Yes, the Highlands can be, er, "interesting" at times. Especially when the wind is from the South >30Kt it can be like being inside a tumble dryer below 3k. Over the Black Isle it can be murder sometimes.
One of the worst airfields I've flown out of was Kinloss. Once on departure on a windy day (20G30 from SSW IIRC) we had a 30 degree wing drop first left then right climbing through 2500'. Then lovely smooth air up to 5k. Returning on downwind we lost 300' literally in the blink of an eye, the approach to 25 was rather lively. Lots of mechanical turbulence from hangars, trees etc.
Have also had a few squirrely aerotows out of Feshiebridge too, slap bang in the Cairngorms.
Flying in this part of the country requires quite a bit of wariness especially towards Wx. One of my favourite books is "Mountain Flying" by Sparky Imeson - its written specifically for flying in the mountainous parts of The States but there's a lot of good tips in there that are still applicable.
Again very sad news for those involved.
