Rain-making plane crashes, four killed (Thailand)

Nation Multimedia ^ | March 29, 2006

[killjoy]

Chanthaburi - A planed used for artificial rain making crash-landed at the airport in Chanthaburi's Tha Mai district, killing two pilots and two agriculture officials the artificial rain-making project, police reported.

Police said another official was seriously injured.

The planed had problem and crash-landed, and caught fire.

The accident happened at 2:05 pm.

[killjoy]

I have a few good friends who fly the rain making flights. I tried calling around but I can't get ahold of anyone. The pilots are a mix of guys from both the Air Force and Police Aviation. They have been trying to get the budget approved for new planes but haven't been able to. Unfortunately this happened first. Whoever was flying the planes, you will be missed.

[killjoy]

Thailand Ping

[Brian Allen]

Thanks for the ping. I worked with those guys for decades and when based in Singapore frequently demonstrated aircraft to them and to other Thai government departments forces and agencies and sold them many of their aircraft.

[Vaquero]

Seems to me all I have ever heard about Thailand is that it rains all the time without cloud seeding. I will have to ask my friend Prawatwong when he gets to work.

[killjoy]

I finally got in touch with one of my friends. According to him, the pilots were from the agriculture department and were flying a small plane. I am not sure what model yet. One of the pilots was my friend's classmate in flight school.