Close quarters: RSAF details NDP11 flight plan

Singapore is perhaps unique among major cities in the sheer amount of firepower one routinely sees overhead. From my home in the west I often see RSAF Apaches, Chinooks, and Hercules. With the Apaches I can't help but wonder if the 30mm cannon is loaded.

From the Flightglobal office in Changi Business Park I frequently see F-16s rising out of Changi air base. Throughout the day there is usually a C-135 or two, as well some Fokker F-50s. The C-135s don't follow an airliner flight path: sometimes they stay low and head due south, other times they bank left out over the sea.

All this air traffic can rile the Malaysians, who are but a short swim away across the Johore Straits. They have complained about incursions into their aerospace, which Singapore tends to refute.

The problem, of course, is the limited size of Singapore airspace. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore has given some idea of the constraints the air force operates under in a document on its web site that details the holding areas and routes the air force will use for the Singapore National Day parade fly-past on 9 August 2011.

One chart in the CAAS document details the primary and backup holding areas for the parade. The second details flight routes into the city center. Given recent complaints from Malaysia, it is interesting to see the route from Fighter Holding Area B, which crosses above Pulau Ubin just inside Singapore territory.

The brief moments Singaporeans enjoy the fly-past give little indication of the logistics, planning, and (dare I say) tremendous expense that goes into the effort.