Pattaya to Crown 4

05.45 hrs Wed 4th April 2012 and in a short time I would learn my fate. Faint glimmer's of light had appeared around 05.15 and gradually grew brighter. The others would be rising shortly. I made more coffee as I waited, the flyers appeared in dribs and drabs, making coffee and sitting to drink it. Tom and Artem arrived in the pickup, it had been parked outside Tom's chalet overnight. They grabbed a coffee and settled as Tom produced his paperwork to brief us.

The briefing was the same as delivered to myself some eight or so hours before. The group seemed to feel two days hanging around Watthana Nakhon kicking dust, was an ask too far, given they had busy lives to be living. Artem wasn't giving it up easily, as disappointed as myself, making the point they had spent four hours plus, flying from Chiang Mai to Kanchanaburi in just as arduous conditions. I got the impression Artem wanted Loeng Nok Tha in his logbook pretty badly? "We had no choice then" said Tom, "We do have a choice now, do you want to be locked into Loeng Nok Tha because of bad weather"? Artem had to concede the logic of turning around and returning to Pattaya. The whole group were obviously disappointed, including Tom, who with partner May had spent some time planning, phoning and filling forms for permits and the like, to make this flight happen. I was disappointed but I've been flying long enough to know when faced with Mother Nature, "He who turns and flies away lives to fly another day". with that we piled aboard the pickup and left for the airfield.

After preparing the aircraft we rolled them out of the hangar. Tom asked me if I wanted to fly P1? As I now live my life by never letting an opportunity pass me by, my reply was a positive one. Tony was chosen as leader, more practise on the RT for him I think. I was second, Artem covering our back's. After doing our checks we taxied to the runway to take off and head for Wha Em. Artem had rigged up his GoPro camera to record the trip back. Tom too had packed his to mount on his helmet when we got closer to Pattaya. Les had his camera slung around his neck. Sometime during the flight Tony would pull alongside so Les could could record some movie. I was going to have video footage of the trip. Tony opened the throttle and sped off down the runway. I waited a little while for Tony's propwash to settle before I taxied on to it. When Tony had climbed up and off the runway centreline I followed him on my take-off run. No time for dwelling on the reasons we were returning, my mind had to be on the task in hand. Artem followed recording a little of my climb out.

The early morning sun and blue skies promised good visibility but as we progressed on our course the mist and haze returned. May had phoned Tom to report heavy thunderstorms yesterday (Tuesday) in Pattaya and we were mindful of this. About eleven minutes in and we were passing to the south of Sa Kaow. I noticed the battery of chimneys as they came into view. I gave them a wide berth, mindful of yesterdays encounter and the prompting by Tom.

As the miles passed under us Tony pulled alongside to give Les the opportunity to shoot some pictures and video. I waved to the camera hoping Les was getting some good stuff? Shortly after we neared the waypoint of Wha Em, Tom radioed the others to take a more southerly course to clip the edge of a hilly forested region. As we did so a large lake near to Khlong Takrao came into view. Artem who'd been on the edge of our vision went down for a closer look.

We were passing over a range of hills with the weather changing. Tony had been leading for some time, I was to his north and rear. Artem was to the south and out of our vision as usual, looking for more flying experiences. We were forced up to the base of the low cloud which in places had dark ridges in it. Tom explained this was because of a build up of moisture due to the humidity and was a possible pre-cursor to thunder storms. The clue was in water droplets collecting on the hairs of my arms and legs. Erm, pardon, thunderstorms?

Tom had fired up his GoPro camera to record the last thirty or so minutes of the flight. Before fixing it to the mount on his helmet he got a close up of us, recording a precious memory for me. The weather was still a concern, but as we got nearer to the coast it started to brighten. Artem had taken the lead position by this time and Tony had dropped back to the rear. I followed Artem focussing on the landing ahead, only my second in this type.

The picture left should give a clue that my landing didn't go according to plan. Don't scroll down the page in some ghoulish anticipation of a wrecked Flexwing. You'll be disappointed! No. Tom's advice on my second only landing in the GT 450, was to just drop the nose and use the power as required. Good advice. I did just that and she came down beautifully, right on the button. I touched down about a third into the runway and tried to brake. Nothing happened! We didn't slow down.

I desperatly searched for the brake, but it wasn't there. What the? My brain and foot weren't co-operating. I tried again to work the brake. My foot was scraping down some sort of bracket, instead of pushing the brake. Thank God (or Bhuddha) I found the brake and depressed it. "Release the brake"! "Release the brake"! Tom was yelling in my ear! I searched around both visually and mentally! Frantically trying to rationalise! Sugar! What the? As I'd depressed the brakes we'd run into a puddle of surface water and the brakes had locked up. We were crabbing again, only on the ground this time, not above it. Not Good! Not good! No LOL's here, only SOL's.(make your own mind up) I realised what was happening and pumped the brake gradualy slowing us down and righting the skid. We came to a rapid un-natural stop. I couldn't understand why? The answer? The instructor mode in Tom had asserted itself. As soon as I got into bother, Tom had switched the engine off!

I restarted the engine and taxied off the runway, Tony was up there waiting to land. Tom's last act before switching the GoPro off was to record our shaking hands. We hangared the plane and I said my goodbye's to the others. I had a lump in my throat as I reflected on the part they had played in my adventure. On realising the fly-in was over I'd decided to return to Bangkok and hopefully catch the 16.00 hrs flight to Ubon.

The time I shared with the group will stay with me forever. Although we failed to get to Crown there is no disgrace. Sensible flyers don't argue with the Mother Nature, they know it's an arguement they'll lose. The people at Fly Thailand did their best to make my dream a reality and I can't thank them enough. So Artem, Les, Pom and Tony thanks again for your company on the ground and in the air. I have to give special thanks to Tom Grieve who literally took me under his wing and mentored me in the skies of Thailand. The last person for me to thank is May, the only Thai woman licensed to fly Flexwings. May handled all the paperwork needed to make the trip, without it we couldn't have taken off. I hope they haven't seen the last of me. Holiday flying in Pattaya, trying for a Thai licence and maybe doing a proper type conversion onto Gt 450's sounds like something not to be missed!