Christine Lalo, Malaysia
(Interview by Meng & Article by Diong, WOA Editorial Writers)

Ms Christine Lalo from Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia, is a commercial helicopter pilot with Solaire Helicopters. She flies the Robinson R44 at work. She has been flying for the last 3 years.
 
How it all begun …
Christine had always dreamt of flying since she was a little kid. However her interest only really took off at the age of 24, when she was working at Layang Layang Aerospace in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, as a technical records officer.  One day at work, she caught sight of a helicopter doing some intricate aerial manoeuvres.  She recalls turning around and telling her colleague that some day she would like to do that too.  Her manager overheard her comment and encouraged her to go train for a helicopter license.  Some pilots at her workplace were also very encouraging and supportive of her flying aspirations.  As such, a long search later, Christine ended up joining a CPL course at Becker Helicopters in Brisbane, Australia.
 

Learning to Fly Down Under
Once in the Sunshine coast, Christine got in touch with the Australian Women’s Pilot Association and even flew to Perth to participate in their annual conference. While there, she met Malaysia’s first female private pilot, Ms Noor Hamzah.  She had her first joyride in a private aircraft when Ms Noor flew her from Jandakot to Geraldton in her Cessna 172.  To this day, she still has vivid memories of the landing at Ms Noor’s private airstrip where kangaroos roamed freely! It was an inspirational first flight for the young trainee.  And through the Australian Women’s Pilot Association, she also met Royal Brunei Airline’s first female pilot and the legendary Nancy Bird.

Christine’s flying training began in earnest in May 2005 at Becker Helicopters, Sunshine Coast, Australia.  There she learnt flying for the first time in a H269. According to her, the toughest part in learning to fly a helicopter is mastering the skill of hovering.  The best part was mustering the kangaroos in confined areas. Memorable advice from her instructor on her first solo – centre of gravity changes dramatically when the instructor steps out of the helicopter! 

Christine completed her helicopter training in the Sunshine coast and returned to Malaysia where she had to sit for the Malaysian CPL (H). She had a bunch of friends waiting to celebrate with her as she cleared the final hurdle to flying in her home country.

Hovering with stars at work
Despite the odds stacked against her, Christine was able to snag a job at Solaire Helicopters when she returned to Malaysia.  She had to undergo a further 3 months of advanced training in remote jungles and highland areas before she could start work.

Thereafter, she was transferred to Kota Kinabalu, a coastal city in Sabah, Malaysia.  Now, Christine flies a Robinson R44, conducting aerial surveys and doing sight-seeing flights over the islands, mountains and jungles of East Malaysia.  She has even had the thrill of flying Hong Kong movie artistes for location shoots!  However, by far the most memorable flying moment for her would have to be the 41/2 hours ferry flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu over the South China Sea.  This is a rare opportunity which not many pilots have had.

Women in Aviation
The GA scene in Malaysia is generally quite active.  It seems that everyone knows everyone else (advice: make sure you behave well!).  As far as helicopter training is concerned, there are probably only 2 places offering it – Integrated Flight Training in Ipoh & FRAS flying club in Senai, Johor.  At the moment, Christine flies mostly over jungles and mountains.  She feels that flying cross country in Malaysia should be easy except for some constraints in getting Avgas at remote airfields.

As far as she knows, Christine is the only civilian female helicopter pilot in Malaysia.  The only other female helicopter pilots she knows of are the ladies flying Nuri helicopters in the air force.

She doesn’t see that there are any particular difficulties for women in aviation as compared to men.  She has always done all the same things as the boys such as pushing, refuelling and washing the helicopters she flies.  However, sometimes she does wish there were more female pilots around to hang out with for “girl talk” on things like dressing up and make-up etc.
 

The Way Forward
Christine feels that she is very lucky to have a family that is very supportive of her choice of career.  In fact, her dad sponsored her flying training.  And now, her sister is also aiming to go for flying training soon with fixed wing aircraft.  Flying looks set to become a new family tradition in the Lalo family.

She intends to continue upgrading her skills by learning to do underslung and power line inspection type of flying operations.  But her ultimate dream is to fly mercy flights in third world countries.  For that goal, she will be happy to fly any helicopter.  And finally, her advice for aspiring female aviators, “Follow your dreams and be tough. Don’t let the guys bully you!”