Thailand’s King and Queen piloted their government jet for their first official state visit, and that’s kind of amazing (thanks to @jdeliens for flagging this)…
In this post:
Thai King & Queen land 737 at Bhutan’s Paro Airport
On April 25, 2025, Thailand’s King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida made their first official state visit since ascending to the throne in 2019. Specifically, they spent four days in Bhutan, where they were hosted by the country’s King.
As you’d expect, lots of preparations are typically made for state visits, and it’s common to have a major ceremony on arrival. However, the King and Queen made quite the entrance for a completely different reason — they were at the controls of their own Boeing 737-800.
It’s exceptionally rare for a head of state to be a pilot. It’s even rarer for them to pilot a plane on an official visit like this. And it’s even rarer for a King’s first officer to be the Queen.
Here’s the other thing — the plane flew to Paro, Bhutan (PBH), which is known as being one of the most challenging airports in the world to land at, due to the complicated approach, and mountainous terrain. The airport is at an altitude of around 7,400 feet, and is surrounded by Himalayan peaks of up to 18,000 feet. Only about 50 pilots worldwide are certified to land at the airport, given the special training required.
Below you can see video footage of the 72-year-old and 46-year-old duo at the controls of the plane, and even see footage of the landing from outside the aircraft.
Below is more about the visit, how they were greeted upon arrival, etc. “Sorry, King of Bhutan, I just need a few minutes to run through some checklists and change, and then I’ll come say hi.”
I knew Thailand’s King was an aviation geek, but wow
I’m not like some King of Thailand fanboy (but I’m also not *not*, because it’s illegal to not say nice things about him), but I did know he was a pilot, and a bit of an aviation geek. He spent years in the Royal Thai Army, where he was a military pilot who was qualified to fly all kinds of aircraft, ranging from fighter jets to passenger planes. For that matter, he reportedly has a 737 in Thai Airways colors in the backyard of his residence, as a garden ornament of sorts.
What I wasn’t aware of is that his wife is a pilot as well. She was actually a flight attendant until 2008, at which point she joined Thailand’s military, and was eventually promoted to be Vajiralongkorn’s bodyguard, back when he was the Crown Prince. Five years later, they married.
So, how did the King and Queen prepare for this flight? The King was the one flying, and he reportedly spent three days training in a simulator, and another two days training at a military airport, in order to get up to speed on all the procedures for operating at this airport. Furthermore, there was a pilot from Bhutan’s national airline, Drukair, monitoring them and providing assistance in the flight deck.
For what it’s worth, the King and Queen also piloted their own plane on departure from Paro. I’m guessing they didn’t get too much attitude or too many holding patterns from air traffic controllers along the way, and in Thailand. 😉
Bottom line
Thailand’s King and Queen made a state visit to Bhutan this past week, and they arrived a bit differently than most other heads of state. The two were at the controls of their 737, performing what’s considered to be one of the world’s most challenging approaches.
I’ve never really thought that being royalty would be particularly fun. Well, I think this would qualify as an exception.
What do you make of Thailand’s King and Queen piloting their own 737 to Bhutan?
And they still lost his luggage.
When I was in Thailand last December, the locals told me that the king is a playboy who just installed a new wife. It is quite incomprehensible that the Thai kingdom is the wealthiest monarchy in the world-- so totally contradictory to the Buddhist principles. It is a poor third world country whose young population is in "red light districts" in tourism. It attracts western males looking for underaged boys and girls. I ditched a...
When I was in Thailand last December, the locals told me that the king is a playboy who just installed a new wife. It is quite incomprehensible that the Thai kingdom is the wealthiest monarchy in the world-- so totally contradictory to the Buddhist principles. It is a poor third world country whose young population is in "red light districts" in tourism. It attracts western males looking for underaged boys and girls. I ditched a plan to visit Phuket after reading reviews about that island. Prostitution, drugs in the "golden triangle", and scams are widespread in Thailand. All Asian and African monarchies have properties and assets in the west and send their offspring
to western elite private boarding schools. As for the limited number of licensed pilots who fly in and out of Bhutan, there are always "special exceptions to the rules" reserved for the wealthy and powerful that the mass population is not entitled to. Bhutan is currently facing an economic slowdown at the moment.
From my Thai Airways contact I know that local Munich staff was relieved when Munich- Bangkok flight aircraft was updated to a A350 which the King can not operate. The King used to fly many times the TG flights to Munich as he loves Bavaria apparently. There were occasions when passengers and the co pilot had to wait on the tarmac for the king to come in his limousine and board the plane to fly as captain.
I’m still waiting for IO officers to join the comment section here with their state-funded propaganda posts. They are all over the internet rn, making sure the Chakri parasites are being portrayed as altruistic demigods. Chayoooo!
Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II famously said "I have to be seen to be believed". She was right, and getting people to look can be hard. A State Visit to Bhutan would not normally gain much interest, let alone improve The King's favourables, currently an important priority. Impressive.
Reminds me of the old joke:
Pope is on the way to an important meeting in the Popemobile. Complains to driver that they're going to be late. Driver won't go over the speed limit. Finally the Pope says "pull over, I'll drive". Pope is speeding along 100 miles an hour. Gets pulled over by a pair of cops. One cop goes back to ask for license and registration. Comes back and Pope drives away....
Reminds me of the old joke:
Pope is on the way to an important meeting in the Popemobile. Complains to driver that they're going to be late. Driver won't go over the speed limit. Finally the Pope says "pull over, I'll drive". Pope is speeding along 100 miles an hour. Gets pulled over by a pair of cops. One cop goes back to ask for license and registration. Comes back and Pope drives away. Partner asks "who was that?" Answers "I don't know, but he must be important because the Pope is his chauffeur."
But sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.
Thai royalty sets the bar high for Royals That Actually Do Something
Said by someone who knows absolutely nothing about Thailand.
Really? Even commenting anything negative about them online will result you in going to jail…
Very tangentially related, in the dignitary travel realm: in my line of work I've had to plan some conferences here in the U.S. that involved a former African President, and he flies here on the country's eponymous airline. I asked his security team once how that works when they are departing from the country because I assume he doesn't have to worry about going through security or anything like that, and is probably even driven...
Very tangentially related, in the dignitary travel realm: in my line of work I've had to plan some conferences here in the U.S. that involved a former African President, and he flies here on the country's eponymous airline. I asked his security team once how that works when they are departing from the country because I assume he doesn't have to worry about going through security or anything like that, and is probably even driven to the plane, and I mentioned something about being on time for the flight, and they responded "If he's going to be onboard the flight then the plane doesn't leave until he gets on it, it doesn't matter what the departure time is".
"It's good to be the King" (president). -Mel Brooks
Just another addition, but the Sultan of Brunei pilots his own a/c as well.
Is it that rare? The Dutch king used to pilot commercial time to time, the Brunei king very regularly pilots his B747-8, several members of the British royal family are trained pilots both civilian and military, and those are the only ones we commonly know about.
It seems like a side hobby for them in their “struggles” to find something in the boredom of the opulent lifestyle
King Abdallah of Jordan is a military pilot, too
Long live the king
That's all we can say here in Thailand.
Long live the king
the son of the former King was known to fly from BKK to MUC himself, evading all pandemic restrictions and by means of him even well before that, spending more time south of Munich than in Thailand, was effectively violating German law about former dignitaries making affairs on their own soil.
Thailand's monarchs have lived in Europe for generations.
would love to hear the ATC recording for those flights!!
@ Ben, FYI the actual King of the Netherlands is also a Pilot (Captain) and even flies many times comercial flights.
Don't know today but my Belgian king was/is also a Pilot but for Fighterjets.
He´s actually a first officer, not a captain. But that doesn´t make it any less cool. He regularly flies the government 737 but is now transitioning to the A321neo since that is what he will do his commercial flights on for KLM.
Yeah; he flew Fokker 100s (logically enough) until KLM got rid of them and he had to switch.
That's very, very cool