In Hong Kong I looked at Swatch watches and thought about buying a new one in the same style to replace the Swatch I have had for the past 15 years or so... Instinct told me I should, but sense said there's nothing wrong with the one I have.

The Motorola phone I have used for the past six years or so, (I lose track of time!), is of a type that is exhibited in a phone museum here. It's display has blotches in it and I am never quite sure that the letter I am using is the correct one when I type a message.
I decided to buy another phone, but instinct suggested I don't... I had a bad time with a Nokia phone once, so bad that I had to replace the new Nokia with the Motorola that was about a year old at that time.
Against instinct I bought a Nokia 2630 for 3,050 Baht ($95) and the salesman gave me a plastic cover to protect it. It seemed like a good phone, but it was not to be.

Yesterday we stopped by a hot spring and I stumbled climbing over a wall. The phone was in my camera bag's side pocket and this must have come in contact with the wall.
A sharp point hit the plastic cover where it is weakest, where the opening for the buttons begins. This wrecked the display and so the phone is now useless.
Hitting anywhere else than this 30mm x 4mm strip there would have been no damage.

This morning I woke up to find that my trusty Swatch was not working....
The battery is held in the Swatch watch by a bayonet fitting that clips into the plastic back with three tangs. The plastic has broken in two places with old age, sweat, heat stress and all the trauma's of being Michael's watch!
I should have bought that new watch, but I should not have bought that Nokia!
Now I'm back to using my Motorola, and fortunately its clock works!

The concern now is that these things happen in threes... What's next?

Another Long Journey

This time I took Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong and onwards to Bangkok... It was suggested to me that flying Oasis to Hong Kong and connecting there to another airline would have been cheaper... Perhaps it would have been... One Way!

I left at 01:00 Monday morning from Vancouver to arrive at around 11:30 Tuesday morning.
Knowing the Thai Air Asia is always late I decided to take the bus to Don Mueang and take Nok Air instead... This was perhaps a mistake.
I ran for the bus, got on, found it was the wrong one and stepped off... The bus had started to move and so I ended up on my back! My bag was on my back fortunately.
The next bus was the 554, the correct one and it came immediately. I paid my 34 Baht fare.
I missed the early afternoon Nok Air flight by minutes... If my flight to Bangkok was not an hour late I would have made it easily.
The Nok Air 737-400 pushed back on time, and then taxied at the usual fast clip to the runway and took off... Bangkok was unusually clear this time so it was a good view.

The approach into Chiang Mai was very dangerous, the sort of approach I'd expect a presolo student, given a practice engine failure downwind, to make.
The 737 approached down the ILS 36 and then circled to land on 18... Now the Thai pilot had to hand fly the aeroplane, and a 737 is just like any other aeroplane when fundamentals are applied.
The aircraft descended on the downwind leg, turned an early base and was too low already!
The final turn was too low at a steep angle of bank, I suspect we'd overshot the centreline, there was some turbulence, and looking at the windsock there was about 18 knots from the south west.
The aircraft was never stabilised on that whole short final rocking side to side with the buildings perilously close.
There was no room for error... The throttles were moving up and down the whole time... Catch a bird, or have any sort of problem, and we'd be in big trouble.
Passengers who didn't know were wide eyed, and some cried... Me, I was angry, I wasn't there to sort this pilot's foolishness out as I have so many times with trainees.
I could not get it out of my mind... I have e-mailed my report to Nok Air.

'Home Again'

The apartment has changed a little, a large poster depicting Amitabha Buddha adorns the wall above my bed.
A large aerial photograph of Alouette Lake is above a Buddhist shrine typical of many Thai houses.
I don't mind... It is not a religion of death as are the God religions. There's no-one to blame but yourself, do good in the world and you build merit and good karma for the next time around... Learn your lessons well enough and you can go to the next level and escape the misery of this life altogether.

Mod had stocked the fridge with food... She bought marmalade and cheese together with some more porridge oats!
Thai women know how to make a home a home.

All the girls were pleased to see me again at the Cozy Corner... What a difference from Canada where the girls are polite enough most of the time, but miss a little... Thai girls are both polite and friendly. They don't have so much money, but they know how to enjoy their lives.
Not that Thai lives are idyllic, but they are strong and work on the positive instead of moan about the negative. It's a 'make the best of it' philosophy.

Escaping Songkran

Songkran in Chiang Mai is open warfare with water as its ammunition.
My first time I was wet for three days and ended up like a prune at the end of it...
The second time I thought I'd escaped it, especially as I did a border run into Myanmar (Burma)... But no, turning a corner in Tachileik I was confronted with a full bucket load of water.

Mod is working at the Lai Tai Guesthouse and so I went there for lunch on Thursday.
There I met Lieven who originates in Belgium and now lives in LA... He was interested in escaping Songkran too and had booked a trip on Sunday to Siem Riep in Cambodia, but what to do for two days.
I suggested he go to Chiang Dao to see the mountains and caves, and perhaps book into a resort nearby for some R&R.
I suggested he rent a car from NP Car rent where the owner knows me... In Thailand it is good to develop relationships with people, they will give you a good deal if they think you are coming back.
Lieven suggested we share the trip and the costs and I agreed. I had no good reason not to do so.
Sometimes I'll make a decision based on there not being a reason not to.

NP did have the Suzuki Jeep available but they weren't recommending it. A Honda was available until Sunday morning, but I didn't want to drop it off then and be faced with drowning.
That left the Mitsubishi pick-up truck, and this turned out to have been a fortunate thing.

It was a long arduous climb over the mountains, the highest peak is 1930 metres near Ang Khang, I registered 5,845 feet at one point using the GPS.
The GPS locked on straight away. I was prepared to have to reset its position, but I have not used it since the last time I was in Thailand.

Ang Khang was very quiet, it seems the tourist season is over, and perhaps the farang's desire to splash water is another factor.
We looked into renting a couple of rooms... The place was a doss house with a wall to wall mattress and five pillows across it in each room.
Not inspiring though a manage a cinque with four Thai girls might be interesting it would leave me somewhat tired for the next days drive. "In my dreams!"

Lieven took the wheel and drove us down the mountains again and north to Thaton where we stayed in a couple of bungalows.
Dinner was at a roadside restaurant and was very good... There's good food everywhere in Thailand.

I'm up at 05:30 these mornings... I try to count how many hours I'm sleeping, maybe six to six and a half...
And so it was I was up to photograph the Sun rising over the bungalows, the temples above the town, and the monks visiting early in the morning for food.
Enroute to the town there's a crematorium. Thai Buddhists cremate, the Chinese and Muslims bury.
Thais look upon the extensive ornate Chinese cemetories with a little chagrin; what a waste of land.

After a very good breakfast we were surrounded by young Aka girls who wanted to sell us their tribal crafts, namely wrist bands and necklaces. These girls were persistent and one spoke very good English; she'll go far.
We drove to Mae Chan and on up to Doi Tung where the gardens are spectacular.

Enroute to Mae Chan we checked out one of the active hot springs where I suspect my phone was broken.
I was not very interested in making merit on Saturday and thought too late that I should give a couple of girls trying to lug a couple of sacks up the mountain on a motorbike, a lift... I should have done something for the Aka girls as well, they deserved something for their efforts.
This is a holiday for Thais and so the Queen Mother's gardens were overcrowded.
With so many we decided to return southbound.
Back in Mae Chan I decided to give Anek a call to see if he'd like lunch when we got to Chiang Rai... This was when I discovered my phone was broken, perhaps if I'd made good merit it wouldn't have happened...
Never mind, I drove us into Chiang Rai where one of Anek's uncles phoned him... He was in Mae Chan!

After lunch in Chiang Rai we visited the brand new Wat Rong Khun.
Wats (temples) have Buddhist stories depicted on their walls... This Wat had scenes from Star Wars and other science fiction movies, and a painting of the twin towers in New York following the first airliner's crash,
Perhaps present and future conflicts is part of the message.

Everywhere Thais have fun that westerners have forgotten in their headlong race towards total safety and no risk.
Thais swimming in the river, enjoying themselves, even drinking beer in public in the picture, left, is evidence of a society enjoying its life.
We discussed the North American situation where risk is largely being removed... Are we really living if there is no risk?
Does risk not create awareness?

I was pleasantly surprised to see that construction work I had seen on the Chiang Rai - Chiang Mai road had been completed... But I was wrong... There was many kilometres of broken road to pass, it was another good reason to be driving a truck!

We stopped in at Doi Saket, another temple I have written about in the past on this site.
Dinner was at the Riverside Restaurant in Chiang Mai; serpent head fish ( a form of catfish).

Today I drove to Ban Thi to see how the Chiang Mai Flying Club were doing... Nobody there.
Nok next door was locked up as well.
Then I joined the masses driving around Chiang Mai seeing lots of soaking but happy people.

One of the new faces at Cozy Corner

Wat Suan Dok

There's no rest for the wicked and I must prepare for the attentions of a Transport Canada inspector when I get back.
This means going through the Canadian Aviation Regulations in detail as I am the CFI of a new school and must come under scrutiny.
I was given a questionaire and I must show a full understanding and the desire to comply fully with these regulations...
So I have spent a few hours poring through the CARs online and answering the questions.

Songkran...

..continued for two more days of getting wet in Chiang Mai after my return from the north. No where was safe!
On Monday and Tuesday I did battle with water pistols and a big water cannon Mod managed to acquire...
On Monday evening I was to meet up with Jan at Kad Suan Kaew Central Mall, I thought we might be able to escape the battle by going around the outside, but ended up soaked nevertheless.
On Tuesday evening after 20:00 when the water fight was supposed to stop I was soaked once again on the way to the pub; this time I was not amused.
Jan is a Czech pilot who does a lot of travelling and is coming to Canada to do some flying next month.

Ban Thi

I have about three hours of motorcycle riding so I suppose I'm becoming an expert!
On Sunday I borrowed Mod's Honda and rode out to Ban Thi with Ben.
It was a useful exercise because I don't ride motorcycles and Ben, who followed on his bike, was able to give me some tips on how it's done...

Ben did his CPL at Victoria and his Instrument Rating at Pro and now has a job with SGA flying their Caravans.
We went to Ban Thi to find out whether there was any life at the Chiang Mai Flying Club on the weekends...
The hangar was full of mechanics working on the aeroplanes, and there wasn't anyone booked to fly.
I filed a flight plan to take the Cessna 150 up to Chiang Dao...
When I phoned for departure clearance ATC would not let me go to Chiang Dao due to VIPs being near there (a princess was opening an infant school in Mae Taeng).

The prefered takeoff direction is 09 due to there being trees near the 09 threshold...
We took 09 and accepted the five knot tailwind... The high temperature and our elevation contributed to a long takeoff run and shallow climb. It was barely good enough!
ATC refused us permission to go to Doi Saket and told us to go to Mae Tha instead...

Ben and I flew around the Mae Tha area which is very dry with the rivers nearly empty and the reservoirs very low. There will be rains next month and perhaps floods by August as is usual here.

The straight in approach to Ban Thi was straight across the Nok runway and hangars... But there was no problem, Nok was closed with a padlock on the gate.
There's been a lot of trouble in Thailand through farangs not obeying the regulations and flying at Nok has suffered as a result.
The crash of the CMFC Cessna 172 with four farangs on board, taking off with full flap, showed how the regulations were being broken (the pilot did not have a valid licence), and how bad PDM is.
The former CFI is in court defending himself against an allegation he flew without a valid medical and therefore without a valid licence (not in the crashed 172 that was another one!). The DCA reported him to the police who are taking action against him.
It's a disappointment to me. Flying was beginning to become more available in Thailand, but a few people who were impatient with the DCA and so circumvented the regulations have caused a setback.
Now licence validations require you to pass the Thai air law exam and the Thai human factors exam.
I don't know whether I will be able to get a Thai validation in the future in time to be able to use it during a holiday.

The mechanics finished their work on the Cessna 152... 'Would I mind fying with a Thai pilot for a few circuits to test it?'.
Back to work...
This time the takeoff was into the wind and towards the trees.
The aeroplane was easily airborne within 400 metres and we cleared the trees.
The first approach was at 70KIAS with a flat landing... Not ideal on stones.
I demonstrated a 55 KIAS approach with only the mainwheels touching the ground and then a go around with the same attitude.
We did nine circuits as I tried to get rid of the high speed approach habit.

The last week in Thailand was one of relaxing for the most part, walking over to the Chiang Mai Flying Club office and then to one of the small restaurants for lunch.
Eating out in Thailand is common for people, food is plentiful and cheap, though the price of rice is going up.
I ate a couple of times at the Pizzamania restaurant, this was closer in price to it's Canadian equivalent though the quality of the food was at least as good as the best North American pizza place if not better.

I took the motorbike out a couple of times but didn't travel far. I think next time I will venture further afield, but I have to develop my bike sense... I took it easy and kept my eyes moving everywhere including my mirrors.
Lots of farangs like me end up on motorbikes in Thailand for their first times, you've just got to be careful.
On the plus side, drivers in Thailand are used to small motorbikes and lots of them and so it's safer than taking a motorbike out on Vancouver roads where drivers are largely inconsiderate of such things.

My Nokia phone was not repairable and so I took it back to the shop where I bought it and they gave me 200 Baht off a new phone, a better design this time, it's Nokia 2760 and cost 2,700 Baht. They threw in a leather belt bag with a magnetic lid. They'll always give you something extra it seems.

The price of glasses has gone up a little, another 2,700 Baht ($90) bought me a new pair of glasses too.

Always Late Thai Air Asia

In consideration of the fact that Suvarnabhumi airport is better for where we were going I once again booked on Thai Air Asia for the flight south to Bangkok.
This time, on Thursday evening, they sent me an SMS message on my phone to say that the flight would be 1 hour 15 minutes late on Friday and it would now depart at 18:20... They knew 24 hours before that their flight would be late!
Still, it gave me some more time to catch up with fellow pilots Ben and Klaus for a long lunch at Lai Thai guest house.

After arrival at Suvarnabhumi we were picked up by one of Maneeda's drivers and driven to her office in a Toyota Yaris I was renting... We agreed 3,500 Baht for rental from Friday evening to Monday morning.
It was raining as we drove to Rama IX road to meet up with Pakorn and his wife for a late dinner.
Finding a hotel in the late evening proved to be easier than expected, we found a Soi with several hotels and settled on the Wong Charearn Mansion in Ladprao at 580 Baht per night.

Bang Phra

The Cessna 172 was taking off as we arrived at Bang Phra to meet up with Norm Livngstone and other friends there. The Thai Flying Club is ticking over off season and between the storms that bring heavy rain for periods each day.
As always it was good to see fellow aviators and enjoy their company...
We went for lunch at the Bang Phra Golf Club. They were renovating and so the restaurant was now under tent cover in the grounds... Food took a long time to come, and due to the mainly Japanese clientele was more expensive than usual... Kao pad gai was some 80 Baht, that's nearly $3!
We were behind schedule for the trip to Pattaya Eastern aerodrome and some more Allegro flying.

Flight testing

At Eastern Paul had applied vortex generators below the tailplane of the Allegro and was ready to test them.
It seemed that the elevator was actually heavier when Paul raised the nose for takeoff, but that may have been due to the fact he normally flew solo and now had my weight in the aeroplane as well. We flew overhead Pattaya Eastern and reacquainted ourselves with the feel and handling of the aircraft.

Sunday 27th began with a phone call to U-Tapao... It was not easy to get U-Tapao ATC on the radio until we were at around 1,500 feet and yet their airspace started at 700 feet ASL.
There have been a lot of problems with the Thai authorities as several incidents have occured involving ultralight aircraft including one where a group of farangs in flexwings flew past an active military airport! They think they can get away with it by flying low everywhere... Another flew under the approach path to Bangkok Airport... The ultralight"s mode A transponder triggered the TCAS in an airliner on finals!
Technically, ultralight aircraft are restricted to 500 feet AGL in Thailand, the original US regulation for Weedhoppers and the like, and not for the modern aircraft that qualify as ultralight today!
Talking to U-Tapao meant an easy transition into their airspace and a good relationship.

I suggested adding some to the fin as well as the Allegro suffers a bit from lack of directional stability and a small rudder.
The first test flight was a quick handling check at 3,000 feet overhead the field, we wanted to make direct comparisons as vortex generators were added to the aircraft.
A stall with flaps at 15 degrees produced a break at 38KIAS, this was compared with December's figures (39KIAS).
For the second test, vortex generators were added to the wing leading edge ahead of the ailerons. Big improvement! The ailerons felt crisper and worked much better as the speed was reduced through the stall.
The stall power off was improved too with the aircraft simply sinking power off with the stick on the back stop, and with a gentle break and right wing drop when power on (3,000 RPM/15").
Vortex generators were added full span for the third test flight and the prestall buffet disappeared, there was now no aerodynamic warning of the stall's approach.
3,000 feet at 24 degrees C, 1005mb, produced a density altitude of 5,040 feet on the Dynon PFD.
Vortex generators were removed from the wing root sections for about three feet from the wing/fuselage joint to see if the buffet returned. The stall speed was not affected, and the buffet did not return.
Power off stalls produced no break, just sink at 500 feet per minute.
Power on stalls produced a break and right wing drop even when the aircraft was flown deliberately with the ball out.

Stall speeds with power off:
22nd December 2007: 0 flap = 45KIAS, 15 flap = 40KIAS, 48 flaps = 36KIAS (3,000 RPM = 34KIAS).
With votex generators ahead of ailerons:
27th April 2008: 0 flap = 43KIAS, 15 flap = 36KIAS, 48 flap = 36KIAS holding the stick back produced oscillations and a 5 knot increase in average airspeed. No wing drop.
With full span vortex generators:
0 flap = 41KIAS, 15 flap 36 to 37KIAS, and 48 flap = 33 to 34KIAS
3,000RPM: 0 flap = 38KIAS, 15 flap 36KIAS, and 48 flap = 33 to 34KIAS with a break and right wing drop.

Comments: Tends to roll into the turn at 40KIAS and 30 degrees bank.
Slow flight (40KIAS) and 40 degrees bank ball in the middle showed not enough aileron to roll out without the assistance of the rudder.

Vortex generators on the CH701: I was told the slats can be removed from this aircraft altogether and replaced with vortex generators with no loss of performance at the slow end but a gain in cruise speed without the drag of the slats. They do appear to work.
Of course they were clear to see on the Boeing 777 I flew in to Hong Kong!

Saturday night was spent in Jomtien at 760 Baht a night in a guesthouse on the beach.

Back to Bangkok

I finished flying at 18:20, it was a long day on Sunday... And then I offered Tom a ride from Bang Phra to Suvarnabhumi airport.
After a bit of dinner at a roadside stand, noodles and moo, towing a Jeep off the runyay and into a shed, we drove back towards Bangkok.
It was late, but we found the same hotel in Ladprao...

The day has 39 hours

24 +15 hours difference makes it a 39 hour day... My day began early in Bangkok with a quick walk and a small breakfast bought at a corner shop.
Into the Bangkok rush hour traffic and onto the motorway to the airport where the car was picked up by the rental company by the departure entrance.
Thai Air Asia was on time for once and so I saw Mod off to Chiang Mai and then went to catch my delayed Cathay flight to Hong Kong where we arrived early and I had just over an hour there before catching the Cathay Airbus 340 to Vancouver arriving 23 minutes early at 13:27.
Students Vibhav, Ivan, and Kevin picked me up and I ended up in the flying school until 19:00 Vancouver time.
I began my day driving in Bangkok traffic and ended it driving back to Ladner and picking up groceries on the way.
I went from warm showers to steady cold rain!