TRIPS, NG PLANS AIR TRIPS. HIS PLANE, A TURBOPROP TBM900, HAS A TOP RANGE OF 3,200KM, WHICH MEANS HE MAKES SEVERAL STOPOVERS ON THE WAY TO THE UK. ALL THE BETTER TO SEE THE WORLD, WE SAY.
01. SINGAPORE – BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA
Duration 2 hours
Stopover 1 hour to refuel.
Notes Friendly, fast, efficient service. The natural landscape is beautiful.
02. BANDA ACEH – COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
Duration 3 hours
Stopover Overnight.
Notes Expensive airport for ground handling, but people are friendly and food is good. Stayed at famous Gall Face Hotel, which faces the Indian Ocean.
03. COLOMBO – AHMEDABAD, INDIA
Duration 3.5 hours
Stopover 1 hour to refuel, another hour to sort our paperwork, despite having a handling agent.
Notes Bureaucratic process delays are common. Fuel is delivered only with advance booking, no cash or credit card.
04. AHMEDABAD – MUSCAT, OMAN
Duration 2 hours 45 minutes
Stopover 1 hour to refuel
Notes A charming city with sporadic greenery amid the desert brown mountain landscape by the Indian Ocean. People are super friendly and helpful.
05. MUSCAT – BAHRAIN
Duration 1 hour 40 minutes
Stopover Overnight
Notes Efficient and fast service. I usually plan for a night arrival and landing so I can catch a quick dinner and go to bed. I like Movenpick hotel that is next to the airport, which is very convenient.
06. BAHRAIN – AQABA, JORDAN
Duration 3 hours
Stopover 1 hour to refuel (sometimes a night stop).
Notes Personally, this is the most boring part on the journey as we see endless desert for the entire flight. However, arrival into Aqaba is always fascinating as it sits at the top of the Red Sea and, when approaching land, we see Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all at once. On occasions when we can afford a night stop, a visit to the ancient city of Petra is fascinating. It is quite warm in summer at over 40 deg C, but in winter, it’s perfect!
07. AQABA – CORFU, GREECE
Duration 3.5 hours
Stopover 1 hour to refuel (sometimes a night stop).
Notes Lesser known, but astonishingly scenic seaside town. It is not overcrowded with international tourists. The Europeans like it here and the island is very tranquil. Restaurants and boutique hotels are charming, not to mention the sumptuous Greek food and local wine.
08. CORFU – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Duration 2.5 hours
Stopover 1 hour to refuel.
Notes Just the view of the snow-capped Alps is worth flying over. Landing in Geneva takes careful planning, if visibility is less than ideal due to the proximity to high terrain. But a clear day offers breathtaking views on approach to land and departure.
09. GENEVA – BOURNEMOUTH,UK
Duration 1.5 hours
Destination Wings Over Asia member John Gidden’s hometown, where he spends the summer.
Notes We either stay at a guest house or John’s cottage in the well-preserved New Forest. There's an English pub with excellent draft beers and sumptuous fish and chips by the Lymington Harbour, whose yacht clubs have produced many Olympic sailing champions like Ben Ainslie. It is always a delight to go for a morning jog, with wild horses roaming around and being surrounded by apple trees. The trails through the woods remind me of those found in Enid Blyton stories. It recharges me and clears my mind before I head back to the hustle and bustle of Singapore.
Little gestures are not spared, either. Guests from Malaysia will find bottles of Vi- tamin Water stocked in the run- way vehicle. “We noticed that there was a trend in Malaysia of this (beverage) being very pop- ular,” says Ng. The office fridge is full of the drink cartons. “By the bottles, the Seletar Airport Customs officers can tell who Wings Over Asia fliers are!”
Now into its eighth year, the $30 million company is becom- ing the one-stop concierge and solutions provider for business fliers and aviators. The new and cavernous facility is replete with offices, two state-of-the-art plane hangars, a rooftop lounge and, of course, a restaurant with a full bar service.
But the hoops Ng had to jump through as a trailblazer were countless, with much energy spent making sure new processes were compliant with laws and regulations. He’s said to have been a key influence on the improvement of operating procedures for small, personal aircraft based in Singapore. Prior to his involvement, the authorities viewed them as unpredictable entities and, consequently, an inefficient use of limited airspace and airport resources. “Flying is the most regulated of all the modes of transport – even a simple coffee machine may take months before approval to install it on a plane is granted,” he explains.
THE PASSION
As the worn-out faux leather on his office chair hints, Ng spends a great chunk of his time pushing those envelopes from within a building. “It’s the great irony. Other pilots, even friends in commercial, envy me because I have access to so many planes,” says Ng broodingly. He some- times flies delivery or is simply trusted with keys to a friend’s plane. “But the reality is, I’m so busy that I fly maybe only two days a month.”
But there are, of course, benefits to being able to pilot a great variety of aircraft, if he can find the time. “On the weekends, I could wake up and decide to visit a nearby beach or have a good lunch (out of Singapore),” he says. Think hor fun in Ipoh, or a trip to Tioman on a whim.
“It takes perhaps a few minutes to file a flight plan (with the authorities)... I could be off in a few hours, then be back in Singapore by the afternoon, and still have the rest of the day for family and friends.”
He also makes an annual trip to destinations such as Japan with the wife and another cou- ple, stopping where required to refuel and to soak in the freedom being your own pilot affords.
But the dream has pro- gressed far beyond flying for per- sonal enjoyment, to empowering fellow aviators to do the same. On top of the leisure activities, the club frequently runs well-at- tended seminars to update its members’ technical skills. The website has a wealth of infor- mation on flight protocol and updated information for most stops in Asia. All this would not have materialised, if he had been content with flying as a hobby.
On a wall in Ng’s original office, a cheerful boy on his pedal-powered flying chair dom- inates, in a full-colour drawing in the style of Hayao Miyazaki.
“The Passion Doesn’t End When You Land!” reads the caption. It’s the company’s saccharine-sweet slogan but, as we look over the desk at the man who’s championed the cause for years, we realise it’s perfect.
