John Giddens was a terrific host during our short stay in Singapore . In the morning we took a taxi to his house and, after helping sort out our flight plan, John drove us to the airport and hand held us through the departure formalities. Seletar is a very efficient operation and crews can easily do self handling here. Just bring lots (at least 6) general declaration forms and a few Cargo/Passenger Manifest forms. Parking and landing fees are inexpensive and the whole experience was smooth and efficient.
Nang Fah at Seletar , Singapore ……..
Note on Fuel: fuel is not as easy to get in SE Asia as in other regions. You need to check and plan ahead. Thailand has a reasonable supply of avgas at the airports most GA flights would use (Chiang Mai, Don Muang, Phuket) Seletar has avgas; it seemed no problem in Singapore . Indonesia is in short supply and it is wise to reserve fuel. We reserved through the national oil company but had to specify the amount and wire transfer payment in advance.
Avgas prices that that we paid per litre in US $ are: Thailand $1.75, Singapore $1.62 and Indonesia $1.57
Departure out of Seletar was right on time and the controllers were excellent. There is no confusion about where you are going with these guys…….instructions are detailed and professional. There is a military airport very nearby Seletar and you must not fly into their airspace. ATC makes sure you know about this and on take off were watching us giving instructing at the turning point as we climbed. A very impressive operation from start to finish. What a pleasure to fly there…..
It was not long until we encountered more of the Asian weather miseries. I will not bore you with more detail……Lec was a really “tough cookie” during our rides through these storm centers; as a non pilot she was calm and confident handling the turbulence, zero visibility and rain……great job honey!!!
Clear of weather; time to relax……
Approaching Jakarta the weather started to improve and we continued on to Bali in relatively clear conditions. Unfortunately we were straight into 25+ head winds reducing our ground speed to less than 150 knots for most of this long leg. On the IFR routes you fly over a lot of water; more than I realized as you don't notice this on the enroute IFR charts. Visiting aircraft are wise to have emergency equipment handy and not stored in the back luggage compartment.
We flew at 11,000' which was minimum for our airways. On the south side of the main islands (between Jakarta and Bali ) there are huge mountains which we occasionally saw through breaks in clouds and on the MFD terrain screen. They are big!!!!! Better not going cruising the south shore in bad visibility at low altitudes.
after 7 hours flying and taxied to our assigned parking stand.
Waiting there were a couple of airport authority employees and a very unofficial looking man identified as representing the air force. They were taking pictures of the airplane as we taxied in. The air force guy wanted certain documents and authorizations which we gave him. After a while he “lightened up” and although I never found out what his job was he left us alone and we got on with unpacking the plane. Last I saw of him he got on his bicycle and headed off.
Next order of business was fuel. With another long leg to Darwin coming up, and a 1 ½ hour time change, I wanted to have everything ready for and smooth, early departure on Friday morning.
The ground controller notified the fuel operator that we had arrived and were waiting for our fuel. Reserved for N667DL……
In about 10 minutes up rolled a huge fuel truck – the biggest truck I have ever seen. This was strange since I understood they had less than 2000 litres of avgas at the airport. Lec noticed the “Jet A fuel” labels on the side and we stopped him before he got out of the cab. Off he went to send the right truck.
Thirty minutes later a little wagon appeared with a few drums of avgas on board. The crew were really nice and apologized for the delay etc. They rigged up some electric pump and measured the fuel drums with a dipstick. I convinced the driver to sell me as much fuel as it took to fill the tanks; 80 litres more than my original order!!!
The pump started and we watched the dial on the fuel meter starting to turn in slow motion. We took a look at the fuel nozzle and fuel was just trickling out. This was going to take some time to pump 400 litres…….
The left side tank was completely full when the dial crept up to 160 litres. The driver measured the dipstick again and announced he had pumped 180 litres? He said the dial was “broken” I had little choice but to accept and I think based on my own fuel calculations he did pump closer to 180 than 160 litres.
Now the right side. The dial stopped turning at 119 litres…....not again!!!!!! The oil crew wanted to finish refueling at this point but I convinced them that we needed to fill the rest of the right side with a pail and funnel. They agreed and that is what happened until both tanks were full to the brim – 130 gallons.
Finishing the refuelling at Bali ……..
We had not arranged ground handling at this airport so we had to find our way into the International terminal then through customs and immigration. It was relatively hassle free and the immigration officers were helpful; paperwork is minimal on arrival and they cleared us both as crew into Indonesia .
Finding a hotel was not so easy and, as I was off finding the airport administration office, Lec was finding a hotel for us. She did a better job than I did…….as it took forever to find the airport offices.
Massage anyone!!!!!
Santriani grounds..…
Lec found a superb hotel, the Santriani Griya, at Sanur Beach . Most tourists stay at Kuta Beach which is busy, loud and “touristy” Sanur Beach is a bit further from the airport ($15.00 taxi ride) but quieter, mature with wonderfully hospitable people. The area has not recovered from the terrorist activities which have occurred over the past 4 years. It is sad as the vendors are really struggling and the wonderful hotels are not fully occupied. I think Bali (particularly Sanur Beach ) offers the best value for your money of any place we have ever stayed. It is really a lovely destination for a value packed “sun and fun” holiday.
Although we had no trouble arriving in Bali I knew departure was going to be more difficult and time consuming if we tried to do self handling. Finding offices for various clearance procedures was going to be a problem in this large airport. No signs, no one knows where to go etc. Plus the airplane was parked about 2 kilometres from the terminal; how do you get to your airplane? We also wanted to get to Darwin before 5pm to avoid $300 overtime arrival charges. So I contacted a local handling agent and negotiated a fair price for him to get us out of Bali quickly.
New friend Ataki who runs the internet shop…
Everything was great; except the airport fees. Apparently Bali airport charge every airplane at a minimum of 20,000 pounds gross take off weight. Even if you weight just 3,300 lbs as we do. So the landing and parking fees are 6 times more than the published rates. Although I argued hard with the airport officials they eventually produced a document which states these fees. So we paid……..and left…...no choice!
Even with the delays, while settling fees, we had our engine started 1 hour after arrival at the airport and we were off to Darwin .
Our overall experience in Bali was really good. We would not hesitate to recommend Sanur Beach (not Kuta) and we definitely will visit this paradise again.
Seletar, Singapore to Bali, Indonesia
Nang Fah at Seletar , Singapore …….. 
