Posted by azuan in :: All Posts ::, Brand Review, Featured Articles, Firefly Airline on 03 13th, 2010 | one response

It has been a few weeks since I last wrote about my favorite airlines, Firefly~!

This episode is just a quick update to share the exciting event coming to town this week. None other than the highly anticipated MATTA Fair! You must been living under a rock if you have not heard about MATTA Fair.

In a nutshell, it is the most awaited and anticipated travel fair of the year. This year the fair returns with loads of offers from hundred of exhibitors including Firefly Airlines. MATTA FAIR 2010 is being held at Putra World Trade Center (PWTC) Kuala Lumpur from 12th-14th of March 2010.

I was at MATTA Fair on Friday afternoon to check out some great deals for my mid-year holiday. As always, the exhibition halls were full with 2 things.

People.

And Great Deals.

If you are going to MATTA Fair, don’t forget to drop by at Firefly’s booth at PWTC’s Hall 3 (all domestic and ASEAN’s destinations packages), and Hall 2 (all international packages) as they have plenty of great offers in line with the fair.

(Models not included) – Photo from Firefly/James.

As 2010 is a world cup year and football fever is in the air (Go Brazil!), Firefly is adopting a fresh football theme in its MATTA Fair promo. Score as a winner with Firefly’s Penalty Kick teaser and One Touch Wheel of Fortune.

There are plenty of great Firefly Holiday deals being offered over the 3 days. Last December I made trip to Langkawi on Firefly Holidays and it’s definitely worth it! On top of these affordable Firefly Holiday packages, you can actually win cool prizes!

Someone was lucky enough to win a pair of new boots!

As a spin-off to the huge success of last year’s introduction of the simulator, Firefly will once again give the public a great opportunity to test their piloting skills. For this contest, the top 3 best piloting and landing participants will get a chance to win Malaysia Airlines’ tickets to Brisbane or Firefly tickets to any of our destinations.

Click here to check out how well I did on this simulator in last year’s MATTA Fair.

Firefly has also introduced “Oh Snap!” where you can have your photos taken with the simulator and the crew for a minimal fee. Something interesting for a camera-shy guy like me hehe

If taking photo with pilots and stewardesses is not your thing, there is always other ‘attractions’.

There is also exciting range of Firefly merchandise that you can purchase at the MATTA Fair. If you are a Firefly Facebook fan, print out the voucher and get 20% off for the merchandise. Personally I would recommend the ATR72-500 1:150 scale model and the brand new Firefly Jersey!

I would love to wear that cool jersey on my next FY Blog assignments

And to top it all, Firefly Mobile is also offering RM1 fare for all destinations which will be available on-site and must be purchased via Firefly’s newly introduced application- Firefly Mobile.

This is a very useful application as there are lots of travel agents during MATTA Fair that offer great ‘ground only holiday packages (exclude flight). It was so easy for me to go on my mobile to check Firefly flights availability and prices that can go along these ground only packages. Planning my own travel was never this easy!

If you are around Klang Valley, do drop by at PWTC for MATTA Fair. It’s worth the traffic jam, crazy car park hunting and crowd wrestling as the prices are definitely cheaper and it did opened my eyes to many great destinations I have never heard before.

A flight simulator is a computer system that tries to simulate the experience of flying an airplane as closely and realistically as possible. There are different types of flight simulator ranging from video game software up to full-size cockpit replicas mounted on hydraulic, controlled by state of the art computer technology. While full motion simulators are widely used to teach pilots how to properly operate various aircraft systems under different scenarios, lower-end flight simulators are also used as entertainment, marketing and public awareness tools.

In this week’s review on Firefly Airlines, I am taking a closer look at Firefly’s own mobile flight simulator, the Wing Commanderz 2009. During the recent Matta Fair held in PWTC, I had the chance to experience the excitement of Wing Commanderz 2009.

Based on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 platform, Wing Commanderz 2009 enables the public to experience ‘flying’ a Firefly Airlines ATR72-500 with real-life conditions such as night and during rainy and windy situations. Equipped with a flight simulator yoke, great sound system, large printout posters of ATR cockpit layout and realistic cockpit seats, Wing Commanderz is nicely designed to give the ‘pilot’ a feel of flying in a real modern aircraft cockpit.

For only RM15, visitors to Firefly’s booth were given the chance to enjoy a 10-minutes simulator experience, a free cap and a chance to win free tickets through a lucky draw.

Visitors who bought Firefly’s cool merchandize at the booth were also entitled to fly on Wing Commanderz 2009.

My first attempt at Wing Commanderz 2009 simulator, with the assistance of experienced ‘pilot’, Mr. Calvin.

The flight started at the height of 2,500 feet and few miles away from Subang Airport.

It’s all about getting the right balance between airspeed and altitude as I descent towards RWY 15 of WMSA.

It was only my first time using a flight simulator yoke and I had difficulties in coordinating and came in a bit too low. 3 Red and 1 White lights indicating that I was too low.

Last minute adjustment and I managed to safely land the plane on my very first try. To be fair, I’m actually very familiar with the airport and I’ve been flying Microsoft Flight Simulator for the last 10-years so it was not really something totally new for me.

For some of the guests, especially first-timers, this is how their flights ended.

Oops!

I even attempted the night land scenario but could not make it as I could not read the instrument well and there was no Instrument Landing System (ILS) setup for this simulator. For the seasoned and experienced flyers, the night landing is a piece-of-cake.

I had a great time experiencing the Wing Commanderz 2009. Although it is more of a game rather than a real simulator, it is a refreshing new concept that brings uniqueness and creative touch to an exhibition booth. A few of the visitors that I met expressed their excitement for being able to try the simulator and some even went on the simulator a few times to satisfy their adrenaline rush.

Wing Commanderz 2009 is a cool platform to promote public awareness on aviation at the same time promoting the existence of Firefly Airlines. For me it is just another reason to love this great little airline! Make sure you catch the opportunity to try Wing Commanderz 2009 at the next exhibition venue. Check out Firefly’s Facebook for up-to-date information on the next venue.

For those who cannot wait to experience the Wing Commanderz 2009, why not try the pc-based Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 software. There are great add-ons to the basic software that can be downloaded from websites such as Avsim.com and Malaysian Simmers that will allow you to experience the same excitement of virtual flying with Firefly. Below are some screenshots of my virtual flight FY3402 from Penang Internaional Airport (PEN/WMKP) to Polonia International Airport Medan (MES/WIMM).

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Airports and Aircraft livery for FS2004 can be downloaded at www.avsim.com. Credit goes to Mr. Joe Tan for the beautiful Firefly livery and Mr. Hafiz Nizam for helping me to re-build my FS2004 from scratch.

There you go, plenty of options for Firefly fans to enjoy enjoy their favourite airline in the virtual-reality world. Get back to me through the comments function below or my email azuan_az@hotmail.com if you have any comments or suggestions. For more information on Firefly Airline, visit their official website at http://fireflyz.com.my or my series of Firefly Reviews.

See you next week!

Posted by azuan in :: All Posts ::, Brand Review, Featured Articles, Firefly Airline on 08 17th, 2009 | 3 responses

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

“Sheila” woke up at 6am and drove down to Subang from Kuantan.. “Neeta” postponed her weekend plans and made her way to Subang accompanied by her family. “Lynn” traveled from JB with her best friend just to get another shot at her dream. Like many others, these three ladies shared a common goal, to become a flight stewardess for Firefly Airline.

For hundreds of ladies with the dream of ‘flying high’ and ‘exploring the world’, their journey to be a flight stewardess with Firefly Airline starts last weekend. As early as 8am on a Saturday morning, more than 300 candidates gathered at a hotel in Subang Jaya for Firefly’s Flight stewardess walk-in interview, their first step towards the long and challenging journey to become a stewardess with Malaysia’s community airline, Firefly.

Cabin crew is often seen as the frontline of an airline’s image and the reason many people being loyal to one particular airline. Being a frequent flyer with Firefly airline, I believe Firefly’s flight stewardess is professional, friendly and well-trained. I personally think that Firefly’s flight stewardess is not only as good as the award-winning Malaysia Airlines cabin crew but they are also more relaxed and natural in providing in-flight services to passengers. I guess this come as a result of a comprehensive training and a selective recruitment process which begins on a walk-in interview. Let’s take a closer look at the walk-in interview procedures.

The registration counter.

Registration form to be filled and submitted with a copy of candidate’s CV, passport-sized photo, full-size photo, certs and other relevant documents. Pre-screening is done here and those who are below 18 years old or over 35-years old were not given a form.

Waiting for their name to be called for the first screening which is the “height test”.

Candidates are required to have a minimum height of 157cm. It’s a clear-cut requirement. This requirement was clearly stated in newspaper and Firefly’s website and blog.

Quite a big number of candidates went home without even being interviewed as they failed to reach the 157cm mark. It is 157cm without any shoes on. Some of the candidates were not happy and argued on this height requirement but the requirement is there for a reason. Many do not know that a flight stewardess main role is ensuring the safety of the passenger and the flight. For the stewardess to perform this critical task efficiently, they need to have certain reach in the aircraft hence the need to be at least 157cm tall.

Candidate’s weight was also measured. There are no weight requirements at Firefly. A candidate is assessed based on the weight in proportion to height. This is again to ensure that the chosen flight stewardess will have no physical restriction to perform her tasks in-flight.

The candidates anxiously waiting to be interviewed.

Some words of motivation from existing front liners of Firefly Airline.

Candidates went into the two parallel rooms in group of 4-5 and were interviewed by a panel of evaluators. Questions were ranging from basic personal information to experience in customer related areas and information on Firefly airline.

Sharing of experience after the interview session.

In the end, those who made the cut received this small piece of white paper inviting them to the next round on interview in a couple of weeks time.

For those who made it, their journey has become one step closer towards the ultimate destination. Things will get tougher the next round, but for now, there is a reason to be happy and celebrate. Some of the photos of the candidates who were shortlisted for the next stage!

After spending a couple of hours observing and mingling with the candidates, I have a better appreciation and admiration towards Firefly’s flight stewardess. They were selected from a large pool of candidates and went through a rigorous process and that explains how they turned out to be very gracefully professional in-flight carrying their duty as the ambassador of Firefly Airline. I wish all the candidates the very best for their next round of interview and blue skies ahead~!

A special thank you to all Firefly staff that have made it possible for me to cover the walk-in interview. Thanks for the hospitability and fun Saturday morning!