Aerospace Global News reported that Queen Suthida of Thailand flew solo in a Royal Thai Air Force single-seat Saab JAS 39C Gripen on Thursday (8 October). She completed the planned sortie and returned to Wing 7 after 41 minutes.
The report says the flight followed roughly four weeks of intensive training visits to an airbase in southern Thailand, as well as earlier classroom instruction, simulator exercises and supervised flying. Queen Suthida had accumulated more than 1,100 flying hours before the flight and became Thailand’s first female Gripen pilot. King Maha Vajiralongkorn watched the preparations, take-off and landing at Wing 7 in Surat Thani province.
