Aviation In Thailand

[T_Dog]

First went solo at RAF Leeming (ATC) in around 1965 in a Sed...also had air cadet Mk 3s...great days....

would have liked to have tried the earlier models...... ...great thread....I wanna a hang glider.....

Rin, could you explain the second photo a bit more. If you have some bigger photos, pass those along. Never saw a glider quite like that! Pretty simple! Wow!

[Lopburi99]

Just ran across your aviation thread here so thought I'd check in and say 'hi' to all my fellow pilots on TV. I currently only spend about 3 months of every year in Thailand so have never paid much attention to the general aviation scene in LOS as I have heard that it is quite small. The only flying experience I have done in Thailand is flying the big birds into and out of the old Don Muang so probably do not have anything of any importance to contribute to this thread. Most of my time I now spend flying general aviation aircraft usually involves acrobatic flying. I will keep reading this nice thread as long as it keeps going since I am always interested in reading about what is new and happening with my fellow pilots in the general aviation world in LOS.

Hello Jetjock. Glad to have you on board.

We pilots all have many great stories, how about sharing one of yours with us?

I have a quickie. On my first SOLO flight, I was unpleasantly surprised by both a brief rain, plus a number of hot air balloons (from a nearby club) slowly drifting across my landing pattern . About crapped my pants! Went straight home into the shower after the lesson ended!

Great solo story! Here's mine: Solo'd on a wintery December day in the mountains of Idaho and on my first climb out, the panel on the old C150 started shaking like crazy, with the intensity and frequency reducing pretty quick. I almost freaked, but kept flying. Decided to shoot the first touch and go after figuring out it sounded like the main gear winding down. Sure enough, tapped the brakes on the second climb-out and the vibration stopped right away. There was snow and ice in the wheel hubs, and my instructor had been tapping the brakes right after lift-off all day, and never told me. I needed a good shower after that day too! This not a problem you would ever see in Thailand.....

"I almost freaked, but kept flying." How many times have we all felt like this! Kinda says it all about flying!

Also, so many times I've looked out of the cockpit side window, looked to the earth far below, and said to myself "What in the H_ELL am I doing up here?"

Edited November 22, 2008 by Lopburi99

[Rinrada]

First went solo at RAF Leeming (ATC) in around 1965 in a Sed...also had air cadet Mk 3s...great days....

would have liked to have tried the earlier models...... ...great thread....I wanna a hang glider.....

Rin, could you explain the second photo a bit more. If you have some bigger photos, pass those along. Never saw a glider quite like that! Pretty simple! Wow!

T dog...sorry for delayed response......

Ref the olde Seds....nice bit of history....starts with Grasshoppers and orig from Germanys DFS SG.38.

The T38 was an 'anachronistic' glider in the sense that it was a single-seat primary glider, built in a period when all standard trainers had become dual-seaters. The market for it was mainly due to the British Air Force using it for initial Air Cadets training. It was not intended to 'fly' in the real sense - it was mostly intended for short hops of at a height of about 3 meters at most.

The structure of the Grasshopper comprised of open framework made of wood, with a seat and elementary controls. The wings were wooden framed and covered in fabric, with Ailerons only for control, no landing flaps or air brakes were fitted. DFS SG.38

In 1951 the British Air Force ordered 65 Grasshoppers, which married the wings of the Cadet to a fuselage similar to the early German glider, the DFS SG.38. Many cadet wings were held in storage after conversions of Cadets to Tutors.

It was flight tested by Derek Piggott after being aero-towed up to 900m, so this particular version was airworthy, but in general, the Grasshoppers were not expected to fly, so the standards for the production aircraft did not need to be fully airworthy.

Production continued during the fifties, with a further 40 being delivered to the RAF. The gliders appear to have been used primarily by CCFs (Combined Cadet Forces). These were usually based at large schools, and the gliders were flown by means of bungee launches from the school playing field. The Grasshoppers were intended to provide experience and feel of flying controls, as only straight and level flight was officially attainable at a height of about 3 metres.

Strictly speaking, the Grasshoppers were not even originally supposed to achieve this level of flight - they were expected more to ground slide rather than fly. This presumably is the source of their name, although I never seen that stated anywhere.

Part of the hazard associated with this kind of solo traing was removed by the use of the German-invented pendelbock, or tripod, on which the primary glider could be suspended close to the ground enabling the student to experience the effect of the control while pointing into the wind.

However it would appear that more adventurous flights were sometimes undertaken with resultant heavy landings requiring repairs by the RAF who luckily didn't ask too many awkward questions. With advances in technology the need for basic glider training had disappeared by the late eighties, as cadets were now able to fly flight simulators on PC's. Also the RAF were unwilling to pay maintenance and repair costs on the old machines.

One commentator has noted that at least by working with the Grasshopper, the school pupils did learn a great deal, although not necessarily about flying.

The Cadet had been manufactured during the war by Slingsbys for use by the ATC squadrons (originally called Air Defence Cadet Corps), superseding the Daglings, and they continued to be made until the late fifties. These were capable of proper flight and so able to provide better experience than before.

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Early Gliding in Deutschland

By virtue of the terms of the Versailles Treaty, the Germans were the first to develop gliding in a big way - by 1930, flights of 150 km. were being achieved. This was at a time when gliding was almost unknown in Britain.

Annual events were held since 1920 on the Wasserkuppe, in the Rhön Mountains of the Fulda district.

Permanent gliding schools were established in the Wasserkuppe, and at Rossitten on the Baltic coast.

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Early Gliding in Britain

The British Gliding association was founded in 1929, and was heavily influenced by Deutschland in its early days.

In Deutschland, Alexander Lippisch had designed the Zögling, which became the standard primary glider (i.e. a simple one-seat glider).

In Britain plans of the Zögling were actually available at the cost of £1 10s to enable the type to be built at home by glider enthusiasts.

A British version was built in 1930 by R.F. Dagnall, head of the RFD company which built balloons and airships. This glider became known as a Dagling - 28 were built and all similar gliders built in Britain were also given this name.

Demand for this type of primary glider grew, and it was put back into production in 1934 by Slingsbys as the T.2 Primary. These were used by civilian gliding clubs, but on the outbreak of war most were taken over by the RAF for use by Air Training Corps squadrons.

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Slingsby Gliders

Fred Slingsby fought as a gunner in the Royal Flying Corps during World War 1, and earned a military medal for landing his aircraft himself after the pilot had been killed. He left in 1920 and set up a furniture factory in Scarborough.

In February 1930, Scarborough Gliding Club was formed, of which he was a founder-member - by the end of the year, it had 40 active flying members.

The Dagling Glider they used needed constant repair and maintenance, which Slingsy carried out in his furniture factory.

The first gliders were built in his factory in Queen Street, Scarborough.

This was transferred to the town's abandoned tram sheds, before a completely new factory was built in Kirbymoorside in 1934.

His first glider, in 1931, was a Falcon. The Falcon, was a British version of the Falke, built by the RRG (Rhön-Rossitten Gesellschaft), and was designed by Alexander Lippisch.

In 1933, Slingsby started producing Daglings, as the Type 3. This type of glider was not the best for teaching - no doubt clubs were put off by the cost of a dual-control glider but it is arguable that this would have been cheaper in the end, if it proved more successful in producing qualified glider pilots (who would then have increased the funding of the clubs). Definitely, the initial wave of interest in gliding in Britain tailed off with the low success rate in producing qualified pilots, and by 1932 Scarborough Gliding Club was in dire straits. It merged with another club, and further mergers produced the Yorkshire Gliding Club, based at Sutton Bank, near Thirsk.

In 1934, he abandoned furniture-making

In April 1939, Geoffrey Stephenson, flew across the Channel in a Kirby Gull, flying from Dunstable. By this year, Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd were offering new gliders from £99. A Kirby Kite 1 cost £159.

Late in 1939 all private gliding in Great Britain had come to a stop because of the war with Germany and the work at Slingsby's soon came to a standstill. In order to keep his company alive, Fred Slingsby had to find some work to keep his men busy. The company got a contract to build rudders for the A.V. Roe Anson twin engine utility and training plane and also sold a few gliders for radar experiments.

This kept the company in business until an order was received for the design and production of the Hengist troop carrying glider. In addition, Slingsby also received orders for primary training gliders for the Royal Air Force - Air Training Corps (ATC). With the Hengist and training glider orders along with the repairs and manufacturing of spare parts, the Slingsby company was kept busy throughout the war. Anticipating the end of the war and the need for better training gliders for both the ATC and private clubs, Slingsby designed and built both a tandem and a side-by- side prototype glider to meet this need. This later design became the Slingsby Type-21.

The surviving Slingsby Company was merged into the Vickers Group during late 1969, and the well-known British engineer/contest pilot George Burton was appointed its director. George knew the advantages of the modern glass materials, and he led the company into that technology. Their early sailplane project was the manufacture of the then popular high-performance 17 and 19-meter span Kestrels under license from Glasflugel of Germany. In 1979 the company was reorganized into Slingsby Engineering, Ltd.

The 15-Meter Vega design originated during the mid-seventies. By early 1978 it began series production, and it is now flying in many parts of the world. More recently a simplified club Vega version of this fine sailplane was developed. It features a nonretractable but sprung landing wheel, and has no wing flaps, yet retains the Vega’s outstanding trailing edge airbrakes.

Production of gliders ceased in 1982. A company still exists with the same name, but they produce entirely powered aircraft, and hovercraft.

Google Grasshopper Gliders and the whole world opens up......

[T_Dog]

Rin,

Thanks for that.... Amazing history. I've seen a glider above Chiang Mai a few times that I think was towed up from the Tango Squadran for Children's Day. Pretty advanced machine when compared with the Grasshopper! Thank You member # 13 for posting that! Looks like you also have a lot of stick time here on Thai Visa!

T_Dog

[robee]

It would be an interesting forum, if it kept to an aviation topic. There's not much flying in Thailand ( about 100 registered airplanes ) But I think what we'd get back would be worth trying it.

probably not going to be flying as i dont read thai and my speech is just enoufgh to get me in truoble at 3000AGL. interested in the hobby if any thing going on.

[robee]

Just ran across your aviation thread here so thought I'd check in and say 'hi' to all my fellow pilots on TV. I currently only spend about 3 months of every year in Thailand so have never paid much attention to the general aviation scene in LOS as I have heard that it is quite small. The only flying experience I have done in Thailand is flying the big birds into and out of the old Don Muang so probably do not have anything of any importance to contribute to this thread. Most of my time I now spend flying general aviation aircraft usually involves acrobatic flying. I will keep reading this nice thread as long as it keeps going since I am always interested in reading about what is new and happening with my fellow pilots in the general aviation world in LOS.

Hello Jetjock. Glad to have you on board.

We pilots all have many great stories, how about sharing one of yours with us?

I have a quickie. On my first SOLO flight, I was unpleasantly surprised by both a brief rain, plus a number of hot air balloons (from a nearby club) slowly drifting across my landing pattern . About crapped my pants! Went straight home into the shower after the lesson ended!

Great solo story! Here's mine: Solo'd on a wintery December day in the mountains of Idaho and on my first climb out, the panel on the old C150 started shaking like crazy, with the intensity and frequency reducing pretty quick. I almost freaked, but kept flying. Decided to shoot the first touch and go after figuring out it sounded like the main gear winding down. Sure enough, tapped the brakes on the second climb-out and the vibration stopped right away. There was snow and ice in the wheel hubs, and my instructor had been tapping the brakes right after lift-off all day, and never told me. I needed a good shower after that day too! This not a problem you would ever see in Thailand.....

"I almost freaked, but kept flying." How many times have we all felt like this! Kinda says it all about flying!

Also, so many times I've looked out of the cockpit side window, looked to the earth far below, and said to myself "What in the H_ELL am I doing up here?"

Said the same thing when on my last leg of cross country, was still PIT less than 40 hours and obviously VFR, and flew into some bad weather and right into a flock of geese at 1900 AGL. needed shower and more...

[JMRhoa123]

I am now living in Thailand half of the month and working with an airline in Japan the other half. I am interested in getting back into General Aviation and possibly doing some instruction or other aviation related work when I am in Thailand. Anyone have any suggestions on places to look to get back into the GA world and do some instruction?

[T_Dog]

I am now living in Thailand half of the month and working with an airline in Japan the other half. I am interested in getting back into General Aviation and possibly doing some instruction or other aviation related work when I am in Thailand. Anyone have any suggestions on places to look to get back into the GA world and do some instruction?

JMR... Run through the posts in this topic and you will find a lot of links to flying clubs, etc. I think it would be hard to break into instructing here as a foreigner but you never know. I have two three Thai friends in the aviation field, one of which is an instructor and he is not very busy. Once you get to Thailand, send me a PM and I can give you their contact info if you want to talk to them.

[Rinrada]

Was in the pub last night and having a bit of a think about the future (as one does) and decided that I gorra get more serious about the fun side of living in LOS perm. and while the idea of gliding again is attractive I figure that maybe micro-lighting might be better.

About a year or so ago we dropped the top of one of our mountains (have 2 )in Mae-on by about 2 metres and on last visit got the impression that could just about /maybe land-take off a micro onto it ... .....

just wondered has anyone done that...?

I know about the school just along from Makro and I have also visited the small airport off Kilo 15 on the super Highway to SKPeng.....(where the thursday morning market is held.....never seen a Non T there yet) but recon I could maybe get sumit going here.

Wife is looking to buy a couple of donkeys so access to the top of our wee mountains...elephant micro bar....gota have one right....would be 'different'......sort off......' beer and flight'.......so any comments chaps...?

[Rinrada]

just as a follow on.

....poss Mae-On International Airport..got to be serious ..yeah......

and the view from the VIP lounge bar 'pilots only'...or anyone else........funny dont get many visitors...in fact never had any.........

might get sponsored one day by Hilton,Marriot,Inter........never know.....will hold onto the candles...

...MPRai

[T_Dog]

Here's part of an article I saw in the BKK Post. The numbers of A/C in Thailand don't seem to support a project like this so there must be some other marketing angle as well.

Airpark offers homes with private runways

Bangkok Post Dec 24, 2008-B10bn project targets aviation lovers

Best Ocean Golf Co, the local golf club service provider, has launched a 10-billion-baht residential project with private runways and ramps to target aviation lovers.

Best Ocean Airpark, located on a 2,800-rai site on Rama II Road in Samut Sakhon province, would consist of 62 housing units worth a total of 1.6 billion baht. Units would range from 325 to 637 square metres with prices starting at 16 million baht.

Each home would have an 800- metre runway and private ramp. The public facilities would include a golf course, sports complex and resort.

Chairman Sittichai Jareonkhajornkul said that about 80% of the project's target buyers would be Thai businesspeople and aviation enthusiasts.

He said that the location of the project about 35 kilometres, or only 30 minutes, from Sathon Road would attract buyers who valued time in doing business.

"The project has no competition and it would also help the tourism industry as Thailand is developing into a convenient tourist destination," he said.

"We aim to make the project a flying centre for private planes as there are about 200 to 300 airports for private planes in Thailand."

Construction is scheduled to finish within three years, although completing the golf course and resort could take about four to five years. The residential area would take up about 1,000 rai while a 54-hole golf course, of which 36 holes have already been developed under Best Ocean Golf Course, would occupy 1,200 rai. The company also plans to make the project the largest golf city in Asia.

So far, about 600 rai of the total area have been developed into runways, houses and a resort. The runways should be completed by March next year and the club house is due to be finished by the end of next year.

The company has received financial backing mainly from its 15 subsidiaries and has obtained some loans from Krungthai Bank to develop the golf course.

According to Tom Claytor, a renowned bush pilot, Thailand has 500 pilots and about 10% of them own planes, while the United States has 700,000 pilots and 300,000 small planes.

Nexus Property Consultants was appointed as the project's sales agent with an aim of selling at least two units per month. Two units have already been booked by two Thai politicians.

Nexus managing director Apisit Limlomwongse said the airpark project would open a new market in Thailand's property industry as it is aimed both at owners of planes and those who simply have a passion for aviation.

[T_Dog]

just as a follow on.

....poss Mae-On International Airport..got to be serious ..yeah......

and the view from the VIP lounge bar 'pilots only'...or anyone else........funny dont get many visitors...in fact never had any.........

might get sponsored one day by Hilton,Marriot,Inter........never know.....will hold onto the candles...

...MPRai

Pop smoke Rin...I am coming in for a beer!

[jumnien]

Here's a photo of my plane. It is based near Chaam on a grass airstrip.

It is a Zenair CH701, great for Thailand.

Edited December 31, 2008 by jumnien

[T_Dog]

Here's a photo of my plane. It is based near Chaam on a grass airstrip.

It is a Zenair CH701, great for Thailand.

Nice '701! That is indeed a good aircraft for Thailand. I've seen a few back in the US and they sure are good short field performers. My old 182 shown above was too. 3 blade McCauley, Horton STOL kit, drooped tips, 206 gear and a velour interior. Not sure what the interior did for flying but it looked good! Even with a full load on a hot mountain strip, it would be flying in just a few hundred feet. Your '701 gives you a lot more flying for the liter though. Looks fairly new too ... Did you build it here?

[jumnien]

This is about 300 feet above the fishing harbor in Chaam.

The plane is factory built. I bought it new from Czech Aircraft Works in 2005 and imported it to Thailand. It is registered as an experimental aircraft, not as an ultralight, so I can file a flight plan and fly anywhere.

Edited December 31, 2008 by jumnien

[SomchaiCNX]

Here's a photo of my plane. It is based near Chaam on a grass airstrip.

It is a Zenair CH701, great for Thailand.

Nice Bird, nice color.

The new CH 750 looks great as well.

Blue sky

[Rinrada]

just as a follow on.

....poss Mae-On International Airport..got to be serious ..yeah......

and the view from the VIP lounge bar 'pilots only'...or anyone else........funny dont get many visitors...in fact never had any.........

might get sponsored one day by Hilton,Marriot,Inter........never know.....will hold onto the candles...

...MPRai

Pop smoke Rin...I am coming in for a beer!

T _Dog....Great..... your are more than welcome......

we gotta get this off the ground and(as one might say) into the AIR.....

[Spalpeen]

An early post on this thread mentioned a dis-assembled sailplane at Udon. Anyone know any more about this ?

[T_Dog]

About noon today, I saw what looked like a Diamond DA-42 Twin taking off from CNX. There aren't too many of these flying and am wondering if anyone else saw it or could clarify what it really was. There were a lot of aircraft flying today, but DA-42 with its T-tail is pretty distinctive.

[jumnien]

There are a number of Diamond Aircraft based here in Hua Hin at the CATC used for training. There are twins and singles. I don't know if this was the aircraft you saw. It could be a privately owned one as well.

[T_Dog]

Well son of a gun, it probably was one of theirs. The DA-42 is a pretty novel aircraft with its diesel engines and ability to use Jet A. Great for this area I am sure. Thanks for the info on CATC.

Ran across this link today as well on the history of the Thai Flying Club. Some nice pics and lots of good info on the history of aviation in Thailand: http://www.thaiflyingclub.com/linkhistoryo...flyingclub.html

[SomchaiCNX]

Does anybody know about a Cessna 120- 140 or Cessna 170 flying in Thailand?

[T_Dog]

The Thai Pilots Association is promoting Thailand as a training center for Southeast Asia. This would be good for aviation here and I certainly hope they can make progress on the idea. Some of the training centers that are already here look very well established and highly competent so a bit of marketing would go a long way. You can find the article at:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1042...set-to-take-off

[cloudhopper]

Was in the pub last night and having a bit of a think about the future (as one does) and decided that I gorra get more serious about the fun side of living in LOS perm. and while the idea of gliding again is attractive I figure that maybe micro-lighting might be better.

About a year or so ago we dropped the top of one of our mountains (have 2 )in Mae-on by about 2 metres and on last visit got the impression that could just about /maybe land-take off a micro onto it ... .....

just wondered has anyone done that...?

I know about the school just along from Makro and I have also visited the small airport off Kilo 15 on the super Highway to SKPeng.....(where the thursday morning market is held.....never seen a Non T there yet) but recon I could maybe get sumit going here.

Wife is looking to buy a couple of donkeys so access to the top of our wee mountains...elephant micro bar....gota have one right....would be 'different'......sort off......' beer and flight'.......so any comments chaps...?

Hi Rinrada I've just caught back up with this thread. Nice pics of the primary gliders. I had around 750 hours in gliders back in California and did exactly what you are thinking. I bought one of the 2 seat trikes made in Doi Saket by K Prayote who then taught me how to fly it (much more difficult than I thought it would be - all the control inputs are reversed from conventional AC). I now fly it off my 600' grass strip here in Pai but have to report that it is not really suitable for this area due to it's susceptibility to the rough air we have here in the valley. Crosswind ability is quite limited. Generally disappointing IMO. I'm now interested in a Sinus motorglider made by Pipistrel that looks like it has decent soaring performance and still STOL enough for my strip (and a conventional taildragger . It appears that the soaring conditions are quite good up here in the hills.

That field near San Kampaeng is NOK/CM flying clubs where you can get checked out in smaller single engine Cessnas/Pipers and Blanik/Astir gliders (there's a Diamond motorglider there too). Also Prayote is currently giving microlight rides out of there if you want to take a test hop in a trike. I have only been out there in the early mornings for hot air ballooning and haven't met the owner yet...

[T_Dog]

Since there are quite a few Zenith fans in Thailand, check out this video of a CH-701 short field take-off.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Does anybody know about a Cessna 120- 140 or Cessna 170 flying in Thailand?

Looking for a particular plane, or type of plane? Check out Steve Darke's super www site at:

www.thai-aviation.net

Mac

USPA C-1462

[T_Dog]

Embraers in Thailand..... It's not your father's F-5 anymore. Sign me up for the Tucano though.

1_Defense_and_Government_Market.pdf

[ThaiJon]

I've been reading the forums and keeping up on ThaiFlyingClub.com. I'm glad to see there are really great resources out there and that GA is developing in Thailand. I plan to move to BKK in the next couple months.

Did anyone respond as to whether you can keep an N registered plane in Thailand? Haven't seen an answer here, and it sure would be great to just stick a US plane in a crate and ship it over.

Also, I've read some about a change in the Thai Aviation laws that do not permit share ownership, only 1 or 2 owners. Very different from the US, where multiple partners can own and share a plane, resulting in better overall maintenance and capital utilization. Does anyone have an information on whether this law is truly the case?

JetJock -- I've spent a lot of time in Santa Barbara, in fact was just there this weekend. Spitfire Aviation is great.

J

[ThaiJon]

The DA-42 is pretty sweet, except Theilert went bankrupt and there is an AD here in the US that requires an overhaul of the gear boxes every 300 hours... at a cost of nearly $20,000 .

Have you seen many DA-40's running around? That's a pretty sweet single. What about any Rutan Long EZ's? I met a couple guys in Santa Ynez this weekend who have 'em, very sweet planes.

[jumnien]

You cannot fly a N-registered plane in Thailand, other than transit.