A recent flying trip to Scotland by HM Stevens
Yep, Life’s a Beach, well that’s what it says on the T-Shirt!
On a recent flying trip to Scotland, I achieved another ambition in my flying career and that was to land on the beach on the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides. As we all know opening and closing times of aerodromes are decided by the rising and setting of the sun, not so on the Isle of Barra where it is decided by the tides and hence the moon. I’m led to believe that Barra is the only airport in the world that actually has scheduled aircraft landing on a beach. See attached photo of the Twin Otter which had recently arrived from Glasgow.
Our holiday base destination, the Isle of Islay, sports not one but eight distilleries! The most recent old distillery to re-open is the Bruichladdich distillery which apart from producing some very nice malt, one particular strain being for sale in the local pub at £25 per tot! But it also produces the Botanist Gin from a secret recipe that only three of the staff are privileged to be in the know. Such is the secrecy that the three gents in question carry out production when the place is closed. I believe at the moment there is some discussion as to who the recipe will be handed on to, so that the next generation of distillers can keep the tradition alive. So if any of you are drinkers of this particular gin, beware if a solution is not found soon then it will be no more in a few years. Fear not though, I’m sure the ‘canny’ Scots will work out something.
Well back to the preparation for the sojourn up there. My girlfriend had booked a very smart apartment in a converted school house in a picturesque fishing village; well it had been in the past, now it’s just a picturesque village next to the sea called Port Charlotte on the island of Islay.
We had planned our departure for Saturday 28th May but the weather didn’t look that good so a delay of 24 hours to the Sunday when the forecast looked more favourable. Sunday came with low cloud across East Yorkshire but with the promise to clear as the temperature went up. By 11:00 the sky had cleared to broken at 2,000 ft., well sort of! At that time the west coast of the UK was reported to be basking in brilliant sunshine with clear skies. Therefore we would be flying into good weather. Checking all the TAFs and METARs for our scheduled route, the only blot on the horizon appeared to be an area of low cloud around Durham Tees Valley which wasn’t scheduled to clear until late in the afternoon. With all the planning done, lines drawn on the chart, latest wx reports, NOTAMs all checked, Skydemon all programmed and ready, so off we set. I’d PPR’d Islay on Friday as the Air Pilot gave only limited opening times at a week-end purely for a scheduled flight on Saturday and one on Sunday when they wouldn’t be opening the airfield until 15:00 local for 1 hour only. However, I was delighted to learn that they were actually opening from Noon local through until 17:00, so I had an excellent window.
Arriving at my local airfield which is some 400’ above sea level and whilst the clouds looked pretty high from my back garden, they now appeared a tad low at the airfield! However, by the time the a/c was out of the hangar, pre-flighted and my entire girlfriend’s luggage loaded there was just room to squeeze in my modest hold all. I normally only do a ‘weight and balance’ calculation when carrying more than two plus luggage but seeing the amount she had brought along I thought it prudent to do one! My steed being a 180hp, 4 seat Robin Regent! You get the picture and we were only going for a week!
Steadily the clouds appeared to be breaking up so we climbed aboard and with the final checks done it was ‘up, up and away. In the overhead with everything cleaned up, I put in a quick call to Humberside and once acknowledged turned north towards the North Yorkshire Moors. Once I gave my destination, Humberside asked if I was going to the whisky Festival, showing my ignorance I didn’t know there was one! Later to discover that’s why Islay airport was opening at noon in the afternoon to allow for the departure of flights for whisky goers or in this case leavers, this being the last weekend of the festival! Continuing the climb to 2500’, giving Pocklington a wide berth as they were holding a major Gliding Competition we settled down in the cruise. However, I noticed it appeared very murky over the North York Moors so I altered to a north-westerly heading intending to fly up the Vale of York. Linton is closed at the weekend, well most weekends, it is RAF after all! This was confirmed by Humberside who passed me on to Durham Tees Valley. A call to them didn’t get a response which I put down to being on the edge of their radio coverage. It was then that I noticed the darkening skies ahead. Obviously, the predicted clearing weather hadn’t occurred yet. I went down to 1000’ and ahead it looked no better. I was greeted with a wall of blackness all the way down to the ground level. I explained to my girlfriend that there was no way I was going through that. Having had an estimated TOPS from Humberside of around 3500’ it was time to make use of the IR so up we went, punching a hole in the clouds breaking out at 4000’ in crystal clear skies for as far as the eye could see. Dialed up 1013 on the altimeter and fly the semi-circular heading.
By now I was in contact with Durham Tees who cleared me through their airspace then passed me onto Newcastle as I took up a north westerly heading across the Pennines, keeping clear of the danger area there.
Didn’t want the SAS taking pot shots at me!! SAS that’s the week-end warriors, i.e the Saturdays and Sundays mob!
Soon I was talking to Carlisle, only air-ground at a week-end; naturally, they were quite busy in the excellent weather.
The clouds were now breaking up into small clusters of cotton wool. Keeping clear of Carlisle I went on to Scottish Information as we coasted out over the Solway Firth. Scottish then passed me on to Prestwick as we tracked towards Turnberry after which it was back to Scottish as we passed over the Mull of Kintyre.
Next Ailsa Craig ‘hove to’ into sight to the south with the Isle of Arran to the north.
Before too long we could make out Islay on the horizon.
Continuing over Port Ellen, talking to Islay Tower I was given clearance for a straight-in approach to runway 31.
The light aircraft park is at the other side of the airfield from the main terminal area and alongside the main road, right next to a car park and viewing area. Following taxy instructions from the tower, I was eventually marshalled by a couple airport firemen onto a parking stand. After shutting down, getting out and receiving a warm welcome to Islay from the two of them, I explained that we were meeting family and as the terminal was one heck of a walk away could they come back and collect us both with all our luggage, remember the luggage! Then take us across to the terminal where we would meet my girlfriend’s relatives.
‘Och yea canna noo bother with that, just get ya, people, to come doon to yon car park’ he said indicating to the car park but a short walk away. ‘Then just climb over yon fence no bother’! With that, they jumped back into their shiny Fire Engine and sped off back to the terminal!! Welcome to Islay.
‘Och yea canna noo bother with that, just get ya, people, to come doon to yon car park’ he said indicating to the car park but a short walk away. ‘Then just climb over yon fence no bother’! With that, they jumped back into their shiny Fire Engine and sped off back to the terminal!! Welcome to Islay.
Just at that moment we spotted our ride racing past on the road just to the left heading for the terminal. So with some frantic waving of hands we attracted his attention and with a 180 he came back to collect us from the car park just out of the photo to the left. And we did just climb over the fence!!
As I said at the start apart from this being a relaxing holiday enjoying the surroundings, Scottish hospitality, the whisky and the local brew which is excellent and cheaper! I wanted to get Barra International, as it is known locally, into my log book. Checking the Air Pilot makes Barra sound a little daunting with a note to be attempted by experienced pilots only, so what makes an experienced pilot, well someone who has landed on sand I guess!! Also they require 24 hours’ notice which I duly did, explaining that I was planning on coming the following day to which the controller replied in laid back Scottish lilt, ‘Och no bother, just call again in the morning before yea set off”! So I duly called again in the morning speaking to the same friendly controller. He gave me the local weather which sounded promising saying they’d had a few light aircraft in already! I explained that I’d never been in before, again receiving a laconic ‘Och it’s no bother, but if you want to just do a low fly by before going around to land’. That was my briefing, were as I’d been expecting all sorts of ‘do’s and don’ts! So off we went climbing up in to a gin clear morning, albeit with a strong but steady wind of 18 knots on the ground.
Crossing the Island of Tiree, reputed to be sunniest place in the UK. You can just make out the long runways of the wartime aerodrome which are still in use today with regular flights to Glasgow. During WWII it played a major part in protecting the convoys from U Boats as the merchant ships ploughed across the Atlantic.
Next stop Barra, where I was requested to orbit keeping clear until a schedule passenger flight had cleared.
Having spoken to my brother who until he recently retired was a commercial pilot, at one time flying for Logain Air in Scotland, he’d flown many times in to Barra and explained to me the only points to worry about was standing water if the tide had just receded and the Cockle Pickers who gradually walk out following the tide, completely oblivious to the fact that they are on an active airfield! Well I’d timed my arrival to be well past High Tide so no standing water or Cockle Pickers. There were people, but they were hardly visible in the distant at the water’s edge. I have to say that landing on the sand at Barra was akin to landing on a Billiard Table, it was as smooth as silk! Even though I say so myself, a real greaser! Even my girlfriend asked ‘have we landed?’ as I turned to taxi back to the terminal!
We then enjoyed a superb home cooked lunch in the terminal café with a magnificent view out across the sand. Frequented by locals who come not only for the good food but to watch the comings and goings of airborne traffic. Well actually there’s not a lot else to do on Barra! If time permits a wander into the town of Castlebay is worth a visit. You may even get a lift from one of the friendly locals.
Some of you may recall an Ealing Comedy film made in black & white and still available called ‘Whisky Galore’. The hilarious story of a ship wreck that was plundered by the small local population living on Barra. It’s based on a true wartime story of a ship call the s.s.Politican which having set sail from Liverpool in 1941, was bound for the Caribbean. It was in the early days before all ships had radar and in foggy conditions working on ‘Dead Reckoning’ navigation the ship ended up aground. Actually on the Island of Eriskay just to the north of Barra. All the crew were rescued but the locals soon discovered the cargo of whisky. As you can imagine it is quite a remote place with little if any officialdom, so soon the locals suffering from the shortages caused by the war thought this was a gift from heaven and helped themselves! If you have a chance to watch the film, there are many scenes filmed in and around the town of Castlebay on Barra. Having been there recently and comparing views with the 1940’s film, I can tell you that little, if anything at all, has changed since the making of the film in 1948! Who said ‘time cannot standstill’? It certainly appears to have done so on the Isle of Barra! Ironically a new film of ‘Whisky Galore’ has recently been shot and is due for release this year, if not already out there in the cinemas.
Naturally I did more flying whilst up there but then that’s for another article!
If you haven’t flown into Barra then I can thoroughly recommend a visit.
So as the saying goes, ‘Been there, done that and got the T Shirt’!!
Footnote:-
There is another interesting side story about the wreck of the s.s. Politician, one that has been kept secret for many years and is not universally known. At that time the UK still had several overseas dependencies’ in the Caribbean area to where the s.s. Politician was bound. As well as the whisky her cargo consisted of several boxes of new GBP currency for countries such as Jamaica, then still under the British Crown and using sterling. Mysteriously most of this money went missing! However, it was never discovered amongst the islanders. The HM Revenue Officers and police, when they finally arrived on the island to take charge of the wreck, only recovered what was left of the whisky. The crew of s.s. Politican however, were all rescued, returning home for survivors’ leave before being dispersed and appointed to other ships sailing worldwide. Eventually, some of this missing money started appearing for exchange at banks in various parts of the world. Although it was never proved the supposition is that this money was ‘nicked’ by some of the crew as they abandoned ship!
