Two busy weeks back in Bangkok had come to and end and it was time to resume our RTW trip. Lec spent time with friends while I met with some business colleagues and with our freelance website creator “Ice”. Ice has been extremely helpful in designing and maintaining our site. It is a big job for the crew and the webmaster to keep a website going; we really hope you enjoy and some of the pilots benefit from these efforts…..
If you are interested in doing your own site sometime, contact me and I will give you his contact information. He would be pleased to work with you. His work is good and charges are reasonable.
Meet “Ice”…..our website creator
We had the 50 hour service done on “Nang Fah” during our stay in Thailand and she was ready to fly…..so were we.
Our departure was delayed one day as my computer hard drive failed the day before we were scheduled to leave. I spend 7 hours trying to get it fixed but no luck; so it was off to the computer store for a new computer. Then many hours to reinstall and rebuild necessary files. Even with back ups it will take a long time to get everything restored; if I ever do.
The difficulties were not over for us however!!!!
We arrived at Bangphra Airfield at 8:30 to get started on the two flights down to Singapore . The first leg to Hat Yai (southern Thailand ) was only for customs and immigration clearance, then off to Seletar Airport , Singapore . I wanted to take on as much fuel as possible at Bangphra so we would not have to refuel until Singapore . We requested 115 litres in each wing at VTBT. When the right side was filled the fuel pump quit!!!!! The airport had run out of fuel???
To balance the airplane we siphoned some of the fuel from the right tanks to partially fill the left side. Fortunately the net result was a balanced airplane and enough fuel to get to our first stop; then hope that Hat Yai had avgas?
Oh Oh…moving fuel from right to left???
Enroute we asked Bangkok ATC to contacted Hat Yai and check for fuel. They only had 400 litres which we reserved our requirements by radio; we were now OK to continue on to Seletar.
Many private crews report problems and frustration flying through the Middle East and Asia . Our experience in Egypt and Patna , India was great but flying private foreign aircraft in Thailand can be very difficult with frequent unexpected setbacks.
The Thai system is very bureaucratic. It also leaves a lot of interpretation and authority to individual officers who are not accustomed to dealing anything that is “non standard”. You get to these large airports, often with language difficulties, and often no one knows what to do or where to go. It can result in spending hours just finding the right people to get the work done or REDONE in many cases. But it really comes down to a system which is not geared to private, self handling, operators.
We spend 2 ½ hours at Hat Yai getting fuel, filling out reams of paperwork and dealing with an immigration officer who took a totally irrational view of our flight crew status. (a status that Immigration entering Thailand at Chiang Mai had established – not us)
In the end we got it done and were on our way – frustrated with the Thai system and very close to having our IFR slot expire.
The flight through southern Thailand and over most of Malaysia was in adverse weather. This is typical for October at the end of the rainy season. Large areas of cumulus clouds, isolated thunderstorms and associated, potentially dangerous flying conditions covered most of the area. We were aware of the weather before take off and prepared to navigate, deviate or land if required.
My private thoughts on flying in adverse weather ….. If you are not comfortable with you airplane, equipment, your flying skills and experience don't take off if weather is likely to be an issue. But a good “forecast” does not guarantee good weather just as a bad “forecast” does not guarantee bad weather. Although forecasting is generally reliable it is not infallible. So you always need to be prepared for unforeseen conditions.
A good level of cross country experience is essentially for long trips in unfamiliar territory. A lot of what you will face in the air requires DECISIONS to be made fairly quickly but with good rationale.
As a pilot, you also have 3 advantages over the weather.
1. Your airplane can move faster than the weather so you never have to fly into something that you don't choose. Unless you are in the Gulf of Mexico at the wrong time of year????
2. Make sure you have equipment adequate for the conditions. A working radio to request weather information from ATC and a storm scope are minimal in my view.
3. You have eyes and a brain so use them. Don't just blindly fly your course or hope conditions ahead are “better” than they appear. Make experienced, cautious and intelligent decisions .
I believe pilots should progressively challenge themselves to fly in varying “weather” as it is the only way to learn. You will not always find the weather to be as forecast and you never know when that “controlled” experience will be critical.
On the way to Singapore……
Arriving in Singapore…….
After take off from Hat Yai we turned south into Malaysia . Immediately we were facing large areas of cumulus build up. Cleared to 9,000' we were able to weave our way up to cruising level and establish ourselves as we had been cleared enroute. As much as possible we stayed on our airway with minor deviations around clouds. The storm scope was alive with electrical activity ahead. Cells scattered and clustered. We entered an area where we chose to fly into cloud and IMC conditions. It felt comfortable to continue, Lec concurred, and we started working with Malaysian ATC who were FABULOUS. Between what I could see on the scope (do not use the storm scope for navigation – just references information) and what ATC had on radar we elected to deviate significantly from course. This quickly got us out of the solid cloud, moving away from the most intense electrical activity but still not clear of the CB's; however conditions were quite manageable.
This continued until Kuala Lumpur when the weather improved for the remaining flight to Singapore .
Seletar is the International airport for smaller aircraft arriving in Singapore . It does not have an instrument approach but accepts IFR as well as VFR traffic. In our case ATC vectored us for landing from the east to runway 21. Unfortunately, being unfamiliar with the area, still busily working to get down to approach altitude and it getting dark we did not have the runway in sight early enough in the approach. ATC were very efficient and professional in helping us break off the approach and brought us around again for a nice, controlled intercept to final and touch down. Another Lesson – if you don't like your approach – don't land. Take a few more minutes and a few precious litres of gas and do it again. Most times the second approach will be great and you will walk away feeling good rather than asking yourself why you are so “stupid”!!!!!
Storm Scope picking up electrical activity…….
We were very lucky to have John Giddens, who we have communicated with over the internet for months, meet us on the Seletar apron. John and his young son Hal just ferried their brand new Cirrus back to Singapore from the factory in the USA . He ushered us through the friendly and efficient entry process at Seletar and we were out of the airport within 30 minutes of engine shut down. John's website is very informative and entertaining. The URL is http://www.hallinmarine.com/N238JG/
We had a wonderful dinner at the Singapore flying club with the entire Giddens family and shared aviation stories throughout the evening. John is a great example of the wonderful members of the aviation community that we have met during our adventures. He found me on the internet when we were having insurance problems back in North America . John wrote to me, a perfect stranger, offering suggestions as to how we could continue when all hope had been lost at that point in time.
It was great to finally meet this family. Being a “neighbour” we expect to see John, Lily, Hal and Jesse up it Thailand with their super new aircraft in the New Year.
Bangkok to Hat Yai, Thailand and Singapore
Meet “Ice”…..our website creator 
