Another day in paradise (Kirkwall Airport)

Leuchars 2009

I have narrowed down my Leuchars visit from 600 to 70 odd photos.  As there are so many, I won't write a blurb for each but if you would like any more info, don't hesitate to get in touch.

This year I had an enthusiasts pass which allowed me better access to the aircraft and photo opportunities.  I was hosted by the RAF for the two days I was there and I have to say their hospitality and food were outstanding.  Many thanks to all for their excellent care.

Anyway to the photos starting off with a Belgian Air Force Embraer

The first of the typhoons

And a few moments later, this is my favourite pic of the weekend

Saab Gripen

Polish Air Force MIG 29 before and after display

Then it was time for a dream come true.  Due to the weather, the Vulcan could not fly.  Not so this year.  All of a sudden I heard the Vulcan contact the tower in my earpiece, then in the distance she appeared with a Typhoon escort.

And here it is, just before parking right in front of me.

And here are a couple of close-ups and obviously a picture of yours truly showing just how closed we were allowed to go.  It is such a big aircraft as the final picture shows where the guys in the air intake give an idea of perspective.

Then it was time for the F16's

And an F15

The Golden oldies started arriving, first of all a Jet Provost

A Hunter

And a number of Strikemasters

Then came the Venom, on the ground it looked like an oversized tadpole, in the air it looked seriously mean

The next aircraft to land was a German Breguet which was immaculate and had the most amazing livery as you will see

More to come..............................................

Hanging my head in shame

It seems that I never have time to update here and I made a commitment when I started it to give regular updates whether people were interested or not.  I checked my statistics and discovered the average number of readers is down 50% on last year.  There can only be 2 reasons for that:

1.  People have lost interest in aviation

2.  Updates are too few and far between

Impossible for number 1 to happen so it must be the second so time to catch up.  I have a few photos from Kirkwall.  Shortly I will have a Leuchars special as the airshow was outstanding this year and I took around 600 pictures.

I have just thought maybe there is a third option, maybe my writings and rantings are boring  Oh well, if I end up the only reader, I won't have to fight for bandwidth.

Anyway back to Kirkwall starting off with EZ700 which came in on a training mission, always nice to see a 146 at Kirkwall.

Next we have F-GZTL, a Mooney which left the day I came back off holiday

On that day there was the unmistakeable sound of a 1000hp + single turbine doing a high speed fly past.  Sure enough, shortly after 2 x Tucanos landed and parked up at the small apron.  ZF347 and 409.

And the inside. I already have photos of the cockpit on file but here are others for those who have not seen them.  Front followed by rear.

We had a visit from G-DPHN, a beautiful Dauphin, the photo does not do it justice as it is quite a big helicopter.  Certainly luxurious.

And the inside

G-GMAA , a Learjet 45, came in for a short visit with the Scottish Ambulance Service

G-ZZSA passed through on an oil rig crew change

And I just about missed this one.  Andrew Brown came to Orkney with his family in the summer and on the nice days took his family flying around the noth isles.  You can just see a face in the passenger seat of the aircraft.  This is Andrew's wife Alison, who does not like flying and when you look closely at the photo, her eyes are tight shut

In fact I could not resist it, here is the proof

Not too bad a pic for something at 500ft doing 100 knots, hope you don't mind Alison

Finally the big boy arrives, XV229 came past on a low pass and impressed all who watched particularly me.

Thats it for now, lots of photos to come, thanks for taking the time to look.

Regards

Neil

Kinloss in July

A good friend of mine told me that he was fed up of bits and bobs so I thought it was time to get some pictures together and type a new entry.  I have so many pictures from Orkney I need to sort, I decided to post a few of the photos I took at the start of my summer holiday.

My wife is from Forres in Morayshire which is just a stones throw from RAF Kinloss, home of 120 Sqn · 201 Sqn · 42(R).

We had a couple of days prior to heading down south so when I had a couple of hours spare, I got dropped off at the end of the runway hoping to get some pictures.  2 hours elapsed and nothing happened other than the weather became worse and I thought about giving up when there was the sound of a number of jet engines.

The next 20 minutes or so, varied from bright sunshine to torrential rain as the photos will show but I am well happy with some of the pictures so I thought I would share  a few with you.  It is perfectly obvious what the aircraft are and I have listed all the numbers, so if you want more info, just type the number into google.

Hope you like them.

Starting off with Typhoon ZJ803

Typhoon ZJ814

Typhoon ZJ833

Typhoon ZJ941

Then came the big boys, first of all XV231 doing a touch and go followed by a better close up, then ZH102 an E3 sentry going over my head

To be continued........

Finally got back to the computer, my photos are piling up so thought I would try and finish this bit off. Next we had ZJ690, a Sentinel R1

The next 4 are are Cobham Falcons

Then it was time for the Hawks XX339, 255 and 332

Back to the Typhoons, first ZJ815

Twins?

ZG500 Harrier

ZG507

More twins

ZG835 Typhoon sneaked in

Harriers galore ZG862, ZH661, ZD468, ZG558, ZH663 and ZG510

The last 4 Typhoons of the day ZJ912, ZJ830, ZJ914 and ZJ941

And this one wasn't playing, lined up, revved up and returned to base broken ZH661

Thats it for now, back to Kirkwall for the next lot and off to Leuchars

Till next time

Neil

Bits and Bobs

Well its that time again when I try and think what to write next in this blog.  We have had a lot of traffic lately and I have not managed to photograph everything but I hope you like some of these.

The first unusual aircraft is a pressurised Cessna 210 with a turbine up front, N54CC from Canada

And the inside

WE had a musical interlude while we had visiting Ministers from Malawi.  They were piped into the terminal by Stephen Cooper and Eddie Nicolson

WE have had many German visitors over the last few weeks, the first is D-EDKY, DA40

And D-EEDL, a BE35

And the inside

Then it was off to Stornoway where I snapped this Hawker 400, F-HITM

And on the way through Inverness, G-JECU Q400

Then it was back to Kirkwall where I snapped these Seneca's D-GDWL and D-GWMF

And I do not have a scooby what this is but I snapped it anyway, here is D-MIEL

Then it was a winged bird of a different variety.  As I was walking back to my car at the end of the day, I was aware of being watched.  Here is the guilty party, a friendly Pied Wagtail.

But back to aircraft, the next day we had a low pass by XV260, Nimrod

Another aircraft with a parachute, G-ZOGT, Cirrus SR20

Our friends from Blink popped in again, here is G-FLBK, Citation Mustang

And the inside

Foul weather brought in G-REDO, Rescue Super Puma

The next group of photos were taken last thursday night when we had a short visit from a charity flight group aiming to raise awareness and money for Flying for the disabled.  They left Jersey Airport at 0430 and arrived withus around 1830 still to fly to Sumburgh and back to Inverness.

First Piper Aztec G-BBRA

N646C0 Cessna 210

And the aircraft that Liz Harcus from Security wants for christmas G-LIZZ

Incidentally, Liz tells me that her sons are regular readers of this blog so, Hi Guys, thanks for taking the time, much appreciated.

Then the next Cessna 210 G-BSGT

Here are the bold heros, knackered but happy

The penultimate shot is of the aircraft fired up and ready to go

And finally, the formation fly past, thanks for the visit, hope your trip was a success.

Thats it for just now.  As always thanks for taking the time to pop past.  Till next time

Neil

What has a Dragon and a Yaks rear got in common?

I photographed them both over the last week.  It has been a busy time at the airport with last friday the 28th of May being the 75th anniversary of Ted Fressons inaugural mail flight to Orkney.  This was commemorated by the issue of special first day covers from the Fresson Trust being flown to Kirkwall in a DH84 piloted by Henry LaBouchere.

Before he arrived with his guests we had a fly past by our old friend Ariadne piloted by Mark Preston

And a first for me, Peter Shearer in a low pass with his G-BMFY Grob 109

Then it was time for G-ECAN, DH84 Dragon

The handover of the first day covers took place on the main apron and on the left of the picture is Charlie Allway, Royal Mail Delivery Manager and Henry LaBouchere on the right.

This next picture is of Richard Fresson, on the left, who is the son of Ted Fresson and local man David Rendall whose career started with Ted Fresson and Scottish Airways in 1939.

Then it was time for a fantastic buffet lunch in the terminal provided by the airport manager.  In the evening I was invited to the official opening of the Fresson Exhibition in the Tankerness House Museum followed by drinks and a tal in the Town Hall.

It's a hard life being Terminal Manager sometimes

Monday came and it was time for Prince Charles and his wife Camilla aka The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay to visit Orkney.  Normally we have a 146 from the Royal Flight in but this time it was G-KALS, a beautiful Bombardier Challenger 300 operated by London Executive Aviation and piloted by Paul and Karl being looked after by Claire.

The guests meet their greeting party

Tuesday morning came and I was stunned with what I saw as I was driving to work.  Parked at the small apron was G-BTUB, A Yak 11C on its way from Iceland to its new owner across Hadrians Wall.

And my attempt at an artistic shot

And the inside

The Yak's rear I previously mentioned

Then it was time for the pilot to leave for Inverness, not before performing a low fly past at extreme speed.  The noise of a Yak engine is unbelievable, sheer power, and its take off distance is extremely long but once in the air, fantastic.

Then it was time for SD-DLP to return to pick up its pax.  This time it was a nice day and I got some better shots.

The access to the cabin is amazing as this shot shows

And the inside

Early this morning saw the departure of 2 gentleman Jabiru owners to Plockton via Cape Wrath

First G-BZUH

And the inside

Next is G-CDSH

And the inside

Then it was time for the inaugural flight to Bergen by G-LGNA

And just before I finished, D-EDKY, DA40 landed on Runway 33, sadly I missed the accompanying BE35 but will get that tomorrow along with a very special Cessna 210 with an An Allison turbo-prop engine.

Thats it for now, thanks for reading

Neil

Top Gear

Did I ever say how much I missed readin Mclaudio and ruimiguels blog, they were a huge loss to spottersblog.  I am sincerely hoping they return at some point.  I can't complain though between the blog and the webcams I have had well over 50,000 hits over the last year so thank you for taking the time to have a look and see what is going on at Kirkwall.

Now the better weather is here (haha) we are starting to see different types of aircraft coming in and I have a few pictures from last week starting with G-TIGV, Super puma

We had a baby Citation in and it was a beauty, G-FBLK is a Citation Mustang

G-EMDM, Diamond Star, what was unusual about this one is it is petrol not diesel.

Another Super Puma G-PUMS

And another G-CHCG

We had a surprise visit from Hamish Mitchell in G-DRAM "Spirit of Scotland" an FR172.  Find more about this aircraft at www.scotlandonfloats.com

Another Super Puma G-REDN

And another vist from G-OMRH on its way to Farnborough and then onto Nice

Then we come to the title.  The popular programme Top Gear were having a race against a letter from the Scilly Isles to the Brough of Birsay in Orkney.  The first picture is the aircraft bringing the film crew.  G-POBW is a King Air 350 operated by Titan Air and it was stunning.

And finally we have 2 of the Top Gear presenting team on the slightly quicker return home by air.  The poor guys were knackered but kin dly gave their time to all and sundry.  many thanks.  Obviously Richard Hammond on the left and James May on the right.

Thats it for just now, more at the end of the week.  Take care and thanks for reading

Neil

Norman the gnome visits Kirkwall

Hello All

Well I have paid my fees for another year of blogging so you will have to put with me I'm afraid.  Things have started coming into Kirkwall now the weather is better and the temperature is reaching double figures.  I have a few pictures this week starting with OY-PBV arriving at Kirkwall after I saw it for the first time in Inverness

At the beginning of the week we had a vist from Norman the Gnomw who is based at RAF Cosford Flying Club.  Here he is with his 2 minders and the next photo is a close up.  Apparently Norman has been all over the world and this was his first time at Kirkwall.  After a short visit he left for Stornoway in G-BFNI, PA28.

Just as they left another PA28 arrived from Sweden via Denmark.  The occupants were on a whisky tour of Scotland and, of course, had to begin with the best whisky in the world, Highland Park!  This PA28 is different as it is the R model or the Cherokee Arrow meaning it has retractable undercarriage unlike the previous PA28.

nd for the first time in ages  we had a low approach from a Nimrod, which usually shakes the building.  Here is XV244.

And finally just before I finished work today, G-ATLA, C182 arrived for a visit.

Thats it for just now and the first note of the next year.  Thanks for taking the time to read.

Best wishes

Neil

PS I discovered a fascinating historical site in Orkney www.crashsiteorkney.com Go and have a look.

Flying visit

I had one of my many trips to Stornoway last week and as I was passing through I took a couple of pictures as always.  Many thanks to Christian and Craig for the hospitality on the Highland Airways J31.

First of all G-SAXN, King Air B200 was parked up at Inverness

Parked next to it was G-OSOH, a Citation 525

Ben Air had a different Shorts 360 on the apron OY-PBV

And on the grass strip was G-OLRT a Robinson R22

Next was CS-DNO, a Hawker 800

And G-CEDK, a beautiful Citation X owned by the Duke of westminster

In the distance was G-SYLJ, the first time I had seen an Embraer 135

And finally in Stornoway, I saw a Saab 340 cargo, LY-NSC

Thats it for noe, till next time

Neil

Wildlife week!

"What on earth is he on about" I hear you say, or maybe I don't maybe nobody reads aircraft related sites anymore.  Why have I titled this entry wildlife week?  Easy because our visitors this week include a squirrel and a robin.   

But we will start off with a visitor from Odense in Denmark.  OY-NUD, a Citation 560 arrived early Wednesday morning and departed Wednesday afternoon.

G-STON is a twin squirrel operated by Veritair who are based at Cardiff heliport.  It was up in Orkney surveying the digital transmitters getting ready for the big switchover in 2012.

And the inside

And a new one for me, under the hood.  A rare photo of the squirrels power plant

And another

We had a short visit by G-ELUN yesterday, an immaculate DR400 Robin which arrived from Inverness.

And finally, I lost this photograph but obviously have found it again.  This King Air came in recently while normally based in Germany, the aircraft and pilots were on detachment to the UK so paid us a visit.

That's it for just now, I'm away on one of my many vists to Aviemore tomorrow so here's hoping for lots of snow.  It will certainly be cold enough.  Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

Neil

Red sky in the morning - Shepherds warning

I don't seem to have been taking many photos lately but thought it was time I posted a few up.  We haven't had many unusual visitors lately but as the better weather comes hopefully they will start arriving.  The webcams have been a big success and viewing numbers are well up.

The first picture is XV260 which came in to see us prior to nearly the entire fleet being grounded for urgent modifications.

We had our first school visit of the year by P3/2 from St Andrews School.  The kids seem to enjoy themselves and many thanks to Loganair, OCS, AFS and all others who made their trip successful.

We had a visit from G-OMRH, a pretty Citation Bravo on its way to Liverpool Airport on a private charter

Next we have the photograph that inspired the title.  No photoshop involved.  Last wednesday was a cracking sunrise and I had to take time out to capture this.

But back to aircraft, we had a refuelling vist from G-SARC, a coastguard S92

And finally we had a visit from G-MAJV, an Eastern J41 on charter for the Sub Sea Viking who were changing their crew today.  We also had LN-BAA in from Norway piloted by Garth and Karen but as I already have a photo on file just thought I would say hi to the crew.

So that's it for now, hope you drop past again soon.

Take care

Neil