Operating A Private Plane From Chiang Mai

[kcore]

Reach out to Richy's Dad. Richy is the owner of Richco, the harley davidson dealer on Walai (silver) Rd. His father is building an airplane currently and just moved the body to wing 41 for attachement of the wings. I would guess he would have some expertise in this area....

kevin

[solent01]

@ Insert, so why having a Thai wife or partner? It is cheaper to rent one if you need one.

Smaller airplanes are cheaper to buy than a BMW or average SUV if you don't mind all the paper work involved.

@ Solent01 the landings strips are not to short, your choice of plane is to big

With a smaller plane or a STOL aircraft you would be able to fly to all landing strips in the area or even build your own if you get permission from the DCA.

It is like buying a road bike or a mountain bike. While a road bike in the west would be a good choice the mountain bike will serve you better in Thailand.

Sure SomchaiCNX, I understand what you are saying, but, my family and I would be flying mostly over mountain jungles with little hope of a safe forced landing if things went that way, for this reason I would be looking for a twin, but a twin with "real" single engine performance, not just a controlled descent to the crash site, something akin to a PA-23 or 310, that can still climb (depending on density alt.) on one engine at / near MAUW, (of course there are more modern single engine turbines that do the job very well, but I don't want that sort of expense in Thailand). Now, we could look at an Islander, but the maintenance schedule on this type is awful, I wouldn't want to operate that in England let alone Thailand (as a side note, Britten Norman has moved to my home strip of EGHN from EGHJ)

In all seriousness SomchaiCNX, I have operated many twins, from 850m of grass in England, (and we are talking a strip that is at 55', with typical British atmosphere) some of them could not take off at MAUW from said strip because it would be too tight for comfort, and a couple just couldn't do the job @MAUW full stop, Partenavia P68 springs to mind!!! (single engine performance I mean, as an Instructor I always take this into account). If I operated a twin in Thailand I would want to be able to utilise most of it's payload from home base, so would be looking for at least 1000m (Hot & Humid conditions).

To none aviators...... I will point out at this point that a twin is only safer if operated within it's single engine limits, and has more critical stages of flight to loose an engine than others, essentially take off and climb out are the most critical, if you are within your aircrafts limits for single engine performance, operating from a suitable runway and handled correctly all should be ok, if however you are outside those limits, you may as well be in a single engine with power failure, cause your going down. This is why single engine IFR (flying on instruments in bad weather) is not a good idea, you loose that one good engine, your going down, and without a clue of where your going to land/crash, with a twin you can limp to the first suitable field with an instrument landing procedure. In England AOC holders (people you charter an aircraft from) can not operate over water or mountains with a single engine aircraft, now think about exactly how safe you are flying in to Pai in a Cessna Caravan Yes it is capable of the job and very good at it, but when it goes wrong, boy you better hope your either descending at Pai or Chiang Mai with the field within your glide, one thing there isn't an abundance of in Thailand is suitable emergency landing spots..... As a pilot I always notice the local topography.

To sum up twin engine aircraft for those who know no better, with two engines, you have twice as much chance of things going wrong.......

The more a think about what I want to do, the terrain to be over flown and the requirements that will be needed from the home base airfield (IFR capable, if single pilot IFR is allowed within Thailand needs to be confirmed), the more I see this as not being do-able. I am still very much interested in operating a small tourer though just for the fun of it, an Arrow or TB20 etc. for flying over friendlier terrain. I have heard though through PM, that the whole attitude towards GA seems very bad with people waiting months for revalidation of licenses, some thing that also needs to be confirmed. I will update this thread when I have more answers, as for now all I have are questions.

[solent01]

I tried to edit the above to add this but I guess it timed out.

I am not new to Aviation or operating aircraft, I was/am a flying Instructor and Examiner in England and hold two licenses, European and American, I have owned and operated many Single and Multi engine aircraft both Fixed and Rotary wing, Piston and Turbine, on the Golf and November Registers, I have owned two private strips (I am looking into operating another strip with a business partner at the moment) and operated an Approved Maintenance Organisation before we joined JAR (when the whole of European General aviation got turned upside down by Bureaucracy) , I was even foolish enough to set up and run a Helicopter Charter company (AOC).

I'm not stating the above to sound off, I simply want to connect with others who have / are involved with GA in Thailand. I am not asking about aircraft in general. :jap:

Again thank you for the contacts provided :jap:

Edited November 1, 2011 by solent01

[Tywais]

I'm not stating the above to sound off, I simply want to connect with others who have / are involved with GA in Thailand. I am not asking about aircraft in general. :jap:

After reading that I feel a little... uhh inadequate. I'm US licensed PPL through Instrument and commercial but high costs in Thailand and my work has not allowed me the luxury. Had my license and log books sent to me a while ago with plans to convert. Single engines only with a touch of heli.

[solent01]

.

Seems like the obvious solution to me.

I would say you are missing the point of this topic. Flying an aircraft personally is not about getting from point A to point B as much as it is the pleasure/enjoyment of it. For many of us it's a hobby and a way to relax. Not too many karaokes up there to stress out over.

As Tywais has already pointed out, most, if not all of us do it because we love it, it has nothing to do with ease of transport or anything like that, in fact it is very often a hastle to fly yourself in your own aircraft (maintenance, medical, license, weather, airspace restrictions - NOTAM'S etc. etc. etc.) I guess you could say we have to love it, because anyone in their right mind wouldn't do any of this to save time, or because its easy.

[solent01]

I'm not stating the above to sound off, I simply want to connect with others who have / are involved with GA in Thailand. I am not asking about aircraft in general. :jap:

After reading that I feel a little... uhh inadequate. I'm US licensed PPL through Instrument and commercial but high costs in Thailand and my work has not allowed me the luxury. Had my license and log books sent to me a while ago with plans to convert. Single engines only with a touch of heli.

And having said that, both JAA/FAA are out of check, and my medicals have expired

[cloudhopper]

but high costs in Thailand and my work has not allowed me the luxury.

It's not just the cost; I just couldn't take the pain of a system 50 years behind the rest of the world, and turned ultralight.

[Diablo Bob]

but high costs in Thailand and my work has not allowed me the luxury.

It's not just the cost; I just couldn't take the pain of a system 50 years behind the rest of the world, and turned ultralight.

I have come to the same conclusion, so I am looking at getting an Excalbur which under Thai regulations is an ultralight.....

Edited November 1, 2011 by Diablo Bob

[Tywais]

I have come to the same conclusion, so I am looking at getting an Excalbur which under Thai regulations is an ultralight.....

I had to look that up. Wish I hadn't, now I want one.

[cloudhopper]

Or if you prefer a more open cockpit - Shot with a helmet cam from Thongkwao airfield S of Doi Saket.

[solent01]

but high costs in Thailand and my work has not allowed me the luxury.

It's not just the cost; I just couldn't take the pain of a system 50 years behind the rest of the world, and turned ultralight.

England has gone the Microlight route because of cost, Mogas is 50% cheaper than Avgas, aircraft maintenance can be done by the owner with a yearly inspection and sign off "Permit", medical is a simple signature from your GP, no medical is needed, as its based on your medical history. Aircraft cost was lower (this seems to have gone up though), the two biggest factors are its not part of Europe, and the performance (and bang for buck) of some of these aircraft is fantastic (120+ kts @ 75% power with a fuel burn of around 15 ltrs an hours ) similar performance from a Piper, Cessna etc will see you burning 35-45 ltrs an hour.

This is me in a lower end Microlight, its a Thruster T600N Sprint, it has the Jabiru 2200A powerplant, burning around 10ltrs hr (got just over 2,000 hrs on type lol ), the photo was for the flying school (seen in the back ground) I was running back then, I no longer have this school, but the website is the same one I set up....

[SomchaiCNX]

@ Solent01  (i'm not an expert and my goal to fly in Thailand is different, did not want to offend you <img src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/jap.gif" alt=":jap:" class="bbc_emoticon">).<div>Jumped a couple times (free fall) from the Britten Norman while still in the Be army. </div><div>The Be army took them out of service just a couple years ago.</div><div>I think they only lost one because of a hard landing.<div>Jumped from them also as a skydiver. We once had to bail out because of an engine failure.</div><div>No panic, still had plenty of time (6000 ft) to hang on it and make a group exit for a RW.</div><div>We had a pilot and 11 skydivers on board (one more than allowed). </div><div>The staff of the skydiving center panicked when they saw 11 chutes instead of 10. </div><div>The pilot landed save, he did not know number 11 was on board.</div><div><br></div><div>This type of aircraft is also used as a School Bus in some places, forgot the name of the Island but they use it in the winter when the ferry is not operating to bring the kids to school and pick them up. </div><div><br></div><div>GA had a boom for a while but when the boys in green took over it went down hill again.</div><div><br></div></div>

[solent01]

SomchaiCNX, you did not offend me, sorry if I made you think otherwise. I just wanted to make it clear to all that I am a professional looking for contacts with expats who are already doing what I am thinking about doing, so I can find out the SP about dealing with the DOA, getting info about licenses etc is the easy part, using said licenses and operating an aircraft on a regular basis is often another story :jap: this is what I am investigating.

Perhaps I should have titled this thread "Solents feasibility study on GA in Thailand"

[SomchaiCNX]

I'm actually doing the same for the last 3 years now but the rules change fast.

[Tywais]

A bit off topic but just saw this news of a 767 making a belly landing. Talk about a perfect touchdown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ-6nqdMSvQ

In Thaivisa News Clippings now.

[solent01]

Nicely done, another good one was the Hudson River incident