My new BioniX 13 is on its way

I have been rather lazy at updating this BLOG over the past two years, partly because I've been doing a lot of flying in my Tanarg/BioniX - I flew 17 hours last week alone!

Anyway, the boffins at Air Creation came up with a new 13sq. Meter BioniX (my current wing is 15 sq. M) and so I bought one - it should arrive soon after Christmas which will be almost exactly 2 years since I installed the BioniX 15 on my Tanarg.  I'm told that the advantages of the new smaller wing will be:

a)  Higher top speed or, more relevantly, better fuel economy at any given speed due to the reduced drag.
b)  I should experience reduced effects of turbulence due to the smaller wing area given that wing area is fairly proportional to the amount you get bounced around in rough air.
c)  Lighter control inputs - the 15 takes a fair bit of muscle, especially in roll at lower speeds.

Of course there will be sacrifices too:  my payload will drop by about 25 kilos and I will lose a small amount of speed at the lower end - I'm guessing about 2 mph. This higher stalling speed will make it more difficult to land my trike in smaller spaces.

Anyway, enough speculating - I'll write a report when I've had a chance to test her.  In the meantime, here's to a Merry Christmas to everyone and safe flying in 2013.

My new BioniX has arrived

Alasdair and I assembled the new wing on 15th December 2010 and fitted it to my Tanarg "Little Nellie" and, WOW!
The wing performs so much better than I can recall when I flew it in Sywell a few months ago. On its first flight I went for a short-field take-off and lifted at about 38 mph (remember it's hot here and was about 82 F on this day). I climbed to about 700 feet agl and started to wind the handle towards the "fast" setting...... all of a sudden I was in a shallow dive at 100 mph IAS (about 104 TAS) and so I increased the power to get her into level flight - I couldn't believe I was in level hands-off trimmed flight at over a ton.

I wound the handle back to give me a cruise of 85 mph IAS (about 88 TAS) and found myself buzzing along at around 13.5 LPH and feeling very comfortable. I'd read reports of buffeting at the higher speeds but I can report none at all. I then played at winding-the-handle up and down and started to bond with this new machine. When my friend Alasdair flew her for the first time his verdict was "you've got 4 aeroplanes there - depending on which speed setting you fly her at" - I think this describes the versatility of the wing very well.



Handling was very crisp, especially when you consider it's a brand new wing and, when you consider I'm used to an iXess 13. She was very easy in roll at all speeds although she was more responsive as the speed increased, as is to be expected. In pitch she was predictable and went where she was pointed. Stalling was gradual and predictable with a very slight tendency to drop the starboard wing but I reckon this will be eradicated once I've finely-tuned the wing. Apart from the novelty of adding about 20% to my cruising speed, the most amazing thing was the ability to fly her trimmed at very low speeds. I made several low passes down the runway at 10 feet and at about 40 mph - I could have flown slower but I'm still getting used to her. Landings were ridiculously short and I was getting ground-rolls of 20 meters or so in still air.

In short, the BioniX is an extremely capable wing and does so much more than the pure numbers would suggest - it really makes my Tanarg a far more able machine and a lot more fun too.

Microlight mission to "James Bond" Island with my new GoPro HD Helmet-Cam

There's a full-length version of this on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQMr8wZHaQc

Trying the new BioniX for size

Very soon after I arrived in London I had scheduled to test-fly the BioniX wing at Sywell (Northants). One of Air Creation's test pilots, Guillaume Richard, was at Sywell competing in the European Microlight Championships - this was my chance to see what this wing was all about since I'd have to wait a very long time to test-fly one in or near Thailand!

I was interested in 3 things that were claimed by the BioniX and, that I hoped the BioniX could deliver:
1. Have a trimmed speed range of 50 - 80 mph. My iXess 13 has a max trimmed speed of 70 mph and this extra 10 mph would make a big difference on cross country flying.
2. Be able to take-off and land in shorter spaces - mainly due to the wing's ability to land more slowly as a result of the lower stall speed.
3. That the wing wasn't sluggish at 15.1 sq metres. My iXess is 13.5 sq.m. and I didn't want to feel that the extra area was going to feel like I was flying through treacle.

On a very wet and windy August 14th my father and I set off for Sywell - it was my Dad's 77th birthday! When we got there we had winds of around 12 - 15 kts with a few gusts and, black CBs all around us. The cloud base was pretty low and I was alarmed when, during the flight, Guillaume informed me the circuit height was 1400' agl. Hmmm. In Phuket I rarely fly above 500 feet anywhere.

In between heavy showers we decided to get airborne and Guillaume allowed me to sit in the front - I thought this was very trusting of him, especially considering there were no training bars. With the corset wound fully slack, I rolled on the grass runway 23 into a 60 degree wind of 12 ish - I calculated the cross-wind component was in the order of 10 kts. Guillaume made some gesture for me to rotate and so I applied some forward bar pressure at what seemed like a very low speed compared to what I was used to. We then leapt (and I mean "leapt") into the air and, after a few iterations, established an alarming climb angle - this was going to be fun.


I climbed-out straight ahead (I'm not familiar with Sywell and its environs) and felt we were being battered around by the winds. I would feel a gust hit us but it seemed dampened by the wing and I remember thinking "that would have caused my iXess a few more problems". At this point the question was: is this wing rock-stable and if so, is it going to be sluggish in roll? I continued my climb, leveled-out low (500 ish) and did a couple of level 360 degree turns at about 45 degrees AoB. All seemed pretty good but we continued to get battered - so battered that I wasn't getting much "feel" for the wing.

We headed off in three different directions in an attempt to find some "quiet" sky but we had the doors slammed in our faces by lightening bolts all around us. I think we had three separate thunderstorms flanking us, the closest being about 8 to 10 miles away and I knew this was not a good place to be stooging around. I wound the corset to fully tight and gave her some extra throttle to see what she was like at higher speeds - we accelerated nicely but at around 65 mph we were getting so jostled that I decided to keep the ASI below 120 kph (all the dials were in French - metres per second, KPH, etc.). After a bit more of this we decided to enter the circuit (500 feet for me rather than 1400') and so I thought I'd try to gauge how good she was at landing short.

I flew a tight downwind leg and slackened the corset fully, then dropped in the final turn (no base leg - just a smooth descending arc to touchdown). The wind was still from our right and gusting more than it had on take-off - we had a nice comfortable rate of descent and a pretty low groundspeed (flying slowly and with a strong wind). I gave her a burst of power at about 50 feet as we found the worst part of the wind gradient and I came down for the flare. The wind was gusting and across the runway but I was determined to hold her off for as long as I could so I could witness the short-strip STOL capability. This was the most amazing part of the flight for me - she sat very stable on finals, pointed into wind and carried on going about her business whilst the Gods threw their worst at us - she really was unperturbed.


After shutting down I tried to replay the past 20 minutes back to myself. Sure she was stable - she was on rails! This would be partially due to the fact we were flying dual and neither of us are skinny (although he's far skinnier than I am!), it would also be due to the wing-tips (I don't have these on my iXess), it would also be due to the fact her wing area was 10% up on what I was used to. Having said all this, she didn't seem any different in roll/pitch to what I'm accustomed but, it's hard to tell as the conditions were so shite. I didn't really get the chance to play with the corset and try various cruise configurations - too blowy. I did however get to witness her incredible ability to get in/out of very tight airstrips/fields.

In short? I've ordered one:) I think it'll be a great wing for Phuket - it'll handle rotor turbulence better than my current wing, the extra 10 mph on cruise will be great and, her ability to land slow/tight will be a comforting safety factor.

"Little Nellie" has her first Annual/100 hour check

So, my little ultralight will be one year old on 6th September and, since I'll be in the UK until the 4th September, I thought I'd get her Annual Inspection done now. This way I can come home and fly her immediately :)

The check was very straightforward. First of all Khun Narin (the engineer) checked the wing fabric, frame and trike frame for cracks, signs of wear, condition, etc. We then gave the engine fresh oil, a new filter, new spark plugs and a compression test - all was OK. I then took her for a 15-minute test flight with Khun Narin and she flew as well as she ever did - smooth, quick and responsive.

I'll be testing the new BioniX wing on 14th August at Sywell when I'm in the UK. It'll be interesting to see what it's like but it would need to be very good indeed if I'm to replace my iXess 13 wing. The BioniX has an area of 15.1 sq.m. and I think I may find it heavy in roll after my 13.5 sq.m. iXess 13. What I like about the BioniX is the fact it will stall at about 32 mph (solo) compared to the 42 mph I have at the moment - this would make emergency landings in short spaces/ditching safer. As I've said before, there are very few places to land in Phuket if the engine goes silent so the slower I can land, the better. I also like the fact that the BioniX will cruise trimmed at about 80 mph, my current wing is about 70 mph.

I'll just have to wait and see..........

Flying my new Husky South

Late last year I went to Afton, Wyoming to buy myself an Aviat Husky A-1C; Huskys are made in Afton. Having paid the money I had her "torn-down" and shipped to Eastern Flying Club, near Pattaya, Thailand - a great club with many enthusiastic members! Here she was re-assembled and underwent her flight testing and, I flew her for about 15 hours to get the hang of her - I'd never flown a tail-dragger before and the techniques are a little different. Her name is Oh! Natty Jo-Jo after my daughters Natalie and Joanna.

On 20th July I flew her some 400 miles South to a temporary airfield, she'll be moved to another airfield sometime in the near future - she behaved in the ladylike manner you'd expect from a well-bred debutant! The trip took 3 hours and 40 minutes and so we were cruising with a groundspeed of about 115 mph at 10,500 feet and, we had around a 10 mph headwind the whole way. On this trip I averaged 7.8 US Gals per hour (29.15 l/hr) solo.

She's an A-1C with the Lycoming 0-360 (180 HP) engine. She has 31" Alaskan Bushwheels and takes-off/lands in pretty short distances. She is a BUSH PLANE:)

Off to Koh Phi-Phi again in my microlight

It's the wet season here in Phuket right now and so the good flying days are slightly less common than they are in the dry season. Having said that, there are still plenty of excellent days and this week has been made up of such days. We've had incredibly light winds, little cloud cover and the normal high temperatures and so, I thought I'd take my trike up for another look at Phi-Phi.

I filed my flight plan for a dawn departure (06:15) on Monday 5th July and got to the airfield about 15 minutes before take-off. I called the Phuket International Airport to notify them of my imminent departure, they told me the QNH and reported winds "calm"; good! I started her up and set off over the dew-soaked grass to warm my oil prior to take-off - you need 50 degrees C before you can rev the nuts off a 912S. I then pointed Little Nellie down runway 13 and floored the throttle - she trundled off like an old maid, lifting her hems as she sprinted down towards the sea. At this time of the morning the temperature was 25 degrees C and so she leapt into the air with a youthful spring - I made a heading adjustment to about 165 and put her into a very shallow climb to 500 feet. I like flying low over the sea - the "long-tail" fishing boats were starting their days work and I enjoy flying low over their heads, we always exchange waves. Or maybe they're shaking their fists (?)

By the way, I know the pundits say you should fly high-ish over the water in case of an engine failure but I don't really see the point in this. My view is, you're gonna get your feet wet whether you fly at 50 or 5,000 feet so what's the difference? Providing you have enough height/speed to turn and ditch into wind, make the MAYDAY call and disconnect your headset wires.... fly as low as you like! Besides, we're not allowed to climb over 1,000 feet if we're within 30 nm of the International airport - unless we get clearance of course and they're unlikely to grant this for a local flight.

I soon spotted a couple of chartered catamarans at anchor - probably waiting to get down the tidal channel to the Boat Lagoon (this channel's never dredged and can get as shallow as 2 metres in parts even at high tide so, it's worth waiting for a high tide!). I immediately pulled the bar in to gather speed and flew between their masts at about 90 mph - what fun. Glancing behind I saw I'd stirred the occupants who'd rushed up on deck to see what had made all the noise - one boat had some oldish folk on board and the other had about 3 bikini-clad babes, it was therefore worth another pass for a closer inspection. Yes, they were definitely female and I got a flurry of waves and cheers - if only they knew I was an overweight, middle-aged, retiree with a wife and three kids! Praise the Lord for face-obscuring helmets.

On with the mission. I could see the Southern tip of the island Koh Yao Yai (half-way to Phi-Phi from my home field - "Koh" in Thai means "island") and in fact, I could just about see Phi-Phi - about 30 miles away. I set a course for the tip of Yao Yai since I wanted to see if we could build a small landing strip there - it would be a nice place to land and there are a couple of small hotels which I'm sure could be trained to rustle-up a full English breakfast for future trips. As I approached the tip, the wind was picking up to about 13 knots at 500 feet - from the East-ish. This didn't cause too much trouble but it meant (a) my groundspeed was now about 58 mph and (b), there was a bit of rotor-turbulence since I was downwind of the hills that border the Southern tip of Yao Yai. Anyway, I decided not to mess around for too long in the lea but just take a quick peek - I did see some land that had potential and reckon I'll go back for a closer inspection when I have more time and it's less blowy.

On the way out of Yao Yai I saw a lovely little fishing village in the milky dawn light, comprising of a few shacks made from corrugated tin with some long-tail boats scattered in their small bay. I can only wonder how hot it must get inside those shacks when the sun is beating down at mid-day - it must be like a sauna.

Onwards to Phi-Phi and so I aimed for the northern tip of Phi-Phi Don - the larger of the two islands and the one that has habitation: bars/hotels/dive schools, etc. The wind was still pretty fresh from the East and so I thought it best to stay upwind of any land by flying down its North-Eastern coast in order to avoid any rotor - the rocks on Phi-Phi rise to about 1,000 feet; more than enough to kick-up some rough air. The East coast is mainly tree-lined with a few hotels/bungalows and a decent stretch of beach; enough to make a landing should the engine give me any trouble. I flew down to its South-eastern tip and then turned back on myself around the point to run-up to Tonsai Bay - the main jetty is here and so are all the shops, bars and dive-schools. I was now at about 700 feet in the lea of the mountains and was consequently getting bounced around a little, nothing alarming but a tiny bit uncomfortable. Glancing down to Tonsai Bay I saw a bonfire with smoke rising vertically so I thought it would be better to drop to 100 feet in order to explore this area. The smoke was right, it was flat calm down here.

Tonsai Bay and Loh Dalam Bay almost meet each other but are separated by a sandy strand about 200 metres wide at its narrowest part. These two beaches were devastated simultaneously in the 2004 tsunami and many souls were lost. All the buildings were flattened and so what you see now is post-tsunami construction:

I meandered around this area for a while, putting in some nice swoopy turns in each bay at 100 feet or less - it is SO MUCH FUN doing this early on a beautiful July morning when everyone else is still sleeping - my Tanarg is the "ES" (for Extra Silent) version so I don't think I'd have been disturbing anyone. There are probably only a handful of trikers who've ever flown around here; it's such a privilege and it makes me feel very honoured each time I do it.

I decided to vacate Phi-Phi Don and head South for the smaller but more scenic Phi-Phi Ley island - this is the one that contains the stunning Maya Bay, the location for the Leo di Caprio movie "The Beach". Phi-Phi Ley is a massive rock jutting out of the sea to over 1,000 feet, here it is as seen from the North-East:

I knew this obstacle could chuck-up some choppy air and so I stayed East and climbed to 2,500 feet in order to get a nice aerial shot of Maya Bay and, avoid the turbulence. This Tanarg is a wonderful machine - stick her in a cruise-climb at about 4,500 rpm (she peaks at 5,000 rpm if you have the "912 ES" version) and she claws her way upwards at about 700 feet per minute. I know I shouldn't complain but as we climbed the temperature fell (as it's supposed to do) - we started our climb at 25 C and at 23 C I felt a real chill then, as we got to 2,500 feet it had plummeted to 21 C - bloody freezing in an open cockpit at 70 mph wearing only a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. I have to remember that the vast majority of the World's trike pilots fly in temperatures way below these and so I'll stop moaning now.

Looking down on Maya was a treat for mine eyes - the huge cliffs that surround the bay are clad with trees and grass tufts and then in the centre is this clear, aquamarine, warm and flat-calm sea, so clear that you can clearly see the reef and sand on its bed. I have to say it again, I feel so privileged to witness such beauty especially when I know that only a select few ever get treated to this view. I resisted a strong urge to swoop down into the bay with rock walls all around me, and then fly down the corridor of cliffs to make a high-banked exit through Maya's Western door. The truth is I was very wary of the turbs that might transform my gallant dash into a bowel-loosening and scary ride. I decided to chicken-out and come back on a less windy day.

I spiraled down to about 800 feet and got about 800 metres West of Phi-Phi Ley when I realized my decision not to fly through the bay was the right one. Even at this distance in its lea I was tossed about in moderate fashion - I could still feel the rough air some 2 miles downwind of the island.

I set course for Phuket via a couple of islands and beat-up a few trawlers on the way - I think they enjoyed it. Half-way home I saw a Christmas Frigatebird, this seemed unusual since they're migratory and I thought they'd all cleared-off by now although apparently some do stay all year round. Frigatebirds are pretty big and spectacular with forked tails and a very characteristic wing-profile caused by a pronounced carpal joint - they get their name from the fact they plunder other birds for their prey - just like frigate ships. Here's a female Christmas Frigatebird that I shot from a boat last year:

After a fast sea-crossing home (I had a 12 knot wind up my backside) I flew up the East side of Phuket (still mindful of the winds) to my home field and made an uneventful landing after a sortie which had lasted 1 hour and 35 minutes. As always on landing I started planing my next trip..... if the wind is calm and from the North I'll do this, if from the South I'll do that, etc, etc. Eventually I'll get them all flown and then, I guess I'll have to start again.

Microlite to "James Bond Island".

I've always had a love of Bond movies - I think it goes back to when I was a child; my mother knew I hated visits to the dentist so she'd bribe me with: "....and afterwards Michael, we'll go and see the new James Bond film at the Empire". I still get a toothache when I watch a Bond (Sean Connery) movie.

Looking back, a lot of that Roger Moore stuff was utter rubbish - these movies seemed to be produced with a knowing wink that said "but of course we grown-ups know better". Bond had become synonymous with comedy and that would have sent Ian Fleming into a very high rate of sub-terrainian rotation. I think The Man with the Golden Gun ("TMGG") and Moonraker represent the absolute nadir of the Bond/Moore films but, there were some stunning sequences in each. I would have been 18 when, in 1974 they released TMGG (well beyond treats from my Mum but still scared shitless of the dentist) - I can clearly remember being spellbound by the scenery as 007 meandered his Republic RC-3 SeaBee (seaplane) through the limestone casts of Phang Nga Bay in Thailand. At the time I thought "I would dearly love to go there one day and, to fly a plane through there would be better than having sex with Angelina and then having to listen to her drone on about how I'm a far better lay than Brad".

So it was with 35 years of pent-up desire that I planned to take "Little Nellie" and my longest standing friend "Joners" on a mission of a lifetime - Joners is a Bond-geek too! It should also be said at this point that Joners is a dead ringer for Donald Pleasance's Ernst Stavro Blofeld ! Here he is with "Kitler" - name inspired by her moustache:

We prepped Little Nellie (very Bondesque) and ensured the aerial mines/rockets/machine guns were all in working order. We rolled in a 4-knot surface wind and climbed out South to a small island (reporting point Romeo November) with Joners whistling various Bond tunes and shouting rubbish like "not so fast Mr Bond", etc, into the intercom - it was 28 deg C at 1,000' so no need for the Safari Suits that Roger Moore immortalized with such panache. Our airfield is about 8.5 nm SE of Phuket International and James Bond Island ("Koh Tapu") is about 12 nm ENE and so, as the Tanarg flies it isn't far but, being so close to this large airport we had to fly in a huge anti-clockwise arc to get there - I have to say that the Phuket controlling was fist class though.

We headed East-ish towards Koh Yao Yai (literally "Big Long Island") and kept around 850 feet over a calm sea with some small fishing boats scattered about - it was 17.20 and so the sea had a golden hue from the setting sun (sunset was 18.35). We swung a bit more North to pass over Koh Yao Noi ("Small Long Island") which is another (main) reporting point for all the traffic around the International airport. I had a good look at this smaller island since I'd spotted what I thought could be emergency landing spots for my Tanarg when I flew over previously in a passenger jet. Indeed I saw a few tracks on some flat land between rice paddies that could be used at a squeeze but, things would be tight! Then I thought "Fuckit - I'm James Bond and I can stuff it in anywhere".

We could now see the outcrops of Phang Nga National Park - hundreds of limestone islands, some towering over 1,000 feet into the sky, many of which have been hollowed-out by millions of years of sea corrosion, producing huge caves and lagoons. It looks at first like a theme park until you realize it's all been sculpted by nature.

Joners was now whistling the TMGG theme tune and I asked him where he thought the James Bond Island was located - we'd been there many times by boat but as I've said before, things always look a little different to how you expected them to look when you're aloft. He said it would probably be further North or further West and so we looked and spotted what we thought was Scaramanga's lair. On closer inspection it was indeed the crazy-mirrored hideout of the 3-nippled assassin and so we armed our weapons and went in for a closer inspection.

It was necessary to drop down to 250 feet at the Initial Point so as to advance-to-target with stealth - Scaramanga's "Chinese Landlords" were probably priming their SAMs at this point ! I selected "rockets" and turned on my reflector sight. We made a fairly steep spiral to bring us down-sun of the "tack" island - the one in the foreground that sprouts mirrored-wings which in turn drive Scaramanga's laser thingy:

As I rounded the larger island to the left, Joners spotted some yachts at anchor - obviously S.M.E.R.S.H. operatives hatching some evil plans. I immediately switched to "guns" and dropped to 120 feet for a strafing run - there was general pandemonium on the decks as they started to wave frantically at our speeding bullet (OK, Tanarg at 80 mph) - I let rip with a 3-second burst and sent three of their number to a watery grave; I'd have to make another run to finish-off the remaining two!

Back to "rockets" for the assault on the mirror-sprouting-tack, into a high-angle-of-bank-right-hander (at least 30 degrees anyway) and whoooosh! All three rockets found their target as Scaramanga was left weeping like a baby at seeing his life's work go up in smoke. Back to "guns" again for the final two yachts, still waving like angry palm trees on their decks - they knew what was coming! And YES, they were right - glug glug glug - they were well and truly buggered. It's tough being a double-0 but it's work that must be done.

We swooped-up again to about 200 feet and made a cruise-climb back to Koh Yao Noi. The flight home was uneventful but we had the satisfaction of knowing that "M" would give us a pat-on-the-back and who knows..... maybe some lurid sexual favours from Miss Moneypenny too (?) We approached Romeo November at 900 feet to make our report (radio won't work below this height because of line-of-sight issues with Phuket International - many mountains in the way) when again, Joners spotted what could only be S.P.E.C.T.R.E. operatives on the beach - mostly wearing scanty bikinis and carrying beach-towels to conceal their weapons.

Once more I selected "guns" and we flew down the beach at about 50 feet with my thumb pressed firmly on the trigger. Bodies spun on the spot like dolls as they copped the full brunt of my .50 cal rounds - some ran like cowards yelling "help me Mummy" for the cover of the trees. Others were lucky and got away this time, so we decided to call it a day, headed for home and put Nellie to bed. We then sank several Singhas each - aaaaah :)

It was a great mission and one I'd wanted to fly for so many years. Did we kill all the bad guys? Probably not this time - we'll just have to go back and do some mopping-up very soon. I enjoy taking people for pleasure flights around Phuket in my microlight, it's always fun if they haven't flown in an ultralite trike before.

To Phi-Phi Islands

It's a real privilege flying a microlite in Phuket - flying trikes here is great fun and there's lots to see. So, on 27th January 2010, my friend Michael and I decided to go and take a peek at Koh Phi-Phi ("Koh" is Thai for "island"). Michael is a pretty good movie cameraman and has a very swish Canon video camera - once I get some decent edits I'll post them here.

We lifted our wheels at 16.50 hours, aided by fairly light winds - about 2 or 3 mph at 1,000 feet; there was a bit of incipient (but developing) cumulus around which caused us a few bumps but nothing to worry about. The air temperature was very warm and at 1,000 feet we had 29 deg C (about 84 F).

We headed off on 130 degrees and were going to be over water for most of the trip. Phi-Phi is about 25 miles from my home strip and so it was going to take about 20 minutes to get there. Phi-Phi is a particularly beautiful pair of islands and lies in the famous "Phang Nga" Bay. Phi-Phi Don to the North has several hotels and bungalows on it and is frequented by upper-middle-class Tarquins and Rebeccas on their "gap" year. Phi-Phi Ley to the South is uninhabited but full of tourists in high season - Tarquin and Rebecca can be seen here too in droves. I've been to Phi-Phi many times on my boat and so I was very familiar with all its bays and coves.

After a few minutes we saw Koh Gai ("Chicken Island": 7* 53' 31" N / 98* 30' 53" E) and thought we'd orbit to take some snaps. Koh Gai is very popular with day-trippers who sit on the beach and buy food/drinks at vastly inflated prices from the monopolistic Thai vendors - it's often packed with local speedboats and is a place I've always avoided on my boat. They've even built a hideous array of water features now in dayglo green - see bottom-right of island. However, from the air it looked exquisite:

As we pressed on to Phi-Phi, which by now we could see through the haze, I noticed that some of the puffy cumulus were starting to develop "heads" and so I made a mental note to keep an eye on these. I can check wind-speed on my Tanarg's "Enigma" screen and we were now getting around 6 or 7 mph at 1,000 feet. We were still getting bounced around a little but again, nothing to worry about.

As Phi-Phi grew larger, so did the turbulence and as we got South-West of Phi-Phi Ley, we were getting tossed around with a degree of discomfort. There was nothing to threaten the safety of the flight but in my (limited) experience, when winds are picking up, they normally get worse before they get better. We took some shots of the island and I especially wanted to get shots of Maya Bay (7* 40' 23" N / 98* 45' 54" E) - this provided the location for the movie "The Beach", starring Leonardo di Caprio. I really wanted to get some overhead shots of the actual beach but the winds were still picking up and when I glanced at my screen (number 4), I saw we now had 16 mph at 1,000 feet.

Here's Phi-Phi Ley - the entrance to Maya Bay is in the centre where the boats are anchored and you can see the wind-lines in the water:

As we headed back home I noticed some large, tall and dark cumulus clouds brewing to the North - it was a simple matter to circumnavigate them without much inconvenience but I felt glad that I'd decided to turn back when I did. There were also a number of showers dotted around the place, clearly visible. Passing over Koh Gai again, the wind was now 15 mph where it had been 7 mph on our way out, the direction had also changed and all this spelled unstable conditions! About a mile from the airfield we hit an up-draft and when I glanced at my variometer, I saw 750 feet/min rate of climb with the bar neutral - the clouds were now certainly working their magic!

The wind sock was gusting about a little so I made a very short circuit and landed about 30 deg cross-wind in around 10 mph. As usual, it was a "Royal Flight" standard of landing!

It was a very enjoyable flight of 1 hour and 10 minutes and I felt we'd done everything correctly. I'm sure I could have continued to get the overhead shots of Maya in safety but hey, what's the hurry?

Now I'll have to go back and do it all over again - what a pisser!

Flying with my daughter Joanna

One of the great pleasures for a new trike pilot is to be able to take friends and family up for a trip. I hadn't done much of this since re-qualifying as a pilot and so it was a precious moment when my daughter Joanna and her fiance Alex visited us for Christmas. This was the first time I'd ever flown with a member of my family.

I first took Joanna (pictured above - the camera never lies Jo-Jo!) and Alex for a very gentle trip each - sticking close to the field at Phuket Airpark and staying below 1,000 feet. The winds were very light and there was virtually no movement whatsoever in the air. Also, I flew very gently - I've never understood why some pilots like to scare their passengers shitless; it could put them off for life. If your passengers want you to go faster/lower/higher "G", they'll tell you!

Alex took this landing video from the back seat:

Since they both loved the experience, Joanna and I decided to make a longer voyage the following evening - Alex was scheduled to play golf instead.

We'd filed our flight plan (we have to do this due to our proximity to the International Airport) and our wheels lifted around 17.00 - dusk is around 18.25 at this time of year so we had a comfortable 75 minutes. Joanna was amazed when we lifted off. It seems she was so used to riding on the back of my motorbike and with the "mental prompt" of putting on a crash helmet, she thought she was on a bike. So when the wheels lifted off she screamed "it's like we're flying!". I told her "it's not like we're flying - we are flying". We climbed to 1,000 ft on the QNH and I spoke to Phuket Tower and told them we were up, heading South and squawking 4500 on the transponder. Luckily they didn't bother us at all for the remainder of the flight - seems my ATC banter is putting them at ease!

My house (white building slightly right of centre) from Chalong Bay, looking North.

The wind was non-existent and the ambient temperature was 29 deg C (about 84 F) at our cruising height of 500 - 1,000'. We headed over Phuket Town and got a great view of the small hills which are scattered in and around the city; you can see the central mountainous spine that runs North/South in the background:

From here we flew over Chalong Bay and its many small boats at anchor, towards the setting sun:

You can just about see the "Big Buddha" on the peak, slightly to the right of centre. From here we flew down Rawii Beach to the viewpoint at Promthep Cape - a favourite spot for hundreds of tourists who gather here every evening to watch the sunset. Jo-Jo and I now took-on "Rock Star" status as we flew along the crowds at their eye-level height - we saw hundreds of camera flashes going off each time we made a pass - the price of fame I guess.

A short hop from here was the beautiful beach at Haiharn and again we got the attention of the tourists - remember, nobody has ever seen a trike flying over Phuket before! We now made for Kata Beach where there are 3 or 4 bars on a cliff face where boozing tourists sit and watch the sun go down over a cool beer or (their signature drink), a Long Island Iced Tea. Again, a lot of flashes and waves but then, we were posing shamelessly. We made several passes here at the same level as the bars - about 500 feet, then went to beat-up a few large yachts moored in the bays around Kata and Karon's beaches - again we attracted waves from the Gin Palace occupants; the super-rich who migrate to Phuket for Yule. Continuing around the coast we made a pass down Patong Beach where we got great views of the orange, sun-burnt and tattooed yob's who choose to holiday in this seedy little dump. This place used to be wonderful and someone really needs to sort it out!

By now the light was starting to fade so we headed for home - we planned to take a short-cut by heading East through a gap in the mountainous spine at Karon, a col just to the South of the Big Buddha. We had to keep to our ATC-prescribed 1,000 feet and as the ground rose up we were probably about 300 ' agl (above ground level) at its highest point. We dived down the other side, shot across Chalong Bay at 90 mph (with the bar held-in a little!) and back over Phuket Town. I couldn't resist a slight detour over the Royal Phuket Marina and the Boat Lagoon (two grotty marinas accessed by a very narrow/shallow channel that's never dredged so owners ground their hulls and foul their skin-fittings in the silt that lines the channel) before swinging East to the Airpark.

We flew a quick "extended" circuit around Cape Yamu (above) that borders the Airpark and made an uneventful landing in zero wind. We then put Little Nellie to bed and retired to the bar - me for a cold Singha beer and a G&T for Joanna..... I must get a mini-bar installed.

It was my best flight yet in Little Nellie - a perfect trip.

Taking Nellie home for the first time - Leg 2

During the refueling at Chumphorn we'd dropped a 12-inch plastic tube into the fuel tank. The tube had been fixed (badly by me) to a Mr Funnel and simply dropped in. We'd never get it out in Chumphon so Alasdair reckoned it'd be OK to fly our second leg with the tube dancing around. I felt differently since I thought the tube was made of polythene and knew that petrol/polythene was a corrosive combination. We got it out the next day in Phuket and no damage had been done to the pipe!

Anyway, after staring gloomily at the horizontal and buffeting wind sock, going to the toilet fifteen times and having visions of plasticky silt moving up my fuel lines and into the jets, we dressed for leg 2. This time we wore no gloves and I got rid of my fleece as I planned to fly a little lower (warmer) and the day was heating up. I taxied for an intersection departure - in this wind we'd only need a few metres and I reckoned that the nearer to the sea we got airborne, the less rotor we'd get from ground obstacles and that had been an issue on our approach. All that stuff about "the runway behind you is no use...blah...blah...blah" is total crap - Nellie does not need 1,000 metres in a 12 knot head-wind (or in a 12 knot tail-wind for that matter) and I believe that if I'd taken-off from the end of the runway I'd have encountered very nasty rotor turbs.

Wheels lifted-off runway 60 at 13.31 hrs and we were on our way. Good rate-of-climb courtesy of the wind and I made a turn to 190 at about 400 feet. As soon as we crossed the coast (after about a minute) all the turbs stopped and the air was smooth again; I began my climb to 4,500 feet and watched the oil temperature with interest - I made a slightly shallow/fast climb to keep the airflow working the oil cooler. We set Surat Thani on the GPS and relaxed into the cruise - the viz was a bit better and the beach was interesting to watch on our journey South - many things going on like fishing, construction, forrestry, etc.

We had a rather inaudible conversation with Surat Thani ATC and headed South-West to cross the isthmus South of the Burmese border - we were now getting pretty close to Phuket and I had no strong desire for a slash. Things were looking good.

We were now heading sort-of up-sun with a fair amount of moisture in the air and this amounted to fairly poor visibility which is a pity since the run down the valley towards Phang Nga with it's spectacular limestone "cathedrals" is spectacular from the road, let alone from the sky. Ah well, there'll be plenty of other opportunities since this is now in my "back yard" - in flying terms. We did see a rather nice Budhist temple ("Wat" in Thai) near Phang Nga with a wonderful golden Buddha perched atop a hill:

This isn't the best picture but it gives an idea of the haze - I'll go back and photograph all these sights when the conditions are better.

Heading SW gave us a real kick up the backside in the form of a 12 mph tailwind. This was very welcome as the fuel was starting to become a very minor issue if we'd needed to divert for any reason or, if we'd needed to circumnavigate a few of the larger cumuliform clouds that were now starting to pop up. With the tailwind and the mountains came the rotor turbulence and we picked up some extra bumps from the clouds - nothing was alarming, after all we had dropped to about 2,000 ft on the QNH to get under the clouds and so, you can't reasonably expect it to be too smooth at this height in the mid-afternoon.

After a couple of failed line-of-sight attempts, we managed to contact Phuket Control and our lady was a most capable controller. She asked us to drop to 1,500 feet and report Koh Yao Noi (a small island/reporting point to the East of Phuket) - we could now see the islands of Phang Nga Bay and James Bond Island where Roger Moore despatched the three-nippled "Scaramanga" in The Man with the Golden Gun - just about the nadir of Bond films but great shots of Phang Nga Bay.

Now we were on the home straight and we were feeling good; it was soon after 4 pm and I was in very familiar territory. Whilst I had never flown in or around Phuket, I did know the islands fairly well from boat trips I'd made to Phang Nga Bay - the 4-peaked Koh Phanak stood-out very clearly to me. We flew to the reporting point of Koh Yao Noi and were told to report finals at Phuket Airpark - this was great news as we weren't going to get vectored around the houses - remember, Phuket International is a very busy airport! There's something really special about flying over familiar ground/water for the first time - you know what it looks like from your car but can only imagine what it's like from the air then, when you see it from the air, it's nothing like you'd imagined it to be! Therefore, it was after a little debate that we located the Airpark and I flew over the runway for the first of many times to check the wind sock - it indicated about 5 kts across the runway but slightly favoured 13 over 31.

I flew a pretty tight circuit with only minor bumps and lined her up for the better patch of grass which was half-way down 13 and on the left side. The landing was pretty good (even if I say so myself) and I considered it important to set a precedent for me and Nellie's new "home" field. Robert Suchart (the owner of Phuket Airpark) was waiting for us with 3 cold beers apiece and we opened these without delay.

I looked at my Enigma timer and saw the trip had taken me 2 hrs and 52 mins - EXACTLY the same time as the first leg! Alasdair and I had enjoyed the trip but, we were also glad to get out and take another slash.

Taking Nellie home for the first time - Leg 1

Since Tanya is now due to give birth to our son on 17th December, I thought I should bring Little Nellie back to Phuket (from Pattaya - about 400 miles), as soon as I could. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to escape to Pattaya for at least a month or two and that would mean, NO flying :(

I went to EFC (Pattaya) last Friday 29 Nov and sat through a week of very high winds. Dawn and dusk were flyable (and pretty choppy) but one hour either side saw winds gusting 15 or 20; direction varied greatly too. One morning we had calm conditions on the runway and 27 Kts at 500 ft !

I was running out of time and decided to make the trip, virtually whatever the weather, on Sunday 6th December. My friend and ex-instructor Alasdair had agreed to do the trip with me (he's done it before) so, we gave Nellie her 50-hour check and prepared our maps. We decided to make a fuel/rest stop in Chumphon, about the half-way point and, Alasdair would fly the first leg from Pattaya to Chumphon and I'd fly the second to Phuket.

We got up early on the 6th and met at the airfield at 06.45. I signed us out and we then dressed in insulated flying suits and gloves - this is pretty unusual for Thailand where the surface temperature is around 30-33 deg C. We therefore sweated a lot before our wheels lifted at precisely 07.31 and we climbed out to our Gulf-crossing height of 6,500 feet. The heat trapped inside our layers quickly dissipated as we climbed to our cruising height, where the ambient temperature plummeted to an Arctic 13 deg C. I appreciate 13 is a luxury for some European flyers but we're used to shorts/t-shirts/sandals in all our flying below 1,000 feet - OK, so we're softies.

I've never been wild about flying single-engined machines over water and our trip began with 70-or-so miles of sea; across the Gulf of Siam. We made our 6,500 feet, set course for around 260 degrees and immediately found ourselves in an unexpected head-wind of about 12 knots - this gave us about 56 mph on the GPS's groundspeed and we'd expected a small tail-wind ...... bugger.

This setback had two implications: firstly it meant more time over the sea but much more importantly, within 20 mins of departure, despite taking all possible precautions, I was now busting for a piss with at least 2 hours to go. I considered everything from meditation to relieving myself in my seat and couldn't figure how this could have happened. I'd had one cup of tea at 5 a.m. and several visits to the toilet before dressing into my flight gear at about 07.00 - I can only put it down to nerves and/or cold air.

I'd noticed the oil temperature climbing to higher levels than I'd seen before as we maintained our climb; it went to about 120 then stabilized. Alasdair reckoned this was normal and after all, we were two-up, fully-laden with fuel and a few odds-and-sods on board. The Tanarg used to suffer from high oil temps when it first came out until they moved the oil cooler to its current location - obviously this move worked since we were on MAUW and the ground temperature was about 30 deg C ..... she was being flogged!

Fuel was getting burned-up quicker than I'd planned but we did have 65 litres on board for what was planned to be a 2 hrs 30 mins leg - we were burning 14 l.p.h. ish in the cruise. After a while we called "Land-Ho" as the high-rise-hotel-scarred coast of Hua Hin came into view; everything was hazy throughout the trip. The Hua Hin controllers can get a little nervous if you fly too close to their city since it's the residence of His Majesty The King Of Thailand and all that 9-11 stuff has put the world on edge. We therefore swung South and followed the coast (East coast of Thailand) which would be our guide for the next 250 miles or so. We were squawking on the transponder and talking to Hua Hin when they handed us to Prachuap Control - they'd obviously opted for an early lunch and didn't talk to us - it was a Sunday after all.

By now my bladder was causing some major discomfort and when I let it focus my mind (big mistake but hard to avoid) I found myself sweating a little. I then decided that sweat and spitting could serve to dehydrate me and that would have to be a good thing for my bladder - this is probably medical rubbish but it made sense to me at the time and, I reckoned it worked. I remembered reading a philosopher's words: "nothing focusses the mind like a pending execution or a full bladder" - wise words indeed.

We passed down the East of Sahm Roi Yot ("300 peaks") and wondered at how insignificant a "range" it actually is - Alasdair's from the Highlands of Scotland and so is a little biased! After a while we started talking to Chumphon Tower (Approach had a rather unreliable radio) and they vectored us in to "06-left" and warned us to be cautious of strong winds of 12 knots but gusting stronger. Needless to say our cruise so far had been turbulent-free at 6,500 - 4,000 feet but now, down at 1,000 and descending, this picture altered somewhat and the constant jarring made my bladder wince. Alasdair bravely fought the controls whilst I courageously fought the urge to piss myself, he then put her down surprisingly smoothly on the runway and fast-taxied in very gusty winds to the tie-down point. We noticed during the taxi that we needed 3,200 rpm to make the thing move into wind - we were sure we had a puncture and thought it couldn't possibly be the wind. After tie-down we felt the rear wheels and they were very hot - obviously the brakes had heated during the long taxi and had expanded to bind a little; these would need slackening-off before the long taxi back out.

My ground-crew (Khun A) had driven my car down from Pattaya to Chumphon the previous day so he could meet us with food, water and petrol (there aint many facilities at some Thai airports). He greeted me as I got out of the rear seat and I almost knocked him over as I sprinted for the terminal building where I guessed there'd be a toilet. Words cannot describe the euphoric relief of dumping several gallons of urine that had been such an unwelcome passenger for the past 2 hours. The flow continued for several minutes before stopping - within ten minutes I was back for another "DamBuster".

Anyway, leg 1 was over and it had taken 2 hours and 52 minutes. Lessons learned so far?

1. Never drink within several weeks of a long flight!

2. Get some better GPS in my trike. We used Alasdair's Garmin 296 as our main weapon - the Enigma GPS is difficult to use and is generally a pain with gloved hands. In fact I'm generally rather disappointed with the Enigma.

3. I'd wisely programmed all my radio frequencies for the trip into the Becker radio - this was a good move since gloved hands are tricky.

Little Nellie at Chumphon - Khun A (seated with white shirt) centre, Alasdair standing right and airport ground crew on concrete weight.

My microlight - from the beginning ....

.... there was my last BLOG (http://mikeflyinginphuket.blogspot.com/) which sets out the history of:

i) How I imported my Air Creation Tanarg into Thailand

ii) How I got my PPL in Thailand

It's a pretty dull read to anyone who doesn't have a direct interest in either of these two subjects.

This new BLOG is designed to describe the fun and thrills of flying in this beautiful country (and who knows? ........ maybe some bordering countries too) and should be a far more entertaining read. I realize I've just set myself up for ridicule with this implied claim.

My mount, "Little Nellie" HS-YES, is a new Air Creation Tanarg 912 ES with the Hors Piste wheels/brakes and an iXess 13 wing (13.5 sq m). She's also fitted with the Stratomaster Enigma glass screen. Here she is on my 53rd birthday (10 Sep 09) when I first flew her in Pattaya, Thailand:

Microlighting (microlite flying) in Phuket will now become a regular way for me to pass some time here - I'm always available to take people for rides and if they'd like to find out more - mikegillam@hotmail.co.uk

Chocs away