On the 5th I had a blood test... Check the cholesterol, and they did both an EKG
and a chest X-Ray.
The Thai BMI doesn't say I am overweight, it says I am
"obese"! "Time to starve" I wrote. I weigh 73.8kg (167cm tall).
That evening I decided to walk into Chiang Mai as the roads were choc a bloc.
It began to rain so I took cover.
After a while I decided to run over the
Krusty's bar nearby with the result I slipped in the mud and had a dirty wet
bottom for a while... But nevertheless, after the rain stopped, with true
resolve, I carried on walking into town to see what Loy Krathong had to offer.
I walked over 17,500 steps.
The Queen Mother passed away recently, so there is a time of mourning.
Many people were at Tapae
Gate, the centre of many a celebration.
There was a beauty
competition at Tapae Gate for young Thais in Choot Lanna.
Loy Krathong was short for me this year, I would miss the parades and major
celebrations due to take place on Thursday evening.
Duty called, and the only
flight I could get was Thai Lion Air to U-Tapao at 5,790 Baht in order to fly
with Tristan before his business trip back to Europe. I've always gone out of my
way to help people in the aviation business.
The weather was marginal VFR on Friday morning and we had to turn back enroute to Bang Phra which is only 15 minutes flight away. My sense of the weather is well developed so this was not unexpected, but a student pilot needs to see and learn a lesson sometimes.
Later on the weather improved and so we went to do three circuits at U-Tapao...
"Is this enough or would you like to do a couple more?" We did two more; total
five.
I was surprised to see a Russian registered business jet taxy out so on
one of our circuits we made an early cross wind turn to facilitate it's
departure, but there was no 'thank you' from it's crew. We didn't have to do
what we did, it was simple courtesy.
Buddha Mountain
On Saturday the weather was still not good enough to do a long cross country,
(this was the original plan), and so we flew over to Nong Khor for another three
circuits followed by Tristan doing three solo circuits between parachute drops.
The next stop was Bang Phra for four landings there.
We did three circuits of 23 at Bang Phra with the base leg being up close to the hill and temple on the base leg.
After the third touch and go on 23 we did a teardrop turn to do a full stop on 05.
The weather was a lot better on Sunday and so we could do a cross country flight to Klong 11 within the Bangkok TMA.
A Klong is a canal and there are many around and through Bangkok, there are
airfields at Klong 4, Klong 11, 15, and 16.
Khun Mao operates his Cessna 172
from Klong 11; I reported on doing slips with him the last time I was here...
After our arrival we were driven to an excellent restaurant in the middle of
nowhere, besides the Klong a few kilometres north of the airfield.
I didn't know it at the time, but it was Khun Mao's birthday, so it was apt that
we bought him dinner.
Tab Tim fish, rice, and Thai fish cakes in the
restaurant followed by coffee in the attached cafe.
Khun Mao and Tristan.
There is a specific routing one flies, waypoint to waypoint, to get around
inside the Bangkok TMA, it's simple enough and the radio work is straight
forward.
We were cleared to fly at 1,000 feet on the QNH. The frequency,
125.80, is primarily for helicopter routing.
Ban Pakong is the entry
and exit point to the southern portion of the Bangkok TMA.
You can see these
chimneys from the Motorway 7 near the motorway services and temple.
We were back in time for me to be picked up and driven to a new nearby airfield
where two Tiger Moths have arrived from Australia.
One is a long term project
but the other is an almost ready to fly aeroplane, and this aeroplane needs my
help to be rigged.
I know a little about setting up an aeroplane to be rigged, probably a little
more than most, but I have requested help.
Thankfully there are some generous
enthusiasts in England who are giving me advice and so I am confident we'll get
the job done.
The port wing set are basically rigged, but a couple of the
flying and landing wires need to be swapped on the starboard side, and the wires
in the interplane struts need to have their positions changed.
I came to
this aeroplanes with all the wires attached; some incorrectly. It confused me
why the front starboard flying wire was so slack... Now I know, and thank you to
the Moth Club, and Henry Labouchere.
We'll get this Tiger Moth
going.
It wasn't my intention to go to Atlantic airfield on Monday, but they were insistent on picking me up from a lunch with my hosts Alasdair and Gill at the Ocean Marina... Another few hours were spent on levelling the aeroplane, and this we achieved, so next time I am down to Jomtien (20th?) I will help them to do a final rigging check.
Tuesday morning I went on a shopping trip with George to find teapots for BFA flying club... I've introduced English tea to them, and it's become popular.
My flight back to Chiang Mai cost 1,490 Baht (compared with 5,790 Baht to come
down), and was scheduled to depart U Tapao at 14:30. Of course it was over an
hour late.
Captain Thomas kept everyone updated with interjections of Scouse
humour... He learned to fly at Liverpool (Speke) thirty years ago, and here he
was flying 737's in Thailand. I had a chat with him before boarding the single
Thai Lion Air bus at Chiang Mai Airport.
Chiang Mai is a place where I recover my soul. I'm not here to work!
Emotionally it can be taxing doing what I do... Rig a Tiger Moth, sit in a
Citabria, sort this and that out for people. It's all good stuff, good skills,
but why could I not build a comfortable retirement?