Thai Flying Club Northern Winter Tour December 2020
Fernando's Northern Tour 2020
Annual Thai Flying Club Light Aircraft Northern Winter Tour 2020
Towards the beginning of the Thai winter season, Thai Flying Club member Fernando Ponsa organises his annual Northern Winter flying tour starting and finishing at Bang Phra Airport (VTBT).
Both members and non members of Thai Flying Club are invited to join in a relaxed exploration of the lesser known airports and airstrips of the North and North East of Thailand using light aircraft.
This years route was:-
The tour ran from December 13th – December 20th 2020, covering some 1,200 Nm.
George and Som from Eastern Airport in Pattaya embarked on the trip as far as Tak – VTPT in HS-PSW, a Cessna 210.
They enjoyed some lovely flying along the Mekong River.
Nok Flying Club members, Gerry and Flying Ed caught up partway through the tour from the Mae Sariang leg, where they met up with Fernando’s Diamond DA42 – HS-MAR, and Alex’s Cessna 180 – HS-BOO.
Gerry acted as co-pilot for Flying Ed in HS-EAL – Miss Dippy.
Joining Fernando this year, were left to right… Gerry, Alex, Deitrich, Flying Ed, Fernando, and Tony.
Mae Sariang – VTCS is a lovely strip right on the Myanmar – Thai border.
Life is very laid back here,
as is the transport…
The weather was excellent. Clear blue skies and a crisp light chill in the air under a lovely warm sun.
Curiously, each page of the airport log book depicts many years of arrivals due to the low number of visiting aircraft.
Can you spot the two HS-TOM entries?
The entire Mae Sariang Airport Logbook…
Departing Mae Sariang, we headed to Mae Hong Son (VTCH) and then Pai (VTCI), some 76 Nm due North East.
The scenery was beautiful. Mountain ranges, valleys and rivers all laid out as far as the eye could see. We are lucky to live in this part of the world and be allowed to fly above it.
Some 360 Degree footage of the trip. Nok Airfield (VTCY) – Mae Sariang (VTCS) – Pai (VTCI) flight.
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Arriving at Pai – VTCI…
For this leg of the tour, Gunther joined us with HS-CRZ, his Zenair 750 Cruzer.
We were given a warm arrival by the airport staff, and the resort owners of the Kirina Wellness in the Valley where we stayed.
The Kirina staff took really good care of us, cooking a sumptuous brick oven roast chicken and home made pizzas. They then went on to provide us all with a lovely warm fire pit to share some aviation yarns around.
After Pai, Gerry, Gunther and I (Flying Ed) returned to Nok Airfield, whilst the others continued on to Mae Sot before returning home to Bang Phra.
A very nice tour and a chance to socialise with fellow pilots here in Thailand. Thank you for organising it Fernando. We look forward to next years adventure!