Day 3 At Balfour Castle, didn't see the OLD MAN

A bright day but with strong winds continuing. After two flights around Shapinsay with Patricia, Angela, Emma and Alistair to view their 'homes' we flew to Kirkwell airport for fuel, intending to fly around Hoy to 'catch the eye' of the OLD MAN. Sudden low cloud and rain in that area cut short the flight. After a serious planning session for Thursday an excellent meal with good company sealed the day.

Day 2 – Leg 3 – Blowing in the Wind

Andrew of Far North Aviation proved to be a fine ambassador for the region. At the time we arrived he was entertaining two ferry pilots involved in the precarious occupation of taking light aircraft between Europe and the USA, one of these in particular had already flown from Israel on route to the worlds largest air show at Oshkosh in the USA, rather him than me. A short 30 minute flight saw us with an orbit of John O’Groats on to the Orkney Isles, (the shortest water crossing of the day), and into the sanctity of Balfour Castle on the Isle of Shapinsay where we were met by the owner Patricia Lidderdale. It was only only alighting the aircraft that we realised the full strength of the wind … good old Charlie. Balfour was introduced to us as a calendar castle, 7 turrets, 12 entrances, 52 rooms and 365 panes of glass. We were their first helicopter this year.

Day 2 - Leg 2 - We Took the High Road!

We left Kintore and because of the activity with the Aberdeen CTA we routed due north to join the coast again at Banff, past RAF Lossiemouth and Kinloss, the amazing Fort George, build in 1748 like a town enclosed with strong walls, at the mouth of the Murray Firth. It was just a short hop over the hills to Cromarty and heading north up the coast to Wick, once again mindful to avoid the many danger areas formed by the military firing ranges. We now found that as a result of the head wind that had slowed us earlier in the day this had become a tailwind pushing us over the ground at over 145 knots.

Day 2 – Leg 1 – Weather we do or Weather we don’t

Tuesday was a different day to that expected, a cold front went through followed by unstable air but with superb visibility at times, the Farne Islands and Longstone Lighthouse (Grace Darling) were a sight to see. Then on to Berwick on Tweed, St Abs Head and the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh and its bridges. At this stage we were checking fuel and a stop at Dundee was on the cards but with a following wind, carrying on to Kintore was the right decision. Aberdeen airspace with international flights and offshore activities was very busy but did not stop the controller from personalising his calls to us with a “cheery” if you can’t find it just call us. During the day the views on dozens of different quality golf courses were trumped by the famed courses of St Andrews and Carnoustie … a magnificent sight. Before arriving at Kintore we were impressed by Dunnottar castle, late 14th and 15th century castle with a horrendous history where 167 religious dissenters were locked in a dungeon for two months. At Kintore, another fairly tight landing area, we met Hugh from PDG Helicopters who refuelled the helicopter and the crew with coffee and words of encouragement.