Northern Thailand

For a few Sunday flights, we will be in Thailand.

For the first flight, we depart from Mae Hong Son (VTCH), a town in the north of Thailand, close to the border with Burma. The town is a popular tourist center and a jumping-off point for tours to visit hill tribe villages, caves, and waterfalls in the area. There are also some hot springs nearby. Another important factor is the trade with Burma, which is not always controlled by both customs offices.

We head east and land at Pai (VTCI), another tourist town. Pai Airport, which had been decommissioned for 20 years, was paved and refurbished in 2005–2006, and on 1 February 2007, Siam General Aviation began daily passenger service to and from Chiang Mai International Airport which lasted until 2014. Later, until 2017, Kan Air operated the same route using a Cessna 208. Both airlines went out of business. Recently Pai has appeared on the Thailand tourist map and has received major infrastructure upgrades including an airport with several daily flights, nine 7-Elevens, several small- to medium-sized luxury resorts, totaling more than 350 accommodation properties, several live music clubs, beer bars, and three sets of traffic lights. It has led to an influx of business investment and land speculation by both farang (Western Caucasians) and big-city Thais. While some hail these changes as a new age of prosperity for Pai, others point to the loss of Pai's traditional customs and culture. In the tourist high season of November through March, there are large numbers of tourists. Before 2006, foreign tourists predominated, but now Thai tourists are catching up in numbers, particularly after Pai was featured in two popular Thai-made romantic movies.

Almost 90 miles northeast, we reach Chiang Rai Intl. (VTCT), a very old city, founded in 1292. We head south and reach Chiang Mai (VTCC), Thailand's second-largest city. Chiang Mai (meaning "new city" in Thai) was founded in 1296 as the new capital of Lan Na, succeeding the former capital, Chiang Rai. The city's location on the Ping River (a major tributary of the Chao Phraya River) and its proximity to major trading routes contributed to its historic importance.

We continue to Lampang (VTCL), Thailand’s third-largest city. Lampang’s historical prominence is largely overshadowed by Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai which were the traditional seats of government, and whose histories were well recorded in chronicles. Following decades of warfare with both the Ava Burmese and Ayudhya during the 17th-18th century, the region was in decline, severely depopulated, and subject to Burmese control. During World War II, Lampang became an important location for Japanese operations as the main Japanese headquarters in Thailand, as well as the target of Allied bombings. In 1942, a squadron of P-40 Tomahawks belonging to the American Flying Tigers was supposed to bomb Lampang, but mistook Lamphun for Lampang and returned after seeing no troop movements in Lamphun. The Allied forces also attempted to bomb the Ratsadaphisek Bridge to disrupt Japanese operations. 

We fly south and reach Sukhothai (VTPO). From here we head west and reach today’s destination Mae Sot Aero (VTPM), serving the city of Tak.

The flight has 390 miles and 5 landings. I will be in the BS Analog King Air, please fly what you like.

The flight plans can be downloaded here. 

There are two freeware addons for this flight:

https://flightsim.to/file/16376/vtch-mae-hong-son-airport-enhancement

https://flightsim.to/file/13948/vtcc-chiang-mai-intl-airport-thailand-enhancement

Siam Flight has produced VTCC, VTCT, and VTCL as payware, available via ORBX.

We try real weather. Please set your simulator for a 10 am departure.

These flights are also posted at DigitalThemePark and use DTP's Teamspeak Channel for communication. 

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!