Perth to Changi in a single Engine Piper

[hangflyer]

I am planning a trip from Perth.AU to Changi, Singapore in my Piper Cherokee 140. There is one longish over water stretch from Darwin to East Timor, but the rest of the flight across Indonesia is all relatively short hops between airfields.
Obviously I am planning this very carefully and will have every bit of safety and communications equipment available.

My question is this, having arranged all the permissions and fueling stops and visas in advance, what will it actually be like on the ground in East Timor and Indonesia, I have been told I will need USD bribe money and that the fuel at some of the airfields in in indonesia is terrible, is this true?

Should I expect any language problems or problems with authority along the way?

I have been told that the weather around Easter would be OK, and that after July smoke becomes a problem, and I have also been told that after July the weather is more stable. Does anyone have experiance and want to comment?

I am a low hours PPL pilot who has completed the CPL exams and is building hours towards my CPL flight test, this little trip would get me there and be great experiance.

[9v-SKA]

No go on landing at Changi. In Singapore, light aircrafts can only go to Seletar(WSSL). Changi is reserved for commercial, military and some Business jets. Try looking at wingsoverasia.com. There was a article about a trip from AU to Johor, Malaysia I think. Not sure if it is back on after the site revamp though! :)

[007helicopter]

Totally irrelevant but as a child our house backed onto the runway at Seletar and I was looking at in on google earth as my son is on holiday in Singapore and visited there a few weeks ago, he told me there were signs for a flying club at Seletar so may be worth tracking down some locals and asking them.

Good luck and some posting some pics of the trip would be very interesting.

[rmac]

Hello Hangflyer,

I bought a 303 Crusader a number of years back in Archerfield and then flew it to Seletar (Singapore GA airfield) where I operated it for a few years.

The flight from Darwin to Timor is a little longish over "shark infested" waters and you need to plan it well, on the other hand the long desert crossing in Oz via Longreach and Mt Isa didn't offer much more comfort in the case of engine failure, especially when it took me 6 attempts to get the runway lights on at Mt Isa.

I was able to get permission to land in West Timor and avoided the political questions on the East/West side, I was also able to get Avgas in drums but of course had to pay for the whole of the last drum even when only using a bit of it !

I've never had a problem with fuel quality in Indonesia, however if it comes from drums and not from a tanker, be careful to take only sealed drums, not open ones. Oh, and make sure the tanker driver is pouring the right stuff, communications problems come easy in Indonesia.

Depending on time of year, forest burning and volcanic activity etc, be very very careful planning and executing flights along Java, lots of high terrain and it gets minimum VMC to IMC and TS conditions very very quickly. If you are not experienced in tropical flying take a lot of advice or a buddy who is !

Be careful to physically establish the presence of Avgas at your intended destination through a third party if possible as it can often not be there even when they have told you it is, for example in a PA 28 from Jakarta to Singapore you will have to consider refuel at Palembang or Pekanbaru and they often do not have an Avgas stock.

Also be very conservative about points of no return, arriving at Palembang to find it IMC with a number of solid TS over it and not enough fuel to go back to Jakarta could ruin your day (by the way in Jakarta use Halim, not Sukarno-Hatta).

Regarding ATC, be very very inquisitive and sceptical about ATC instructions in that part of the world. Except for Singapore it can be a bit sketchy and over the years they have tried to lure me in to level 4 TS and even high terrain at night....be careful. Be firm when they want you to do something you are not comfortable with.

And of course the levels of corruption are a pain, this can help or hinder depending on whether they are trying it on or you screwed up. Whatever happens treat the relevant official with humour, gentility and respect, even if they don't deserve it. Firmly but politely press your point home and you might come out on top. Displays of aggression, loud voices and anger are counter to local culture and every time you use them you lose. In Indonesia even if you slip the knife in someone, you do it with a smile:}

There is a small flying club at Seletar and you can probably find details on the web. There are also a group of 5-6 expatriate pilots with own aircraft, including a long time resident called JJ Bely who can help you. JJ bought an SR22 in Brisbane and flew it up, for example. Hawker Pacific have a hangar for GA in Seletar which does light aircraft, so you should be able to get snags fixed before your return, but be careful they can be right up there with Ned Kelly when it comes to the bill as they have no competition.

I have a good friend who is a retired Indonesian Air Force General, so I always made sure that he sorted out Air Force "hospitality" for me at every stop, so maybe I had it easy..;)

Hope this helps