I may be travelling to Thailand late this year and doing some flying there. It would be helpful to know; 1 - How does one validate a JAR PPL in Thailand? Presumably one also needs a Thai medical - hopefully the process is no more onerous and involves no greater amount of testicular fondling than it does in Europe?
2 - Are the VFR charts up to date, accurate and readily available?
3 - Are there a decent number of airports and strips that are suitable, well maintained and generally with low to moderate pucker factor?
4 - Are there a decent number of servicable navaids?
5 - Is the Queens English spoken on the radio?
6 - How usable are the systems for getting met information, NOTAMs etc for a low-houred non Thai speaking pilot?
7 - I am considering renting from this place:
THAI FLYING CLUB - General Aviation and Sport Flying in Thailand - AOPA THAILAND although I haven't yet reached the stage of giving them a call. Any information people can give me about this particular club would be very helpful. The number of places to rent from seems very limited.
I'm fortunate enough to have Thai speaking friends who can help out with administrative stuff but they are not pilots, so pointers to anything else important that I may have forgotten to ask about would also be appreciated.
Conan The Vulgarian