Pattaya to Crown 2

A Google map of the second leg from Watthana Nakkon to Roi Et.
To the left is a Google map of the remainder of the flight from Pattaya to Crown. On this leg, the flight plan which Tom had presented to the Tower, was to travel from Watthana Nakhon to Roi Et via Mueang Surin, some three and a half to four hours flying. Tom informed us that for some reason, the Thai authorities had refused us permission to land at Surin. Surin is the logical place to drop into for this flight. Roughly half way, it gave us the chance to refuel, take a break and sort ourselves out but this was denied us.
Logically the best route was to take a more northerly heading for Buri Ram, again roughly half way to Roi Et. Tom reasoned we should still dog-leg via Surin in case of any in-flight problems as we could declare an emergency and divert to the airfield. Sounded like constructive (wink wink) wishful thinking to me?
12.00 noon and we take-off for Roi Et, we'd had a pre-flight briefing from Tom so it's a long flight ahead. The P&M machines are comfortable with good support for the back but even so my bladder would be tested. Good job I'd had the foresight to take precautions (don't ask). Tom gunned the engine and we sped off down runway 05 to lift-off. The hot tarmac was generating strong thermals that immediately started throwing the plane about.
An image captured on take-off from Wattanha Nakhon.
An aerial view of a Thai village
Nothing unusual there, they would dissipate as we left the runway behind.Tom flew up and out across the Sa Kaeo landscape, climbing to around one thousand feet.Their was still a haze but it was not as dense as on the morning leg. The wind and thermals were throwing the plane about, this leg was going to be a tough one. I was glad not to be P1 as four hours of this would leave me exhausted. After around ten minutes of 'dancing in the sky' with no sign of improvement, Tom declared his concerns that as Surin was out of bounds to us, we had to consider the implications of the conditions.
He radioed the others asking for their opinions on whether to continue or turn back. Three and a half to four hours of being thrown about the sky with a strong headwind, meant running out of fuel became a possibility. A joint decision was made to turn back and try again on the morrow. Tom turned one hundred and eighty as we headed back to the airfield we'd just left. Tony and Artem followed suit. We were being blown around the sky and Tom asked for my help. I grabbed the training bars which took some of the strain off his arms.
A passengers eye view over the cockpit dashboard of the GT 450 Flexwing.
A view of the Watthana 05 runway threshold
Tom radioed the ATC at the Watthana Tower and after informing him of our intentions we got permission to land. We were having to work the bar hard to counter the wind and thermals. I looked for the field but couldn't see it, Tom had reversed the GPS course 180 degrees so the Garmin directed us in. I knew this landing was going to be hairy as the GT 450 has a bigger wing than the Kwik and is more affected by the conditions. We were leading the pack so the others would be watching the approach and landing of U-P98 with interest.
The picture above shows us on base leg, at right angles to the runway, about to turn onto a finals approach. With the wind side-on as we started to turn, the plane was really bucking around. I didn't have any hold on the bars as this was down to Tom, any inputs from me could really screw things up. Tom was battling to keep us in line with the runway as we dropped towards it. Seconds after the picture right and we were crabbing almost at right angles towards the runway, not a good thing to be doing when you're inches above the ground and just about to touch down.
A view from the cockpit as Tom grieve lands at watthana Nakhon
Tying the aircraft down to protect them from being blown away.
Tom gave a mighty heave on the bar to line the plane up with the runway and seconds later we touched down. "Not one of my better landing's" was his comment on reaching Terra Firma but I knew it was and said so. As Tom taxied towards the shelters I looked back to see first Artem then Tony approach and land on the runway. Artem with the same model aircraft as ours suffered as we had, but Tony with the smaller Kwik wing, cut through the winds to make a clean landing. Nice one Tony.
The picture above shows the crews tying the wings of the aircraft down and covering the cockpits. The contingency plan was to spend the night in Watthana Nakhon and make an early departure for Roi Et in the morning. Tom had phoned for transport to take us to our accommodation where we would discuss our options.