Malaysia (2011)

As a result of a couple of cancellations, a relatively small group of 6 people gathered at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at the start of the 4Aviation Malaysia tour on the early morning of Wednesday 30 November. Five out of six had just been on a direct flight from Amsterdam with Malaysian Airlines (departing on 29 November) , while the sixth came from Singapore. Just a couple of days before our departure the official ‘no’ from the Royal Malaysian Air Force had arrived in response to our request for visiting a couple of air bases. This was not going to spoiling the fun, since we were still looking forward to the LIMA-show at Langkawi and some visits to the other sides of the fence. After collection our rental car we directly headed for Sungai Besi. Just before we arrived there we were treated to a large formation of helicopters taking off. Assuming that we would not see these helicopters again, we starting capturing the inmates of the museum. Much to our surprise, we then saw the formation of choppers at the horizon, before landing at Sungai Besi again. From the museum a large part of these helicopters could be photographed. In the afternoon we drove to Subang. At this airport / air base the transport and VIP-fleet of the air force is based. We were lucky to see many different aircraft types operating, and they can be captured here very well. On our way to Ipoh, for the night, fellow drivers pointed out a flat tire ‘in progress’. While on the emergency lane it became apparent that also Avis sends off cars with insufficient tools. Some of the tools to change the tire were missing. Fortunately, 20 metres from where we were another car stopped to change a tire. That one was also missing some tools… combining the 2 sets of tools it was possible to replace the tires and we could continue our journey.