reply to airpolice
Firstly the fairway I selected looked long enough but I could only "see" it at first as a swathe cut from the trees. I could not see the ground at all. At very much the last minute,as I was lining up on "fairway finals", I was able to see that four golfers were in my path approaching the "green" and another four were just setting off from the"Tee".
The first four were exactly where I needed to touch down and the second four were (safer) but where I would be trying to stop before shooting off into the trees, assuming I had avoided the bunkers; bushes or whatever other obstructions the course designers had put there to distinguish the course from a runway!
Why were there EIGHT golfers on this particular fairway? Wednesday is "club competition" day at the Caird Park Golf Club and they were playing foursomes or fourballs or something. Another four on the next "Tee"; witnessed the entire manoevre and reported it very accurately in the local paper!
The tree was the only option safe to those on the ground. Beyond it on my track was a busy dual carriageway then a housing estate.
As for your comments on fuel, you will have to wait for the AAIB bulletin. My fully planned and discussed (with pilots at Walney used to the terrain) alternates were Carlisle; Dundee and Inverness (since there is no AVgas at Kinloss).
All the best,
Vince