Planning a visit to North East Scotland and would appreciate any additional advice, insight, local knowledge etc.
Landing fee + Handling for 2 days at Aberdeen £285
Similar at RAF Leuchars
Around £25 at Dundee
Just means a slightly longer (+40 mins) drive to destination
The lady answering the phone at Tayside Aviation was very helpful and I can get a hire car delivered for collection on arrival.
I plan to transit Liverpool and route directly north, not above FL100 due no oxygen but as high as reasonable below airways. This will take me slightly to the east of Edinburgh and west of Leuchars.
Intend to remain VFR but I do have IR(R) rating if required so might be VFR on top.
I'm sure the nice people at Scottish Info will be their usual helpful selves
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1) What altitude would be reasonable to expect a transit through Edinburgh airspace and any particular routing that's more favoured by ATC?
2) Leuchars appear to be one of only 3 UK LARS services that are 24H (according to the AIP), so I should expect to be handed over to them when north of the Forth, even on weekends.
3) Dundee does have instrument approaches which are all out to the west, presumably against prevailing wind direction so need a circle to land. I guess the Tay Road Bridge was a bit of an unmoveable object for ILS designers to work around
Presumably Leuchars would provide radar vectors to the ILS on request if required and effectively act as the approach controllers for Dundee?
4) Is Perth a sensible weather alternate, given that it is so nearby and may suffer the same bad weather (plus has no instrument approaches)? The high cost of Edinburgh or Aberdeen puts me off them as alternates, although I'd use them if necessary under the Strasser scheme.
Any other guidance, local knowledge etc. much appreciated