Newly Qualified Pilot Excited to Join Pattaya Flier’s Club
By TRENT MACGUFFIN, EDITORIAL INTERN
PATTAYA, THAILAND — A 23-year-old Australian backpacker arrived in Pattaya this weekend full of enthusiasm, a fresh pilot’s license in his wallet, and the mistaken belief that he had found a local aviation community to network with.
“I just saw a bunch of posts about the Pattaya Flier’s Club,” said Liam Doyle, from Brisbane, wearing a T-shirt reading Beechmont Flight School ‘25 and a grin that quickly disappeared when no one returned it.
Doyle had just completed a 12-week flight training course in Queensland and said he was eager to “keep the momentum going” by connecting with what he believed was a “tight-knit expat pilot scene.”
The deathly silence reportedly emerged at the Bendy Banana Bar when Doyle announced his intentions over a round of happy hour mojitos at a table of local expats.
“I thought it was, like, a chill group of aviation heads,” Doyle later explained. “You know—flying Cessnas, talking flight sims, grabbing a few beers. But everyone just kinda... went quiet.”
“He said he wanted to ‘get airborne in Pattaya’ and everyone just... looked at the floor,” said barmaid Ning, 31. “One guy left without paying.”
Sources close to the karaoke mic say Doyle looked briefly shaken, then tried to recover by suggesting they “start an actual aviation chapter instead.” No one responded.
It was only after a retired English expat named Dave took him aside that Doyle learned the truth.
The “Pattaya Flier’s Club” is a grim euphemism used online to describe the disturbing number of foreigners who have fallen, or been pushed, from high-rise balconies in the city.
“I was just trying to find a Facebook group,” Doyle said later. “Now everyone keeps patting my shoulder and telling me to ‘stay grounded.’”
Since the incident, Doyle has deleted his Reddit account and changed hostels. He now says he’s “looking into maybe doing a boat course instead.”
“It’s not a flying school,” said one district official, who asked not to be named. “It’s an ongoing public safety issue. Don’t joke about it.”
He urged visitors to be cautious when interpreting local slang and seek help, or a bus ticket to Bangkok, if they feel low while visiting Sin City.
Doyle said he’ll stick to the beach for now. “I just wanted to make friends . . . I didn’t think I’d cause a scene by liking planes.”