Friday we took off from Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand and set heading down south to the Thai Flying Club at the Bang Phra airfield (VTBT). We landed just before the sky opened up with heavy rain. The approach into Bang Phra is very interesting since the airport has high tension power lines at final approach runway 05 and a 300 feet mountain-ridge a quarter of a mile before touchdown runway 23.
The standard procedure for runway 23 we was told to be to fly in in front of the hill in between another ridge on left base. When we came closer to the airport we couldn't really figure out how to do it without being inches from the treetops, we therefore did a straight in approach for runway 23, passing the ridge with 200 feet clearence, this means that you have to decend very steep the last hundered meters but thanks to the high sinkrate when having gear down, full flaps and idling engines this made it possible!
After the landning we got to know that nobody had done such an approach before! =)

How a departure from runway 05 looks like...

The stay in Thailand has quite a lot of focus within the aviation community, we have met up with Tom Claytor who is another earthrounder, he started his around the world flight 1990 taking of from North America, now 16 years later he has come as far as Thailand! His flight is quite different from ours, almost spending the same number of years in each country as we are spending days! Have a look at www.claytor.com!
I have never meet a person with that knowledge of so many countries, languages and cultures!
It was a little funny, the first question we got from Tom when we had landed was not how the trip had been, instead he asked if we had some laundry to do since they had a washingmachine at the club!
From almost 16 years of experience he really knows the practical needs you have as an earthrounder! =)

Another earthrounder, Tom Claytor

We have had the possiblity to demonstrate the DA42 for several interested club members, it's really fun to share our experiences and impressions! We also met up with the Thailand distributor for Diamond, Hubert Trunzer, he was also quite interested in our experiences from our aircraft, which are really positive!

Our impression from Thailand is that people are hubmle and friendly, always close to a smile and a laugh. If you haven't been to Thailand you should take the opportunity to come here and enjoy the atmosphere!

I would like to say thanks to Tom, Norm and all the other people at the Thai Flying Club for taking so good care of us!

Over and out...

Written by Henrik

Posted by: Helena Malm
Hej grabbar! Kul att följa er på resan. Verkar som ni har det precis så bra som ni förtjänar! Fortsätt med det så fortsätter jag läsningen. Kramar Helena

Posted by: Tim Wright
I am very interested to meet up with Johan and his crew when he comes to Brisbane - Archerfield. Would you kindly let me know what dates he will be here and how I could contact him.

Posted by: Carl Rönn
Hi Johan, Henrik and Martin,
great project, great purpose and also exellent to show what you can do with modern car engines...

with my very best regards
Carl Rönn

Posted by: Åsa Fredell
Hej!

Vill bara skicka en hälsning från Santiago de Compostela och säga att det ni gör är SKITHÄFTIGT!!!! En speciell hälsning till Henrik (Pierre berättade för mig att du var ute och flög.) Flyg försiktigt och njut av Äventyret. Skulle ni ha vägarna förbi så är ni mycket välkomna. Jag stannar i Santiago till slutet av augusti. Många kramar!!!
Åsa.

Posted by: Karl Erban
Hello world flyers,

I look to your page everyday and it´s good to see
that it works.
Good luck and kind regards.
Karl