We took off from Nok airfield at 11:52. This was my first experience of flying a single engine turboprop aeroplane. Operation of the engine seems to be simple.

The water level is very high, they have been holding back a lot of water to moderate the flooding south to Bangkok

The Jetprop is not the best aeroplane for aerial photography, there's no clear vision window, and if you angle the camera too much you get the wavy imagery through the jet exhaust.

Fantacia vectored us to be clear of a Kan Air Cessna Caravan enroute to Mae Sot. This traffic was 20 miles away and 3,000 feet above us. Expect generous traffic proximity allowances here!
Ed remarked that fuel could become critical if we kept our 90 degree deviation for too long...
At 28 USGPH you have to be careful.

I don't think a farmer took a potshot at us here as one did in the movie!

It's more than four and a half years since Mike Flynn and myself flew the Cessna 172F from Lamphun here... Only a page back.
Movements are rare into this beautiful place.

I really really do not want to go back to Vancouver... All that cold and snow is cruel punishment!

After departing Mae Sariang we flew east at 7,500 feet passing Doi Inthanon which rose a thousand feet more.

We were cleared a visual approach into Chiang Mai International.
Chiang Mai has introduced mandatory 'Handling' and so we used Kan Air, and were directed to stand 11 after we taxied clear of the runway.

Kan Air has a route structure in northern Thailand connecting places with Cessna Caravans.
Handling means a truck, marshallers, and a minibus...
We went to the AOT office in the main terminal and paid the 650 Baht landing fee.

My morning began with a hot air balloon passing my window (G-CLIC was its registration).
Here we are in the evening and they are lighting up.

Ed and I both wanted to go to that idyllic place Mae Sariang which was a favourite place to go 4 years ago.
With the severe flooding we would check the water level in the Bhumipol reservoir enroute. This is future 'flood water' for Bangkok!
There's a lot of blame going around the Thai government over the alleged mismanagement of this dam by either the present government or the previous one and legal action being taken aginst politicians of both parties over the bad flooding due to claimed water mismanagement.
True the level is still at the maximum in the Bhumipol reservoir and it was probably too high before the rains fell, but they could never have known how it would be so much more rain than has fallen during the rainy seasons in recent years.
Bangkok has been built on a flood plain and it's industrial sites have restricted the normal run-off of water in the rainy season and so it is no surprise what has befallen this area and places north such as Nakhon Sawan, Lopburi, and Ayutthaya.

When I was teaching Ed it was from Lamphun. There's a new tarmac runway convenient to put market stalls on!
I see they've cut the moat all around the 19 threshold end...

We were routed clear of the inbound/outbound track from Chiang Mai and then Chiang Mai approach handed us off to Fantacia Approach (Thai Military) who monitored our flight though sometimes we were lost to their radar.

The DCA were visiting Mae Sot and heard us landing at Mae Sariang so Ed gave them a report on the phone.
After collecting our landing fee we were loaned a motorcycle to ride into town for lunch.

This is the life, Khun Beng remembered us from our visits all those years ago.
I took her cousin and her son for a flight in the Cessna 172 before we flew back to Lamphun 4½ years ago.

I always like air side views.

I'm not a fan of the MD80 series guided missiles... and One Two Go/Orient Thai are not the best reputed airline.

Thank you to Ed Loigorri for a brilliant day out.

It was soon dark after landing and so I had the most risky part of my day ahead of me... The 18 kilometre ride home on the Honda Wave motorcycle I rented.
I arrived home safely.