Happy New Year of the Snake

On Thursday 9th January it was a freezing -2º Centigrade in Devon but it was also SKC (SKy Clear) and so the day was expected to warm up as we had the long drive back to Guildford.
Just west of a Starbucks and ESSO station on the A303 is the Willoughby Hedge Café in a layby. It's the place to go for a reasonably priced tea, coffee, and snacks. They also do cooked food. (It's on Google maps).
When the owner David is there, it's also a place to talk aeroplanes.
We stopped off, and I had a Lardy Cake and a coffee.

Next stop of course was Popham Airfield which always welcomes visitors.
There was hot Potato Soup, brown bread and butter, and a tea to be had for lunch.


I pulled the Aircoupe out and did an economical twenty five minute flight.

England is very sociable, and every Thursday night we usually meet at the Bricklayers Arms in Shamley Green, and this was essential to me as I won't be able to go for a while.

Seldom used skills

I have a long history in aviation and have worked in aircraft maintenance and inspection.
In life I was taught to accept what people think, and this is not a good idea. You do need to defend yourself sometimes, your reputation depends upon it, and of course you have to assure potential employers of your competency.
Aviation is full of egos, and from my point of view, if a person professes to be skilled and qualified to do a particular task I expect them to do their job properly. I have been disappointed many times, and it has cost me royally.

And so it was that I was asked what was wrong with the magneto on a friends' new Lycoming engine.
There was much discussion by text on WhatsApp, and this lead to voice and video calls.
What a fantastic idea it was to a younger Michael, talking over the internet, long distance, and almost free!

The owner had called tech support around the world, and was even asked if the battery was correctly connected to his magneto!
Eventually we determined that the timing was 90/270º out, it was firing number 4 when it should have been firing number 1.
I got my hands on it, set the mag mid range, and timed it 25º BTDC, and all's well with the world.


Something like 300 hours TT, 160hp, fixed pitch.
Advanced Avionics (Dynon) glass cockpit, Garmin Avionics.
RV9A components included, 'was originally an 'A' as first flown and tested by me.
4.8 million Baht, but open to offers.

My brother Gary in Canada is an expert in electronics, and specifically avionics and so through a call using (Meta) Messenger I was able to help sort a radio problem out.
The Tx had stayed on after the transmit button was released. It turned out that if you connect the microphone jack incorrectly the capacitor in the microphone will keep the transmit on until it discharges! Problem sold with a bit of soldering.
All of this ability to communicate across the world would have made a huge difference to my business life in the 1980's.


The new RV8 replacement for the RV9

When flight testing an RV9A back in Canada I learned that the feeble brakes fitted to RVs burn out very quickly from new, and so I sorted the RV8's brakes out before they did likewise. What you need to do is to rough up the brake pads with Emery cloth to take the smooth finish off them.


The MOT, Insurance and Tax was renewed on my (KIA) Ford Aspire.

Did I forget to mention that I flew on Qatar Airways to Doha, and on to Bangkok last month...
First leg was on an A380, very nice, but the well used 777 for the second leg wasn't as posh.

Are we fans of the Jabiru engine?
In England a friend had been told by an expert to run his engine only on Avgas 100LL, so one day there was a cylinder out. This was easy to see on today's cylinder by cylinder electronic instrumentation. A valve had stuck in with the lead deposited by this awful fuel. This meant the pushrod had come off its rocker, and was now working the edge of the rocker cup thereby not allowing the valve to close.

Here a couple of years ago in a Jabiru aeroplane we could hear the clack clacking of collapsed hydraulic lifters. This took a few stops and starts to get oil into the lifters to make them work and stop the noise. I am sure that many troubles with the Jabiru engine come from flying with collapsed lifters.

Another Jabiru, and many more coincident problems:
1. the engine reaches maximum RPM and then it drops off, losing 400 RPM. To me this is likely fuel flow with a restriction in the fuel system (TBC). Do not leave Mogas sitting for long periods, it leaves gum deposits, and I suspect this is the source of the problem.
2. There were weak sparks and no sparks on some sparking plugs. One of the HT plug cables fell apart... A new set of cables has solved most of this problem. Problem tracing continues...


I hope to be able to fly this Citabria from BFA at Pattaya Eastern

I have applied for a Thai Validation of my Canadian CPL.
There have been delays as CAAT asked me to submit the same documents several times, and there's confusion of course.

Light General Aviation is going to be killed off by enhanced new EASA rules enacted by the CAAT.
First was banning flying clubs from giving Private Pilot Licence training. CAAT already had imposed a 60 flight hour non approved flight training program on the clubs whilst the ATO Schools/Colleges remained at 40 hours.
If you want to do a PPL here in Thailand it will cost you a lot more through having to go to the 'professional' schools.

The CAAT is also imposing 'Type Ratings' on PPLs. You will have to get training and a sign off from one of the professional schools and pay CAAT 1,000 Baht to put the Type Rating on your licence.
You have a Type Rating in a Cessna 172? You will need another one to fly a PA28.
If the school is not familiar with your aircraft type you will need to lend it to them for their instuctor to get training in it before giving you training in it.
Tailwheel?
The instructor will need to be trained in tailwheel and on the type all at your expense!

Every second year you will need to go to the school and do a course to renew your type rating.

The school's want to offer Upset Recovery Training (UPRT) for airline pilots.
A group of instructors have been selected.
It's difficult to find instructors with aerobatic and tailwheel experience in Thailand.
They want to borrow an Extra 300 to train these selected instructors and a French aerobatic champion is being employed to do the training in line with the EU organisation, EASA.


This time of the year is when burning takes place on the fields, and mountains
rendering the air to become dangerous to breathe. The Air Quality Index goes red.

There were several reasons for me to spend 2,995 Baht to fly on Thai Lion Air to U-Tapao airport.
Daren was down there by road to see a USN aircraft carrier and wanted company to drop by several airfields on a driveabout.

I also wanted to drop some things brought from England for friends in Jomtien, and to visit Pattaya Eastern Air Park.

Over a couple of days we visited Klaeng where they are busy dropping parachutists from a Kodiak, then Eastern of course, and onwards to Banana where Pilatus Porters and PT6s are expertly being restored in an impressively clean and professional building.
Nong Khor is also busy with parachutists and is the home of autogyros in Thailand.
Bang Phra where the Thai Flying Club is a victim of the new rules. Whereas it was busy with students learning to fly at their leisure for many years, this facility is now denied.


Roadsides here are littered with aeroplanes if you're looking.


Burapha-Thid Flying Association is fighting to keep some light aircraft flying available.

Ultralight/microlight flying has so far not been subject to the draconian new rules and so it is still possible to get a dual flight with a Thai UL instructor.

Onwards and northwards

The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative seems to be extending into Thailand.
New high speed standard gauge railways are being built above existing railways.
New highway construction too.

We stopped by Khao Yai where they have yet another parachute drop zone.

Back in Nonghoi I was without my car, I'd loaned it to George while he was up here with the Citabria and I told him to leave it at Nok Airfield when he flew south.
Ed kindly offered me a lift to the field at 07:00, so a short night's sleep for me.
While I helped sort a snag out in another aeroplane Ed changed the oil in the Tecnam and now it needed a flight or two, so I went for a few circuits.
I taught Ed to fly in 2007, Cessna 150, 152, and finished off in the Tecnam. Different times when flying was a lot different to now.

Website:
I will renew the website if I see my credit card again... Carlos has kindly offered to sponsor this renewal.

Back to mpaviation.com