A fuel stop on the Laccadive Sea

Little Bird departing VCBI

Our day started out in a Piper Cub @ VCCW headed west towards VCBI in the wind and rain. Our flight to Wirawila Airport (VCCW) was a fun filled adventure full of headwinds and sideways rain. The wind and rain must have enjoyed themselves for they rejoined us for our trip back to Little Bird parked at Bandaranaike International Airport (VCBI).

Our goal for the day will put us airborne for 7.5 hours flying two different types of aircraft. We are traveling from Wirawila Sri Lanka across the Arabian Sea to Ivato International Airport (FMMI) on the island of Madagascar. Fuel wasn’t an issue for our flight in the little Cub but Little Bird is a different story.

Our flight path is 5298 miles along a high alt ILS route across a wide swatch of Blue Ocean. Little Bird will suck down 840 gal of Jet A to make the trip. She only carries 892 gallons. CRF 91.167-Fuel requirements for flights in IFR conditions say …nope, we don’t have enough to fly for 45 minutes once we arrive at FMMI. We are going to have to make a fuel stop in the Maldives.

I have never felt so naïve as a citizen of the world as I did on our final approach into Male (VRMM) on the Laccadive Sea. We landed on 18.

 

Right before crossing the gate a small island directly to the west of us appeared. It has every square inch of it industrialized and populated. It was uncomfortable. We decided to grab fuel and run for the skies. We did look into staying at Conrad's Hilton Resort but …$2000 a night buys us around 500 gals of Jet A …that’s about an hour of flight @ FL44 going 0.74M. We’d be more comfortable flying.

The adventure continues.

 

Flying a Cub into Leopards

Our virtual adventure is made globally mobile by Dovetail Games licensed version of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X. It's the world in which this adventure lives.

It’s amazing to us how we can find almost any place on this planet we’d like to visit by viewing old fashion paper almanacs coupled to modern high tech devices, images from space, internet advertising or from the "word-of-mouth" of someone who has been there.

First we locate on a map using satellite images and aeronautical charts the places we want to visit.
We put this research into the FSX: SE program to plan and execute our flights.

We fly in real time, in real weather and extensively plan ahead. We wouldn’t want to end up landing a Learjet on a short dirt runway at an airfield in the middle of Australia while looking for a boat race ...with no jet fuel available  …oh wait, that did happen.

We are off to Yala National Park. It’s about 300 kilometers SE of VCBI in Colombo. They have the largest concentration of leopards in the world.

The Eco Team Mahoora Safari Camp in Yala is our destination. This is Linda’s preferred way to camp …camping with style ...catered lunch and BBQ dinner, hammock on the river side with flame torches and roaring camp fires, luxury tents with furniture. It has Linda written all over it.

We're here for their Leopard Safari

Our 120 minute flight in a Piper Cub was slow and bumpy. We fought head winds and low clouds all along our flight path from VCBI to VCCW. It may have been 20 degrees C at 4K feet during our afternoon flight but Linda was still “burr cold”.

Needless to say our slow flight in a Piper Cub, popping in and out of clouds to find our way through a valley between Sinharaja & Belihuloya while fighting a wind determined to keep us off course, was far more adventurous than our flights in Little Bird …and we’re good with that.

Our adventure continues ...

Shot down or in jail ...either one would be bad

“Landing is a pilot’s artistic expression”

 

We left VTCC at 2300 local and flew Southwest over the Bay of Bengal. Our star lit early morning approach & landing in Sri Lanka at VCBI was one of our finer “artistic expressions”.

Following the thrill of traveling from 135kts to 20kts in two heartbeats, and the mental/mechanical jump roping associated with it, a kind voice from ATC says …Five Lima Romeo exit runway as soon as possible. We complied as quickly and as safely as we could knowing a Pacific 737 was on final a few miles behind us.

As soon as we pulled off of 04 onto Taxiway Bravo we switched the radio to Ground. We immediately heard “Bombardier 5 Lima Romeo stop and hold for traffic”. A truck came up the taxiway and stopped in front of our Little Bird. It was blocking us from moving forward. I thought …yup, here's a program glitch.

Our trip is not real life but governments, airspace regulations, international borders, fuel delivery cost, maintenance, security and more forms than can be imagined associated with a single movement are real.

In keeping our virtual experience as connected to a real life adventure as we can we asked ourselves this question …Just who the hell handles all this fodder so we can enjoy our trip without ending up shot down or in jail? Either one would be a drag.

 

Executive Jet Management is such a company. What an amazing group of people. EJM will ensure that your flight and your aircraft are perfect, around the world, around the clock be it in one of their aircraft or in yours. In the world of private executive travel the words perfect and customer service take on expansive qualities of infinite proportions. The achievement level of providing a perfect customer service experience for their clients is just business as usual for EJM. Their clients expect it and EJM consistently delivers.

More of our Sri Lanka adventures later …

Dead Reckoning up the Mae-Ping River

Our uneventful 180 minute flight from VTSP to VTCC was made a little turbulent by 78 MPH winds off our port bow. We had them with us from departure to arrival as well as up & down various flight levels.

We grabbed an R-66 for our flight from VTCC to a point 56 km North of Chiang Mai.

Approach to Royal Ping Resort

Royal Ping Garden and Resort

 We’re off to visit the Elephant Training Center ChiangDao.

 After studying various maps and satellite images we established our Dead Reckoning bearings.  We’d follow Asian Hwy 107 north to San Mahaphon where the road splits off to the East.

From there we continued to fly north for another 5 miles, over Inthakhin, to our lodgings. The Royal Ping Garden and Resort was easy to find. It's on a distinctive bend in highway 107 where it meets the Mae-Ping River.



Best friends for life

Founded in 1969, The Chiang-Dao Chiang Mai Elephant Training Center is surrounded by small hills with the Ping River running through it. The center only work the elephants during the mornings . The rest of the elephants day & evening are spent roaming in natural habitats.
Each elephant has his or her own mahout to care for them on a one-on-one basis, for life. It is easy to see why the centers elephants are happy, healthy and thriving ...they are loved. Linda really loves the babies.

What an opportunity to learn about elephants, their traits, lifestyles, talents and charms. The lifelong friendship between and elephant and their mahout is very real and extremely heartwarming.

Linda’s argument is this ...a baby elephant weights around 250 pounds. She says that will still allow her 1500 more pounds before reaching our weight limit for Little Bird. I’ve got to put my foot down …seriously.

Speaking of foot ...notice the mother's L front foot ...she stepped on a land mine. The Center rescued her and her baby. Both are doing well thanks to them.
Our adventure continues ...

Phuket, a Beaver to Phi Phi

VTSP is a busy place

We landed at VTSP on the island of Phuket, Thailand just after midnight. Flying over the South China Sea towards Ho Chi Minh City was peculiar for this child of the fifties. Maybe it was the endless sea of stars effortlessly blending into the ocean below that allowed my mind to wander. A danger of auto pilot I suppose.

VTSP

 One picture speaks a thousand words. It’s also good to know your runway markings …and to fly into VTSP at night. Watching the lights come up on you is much easier than watching the beach trying to reach up to grab your landing gear.

A Beaver to Phi Phi

 

 

 

 At the Phuket Marina we transferred to a De Havilland Beaver for our flight to the Zeavola Resort on Koh Phi Phi.

 

We’ll park here for a few days to play the typical Thailand tourist.  

Our next Thai stops will be a little more …off the beaten track. The adventure continues.

...seriously, the water color here is just ...wow