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Another day in paradise (aka Kirkwall Airport)

Where is the sun?

21:31, 24 March 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

I am sitting here tonight with the temperature outside at -3 centigrade and a windchill of -12. Fuel has gone up to £1.25 a litre, so not much of a day. So, I thought I would bring the blog up to date. Not much has happened since my last entry apart from horrendous winds on Friday meaning I did not go to Shetland and flew to Inverness direct. At times the crosswind on 09/27 was over 50 knots but in between the gusts the flights went as normal and I set off to Stornoway in G-LEAF, A Cessna F406 under the control of Nic Van Der Meer, Flight Operations Director of Highland Airways.

Before I come to that, here is a picture of G-MAJU which visited us last Thursday

We took off for Inverness in pretty bumpy conditions but a 5 point harness keeps you in place, with the tailwind we were showing an airspeed of 210 knots but a groundspeed of 267 on the GPS

Scotland was pretty much covered in snow on the high ground and when we got to Inverness it had all but disappeared. When we arrived at Inverness there was an unusual visitor outside the Highland Airways Hanagar in the form of a United Express Jetstream 41. A world first folks, on this site, thanks to Basil O'Fee and Alan Mossman, I was allowed to take pictures for the blog. The J41 will end up in Highland Livery in about 6 weeks time.

I went into Highland Ops for a cuppa and to say hello to Paul and Ewan while the papers were being unloaded and reloaded. On my way back to the aircraft, I passed this cute little Slingsby Nipper. Worrying knowing an aircraft is only 3 times my weight.

Another bumpy flight followed and I returned at night to Inverness on G-BTXG, J31. A particularly pleasant evening followed as I was invited out for a pint with Senior Watchdog Captain, Bjorn Sandison, a fellow islander from Shetland.

On my way home next day, I just took a couple of pics in Inverness. The first is of my favourite aircraft, a BAE 146, in this case G-JEBG operated by Flybe