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PCEC member takes flight
Master of Ceremonies Roger Fox welcomed everyone to the
Pattaya City Expats Club meeting on January 10 and after the usual
announcements, he introduced the guest speaker, Jan Persson.
Jan is a helicopter pilot that has spent his career flying in what many
would call the hinterlands. He has had an interesting time being a freelance
helicopter pilot since 1974 when he began his flying career in Sweden. He
said he wanted to share with everyone his 1990 adventure in moving a
helicopter from Greenland to Zimbabwe in Africa.
He started by presenting a map of Greenland and giving a brief history about
the country. He said that Greenland is very large - if you placed the
Northwestern tip of Greenland on Copenhagen, it would extend southwards all
the way to the Sahara Desert. Although it is very large, Jan said that only
the coast is inhabited as the interior is mostly covered with ice.
 Jan
describes moving a helicopter from Greenland to Zimbabwe, flying the chopper
around Greenland, across to Iceland, then on to Frankfurt where the chopper
was separated to 3 pieces, and sent by air cargo to Johannesburg.
Jan said he was working in Norway when he heard that there was a need for
helicopter pilots in Greenland because the company, ARCO, was doing oil
exploration. So, he went to Greenland and flew for a company that was under
contract with ARCO. After two years without finding any oil, ARCO moved on,
but Jan remained in Greenland doing scheduled and emergency flights.
In 1990, his employer, Greenland Charters, received a contract to fly for a
company that was exploring for oil in Africa. To fulfill the contract, they
decided to send one of their helicopters from Greenland to Zimbabwe. First
flying it to Frankfurt, Germany, where it was to be separated in parts so
that it could fit in a large cargo airplane to be flown to Johannesburg,
South Africa. There it would be reassembled and flown to Zimbabwe. Jan said
he was chosen to fly the helicopter, but that it needed a new “tail bone”
before they could use it. This they ordered from Bell Helicopter, but when
the new tail assembly arrived it wouldn’t fit as Jan showed in one of his
pictures. Instead of waiting around for another one, his company brought in
one of their other helicopters that was the same model and used its “tail
bone.”
Initially, Jan said, they had planned to fly in good weather, but the delay
in getting the tail assembly resulted in their encountering some bad
weather. So, instead of flying direct from the west to the east coast across
Greenland, they had to take a roundabout route along the coast, which
increased their trip from 600 to 1,300km. Jan showed several pictures of the
landscape including some of a couple of rarely seen animals; musk ox and a
white polar wolf.
They landed in Amassalik, Greenland and were stranded there for about 11
days because of the bad weather. Jan said that while there, they were asked
to fly some provisions to a group that was about 20km south.
With several pictures, Jan explained that the group was working to salvage
an American P-38 aircraft that had been lost there during World War II. One
of the group was an older gentleman who it turned out was one of the
original pilots of this “lost squadron.” Although the group had to bore a
hole some 80 meters into the ice to get to the aircraft, Jan said the old
pilot told him he planned to fly it out after it was retrieved.
From Amassalik, they flew to Reykjavik, Iceland. From there they flew to
Vagar where they were to get fuel and some rest. On arrival they discovered
that to get rest, they had a 5km trek by foot to get to the one hotel as
there was no other transportation.
They then continued their journey by making several hops from fueling
station to fueling station; finally arriving in Frankfurt. As planned, the
helicopter was broken down into 3 parts and flown by cargo plane to
Johannesburg. There, with the aid of a Bell agent, they reassembled the
helicopter and made their way to Zimbabwe. The overall trip took 41 days.
Jan then showed several pictures of their very rustic base camp. He pointed
out that the most popular building in the camp was a thatched roof affair
that was the bar. He showed several pictures of various animals he
encountered while there. He also said they had a group of game wardens
around the camp that were needed because of all the wild animals. In fact,
he mentioned that one morning he thought maybe they were going to be able to
take the day off because a couple of lions had decided to sleep under the
helicopter. But, that was not to be as after the camp woke up and began
stirring about, the lions wandered off.
He mentioned that on one trip to take seismic equipment to its destination,
they apparently flew over some game poachers who decided to fire upon their
helicopter which fortunately was not hit. He also described the dangers and
care they had to take in delivering equipment by a “long line” dangling from
the helicopter.
Jan concluded by saying that after Zimbabwe, they went to Yemen where his
company had another contract. He showed a few pictures of the country and
noted that everyone there seemed to have a Kalashnikov rifle, including one
old gentleman who was rather insistent they take him flying on the
helicopter. However, Jan said after getting into the cockpit, he changed his
mind to their relief.
Overall, Jan’s experiences were certainly adventurous and of much interest
with many questions being asked from the audience.
The meeting concluded with Harry “Sig” Sigworth conducting the always
informative and sometimes humorous Open Forum where questions are asked and
answered about living in Thailand and Pattaya in particular.
20,000 to watch 100 bed racers dash through Pattaya Jan. 31
Vimolrat Singnikorn
More than 20,000 people are expected attend when an expected 100 teams
take to the streets for the second Pattaya International Bed Race Jan. 31.
Organized by the Rotary Club of Pattaya in partnership with Pattaya City Hall,
the race will highlight a day of activities aimed at raising money for charity.
 Deputy
Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh (left) and Rotary Club of Pattaya President Viwat
Sirichartchai announce the 2010 International Bed Race.
The day kicks off with a “family fair” at noon featuring games and entertainment
with the bed race following. The event will conclude with a Rotary New Year’s
Party.
The Avenue shopping galleria will serve as ground zero for festivities while the
race itself will run from the mall to Soi 12, then left onto Beach Road. Racers
will continue to South Road then back along Second Road to the finish line at
The Avenue. Police will close the race route to traffic.
Rotary Club of Pattaya President Viwat Sirichartchai noted at a Jan. 11 planning
meeting at Pattaya City Hall that last year’s inaugural bed race proved a great
success and that this year’s event will bring all clubs, community groups and
businesses together and attract sponsors for the event in Thailand.
This year’s sponsors include The Avenue Pattaya, Global i-Care, BarterCard, CTLS
Language School, and Mercure Hotel.
Vivat said it was also requested that the Pattaya Education Department send
children to participate to the competition as well.
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