Flying to Chiang Mai

The Citabria is the fastest aeroplane in the BFA Flying Club tailwheel fleet and so Tristan and I were the last to takeoff from Pattaya Eastern at 09:19 to fly the eastern route around Bangkok and climb to 4,500 feet to fly to Phitsanulok.
Arriving inbound to Phitsanulok we were instructed to hold at Bravo Romeo point before they would let us in, this extended our time a bit, and we landed at 12:07 in time for a bit of lunch.

Departure was delayed when the other (slow) aeroplanes who were flying in formation got their call in first, even though two of them had not started yet and weren't ready.
We obtained takeoff clearance at 15:03 after 18 minutes of engine ground running.
Heading north at 4,500 feet we were told to climb to 5,500 feet to be a thousand feet above the formation of slow aeroplanes as we overtook them.
We landed at Chiang Mai Air Sports field at 16:34.

The attention grabbing Stearman at CMAS

Airshow

Kim opens the show in his gyro

A Diamond D62 did a couple of passes

In Thailand the Diamond DA40 is restricted in the runway lengths it is allowed to use as there have been runway excursions and crashes.
It's down to technique.
We watched as a diesel DA40 Tdi took nearly all of the 750 metres available to takeoff.
The nosewheel was held on the ground too long...
I flew one of these here a few years ago, and asked the pilot what the climb speed was, "85 knots" he said. Why would the diesel aeroplane have such a high speed compared with the DA40-180 I was familiar with? "Oh look, here's the flight manual", the climb speeds (depending on weight) were the same! Adding significantly more speed to your takeoff is hazardous.

George puts on a display in the Citabria

The airshow was well attended and people even turned back when car parking became impossible.

George flies the impressive PT13 Stearman.

Annabel's Northern Experience

Annabel was to stay a couple of days up in Chiang Mai to travel around with Paul in the Ford Aspire.
Before my departure Annabel and I did a morning flight together to Chiang Dao which is a scenic mountain further north.
The air time for this flight was 1 hour 20 minutes.
On our return Tristan was waiting... He'd already filed our flight plan to Phitsanulok at our arrival time; we would be late!

We took off from CMAS at 10:33 and flew to Phisanulok at 5,000 feet as instructed by ATC. Landing was at 12:03.
In the terminal I settled the landing fee (85 Baht, £2) while Tristan organised the refueling.
Lunch was two Chinese pork buns and a Cappuccino.
We departed Phitsanulok at 13:10 and flew at 4,500 feet to the south (ATC)... I mention ATC because I know the altitude does not comply with the semi circular rule.

On the way down I heard Focal military (127.0) try to contact two aircraft ahead of us, but below the contactable horizon (line of sight) and so I offered to relay messages to them. I received a 'thank you' from Focal for doing this.

Next we were told to contact Khok Kathiam military airfield and obtained clearance through their airspace.

These fires were as we were leaving Khok Kathiam's airspace.
Often they get out of control and burn the whole mountainside.

Smoke, PM2.5 is a real problem in Thailand at this time of the year. We spotted several fires on the way down with farmers breaking the law.

We entered the east route around Bangkok and were instructed to descend to 2,500 feet.

The whole flight was easy with no snags at all, and ATC was efficient all the way.
Landing was at 15:41, after 2 hours and 31 minutes in the air.

Back in Pattaya Eastern I helped Egor to prepare for his PPL flight test which he passed on the 8th February.
Flying club's are no longer allowed to teach the PPL in Thailand, only the certified Air Training Organisations are allowed to do this from now on, but the students who had already begun training with BFA Flying Club are allowed to complete their training provided this is done before 23rd December 2026.
CAAT is interpreting the EASA bible, to which they have decided to adhere to.
Meanwhile, the CAA in Britain is looking at simplifying the rules following Brexit.
The EU loves regulation, and this is not good for business!

I was able to fly with Egor, Som, and Annabel until the 29th January in the Citabria, the Cub, and the Stearman.

 Scenic flight in the Citabria with Annabel, 28th January.

Our final flight together.

Paul was too big for the aeroplanes I fly, but we did manage to get him up for a flight in the Wilga.
Both Paul and Annabel had a fun during their two week visit to Thailand.

This was my last flight for eight days.

The evening of the 29th I ate at Sami's restaurant and felt another 'cold' coming on.
The next morning I was very ill with Influenza that stopped me from eating for three days. It was so severe that on the Saturday I booked a Bolt car to take me to Jomtien Hospital in case it was the dreaded Dengue. There they charged me 9,858 Baht which included 2,133 Baht worth of drugs. "Take three times a day after meals".
Since I could not eat I did not take any of these pills.

The flu was a very miserable time for me... At my age I do not think I can survive many episodes such as this.
I started to eat again 2nd February, I had lost 2kg or so weight and was down to 72.9kg (I still need to lose 3kg more for my BMI).

On Tuesday I moved to the Siam Court Hotel in Bang Sare where Blaine Bjarnarson holds 'court'.
Blaine flew Twin Otters on floats in various places such as the Canadian North, American Virgin Islands, and the Maldives.
His career nearly ended after a crash in a Flarecraft surface effect vehicle. 'Seems they modified the tail without understanding the effect on the controls, the vehicle would not fly until 70 knots was reached, and then it pitched up, stalled and crashed.
We had a lot to talk about.
I stayed there for two nights, and bought his book.

6th February I was able to fly again, it had been 8 miserable days, but I still had some way to go to recover from the flu.

I flew solo to Nong Khor to pick up Egor after his preliminary flight test in the Cessna 210.
The 210 is not the ideal aeroplane to do a PPL flight test in, but it was the only aeroplane in the club with a nosewheel that the examiner could fly.
CAAT would not allow BFA to borrow a simpler aeroplane (Cessna 150, 152, or 172) from another club for this purpose.

Carl turned up to fly with me in the Stearman and the Citabria. He has passed the air law exam and should obtain a Thai Validation soon.

After a fun flight in the Stearman we went to U Tapao in the Citabria to do a few circuits.

Four more Citabria flights during the next three days, and my Thailand flying was finished for this season.
My Validation expired on the 16th February, and I may or may not obtain another one in the future.
During these final days I helped Bobby and Martin prepare for their PPL Flight Tests and both of them have since passed.

It has been a privilege and a pleasure to have been able to do some flying in Thailand again this season.
It remains to be seen how long I can carry on flying; the bought of serious Influenza has shaken me somewhat. Such illness is much more serious when you are alone.