Shetland / Western Isles trip

[VMC-on-top]

I was inspired by the article in this months Flyer (or was it Pilot) mag about the trip to Unst and over to Barra etc so thought I would suggest it to a few mates who would be up for doing something like that in a PA28-161.

I've got takers but then mentioned it to a mate of mine who now flies for EZY. He used to fly for Logan Air so have flown into Unst a few times and prior to that, instructed on PA28's. His view on a trip like that was "are you completely MAD?". Well, I think I can say that I'm not but I like adventure and this would be something that I don't think i would repeat regularly but it would be a great adventure? With experience flying round the Shetlands etc. he says that there are few days where the weather can be that good - and with the likes of Barra, the condition of the beach can vary quite dramatically -added to which, there is the salt / sand corrosion issue too (albeit a relatively minor consideration).

So, do other SEP owners / pilots agree with his sentiment and is doing a trip like that just ridiculous, dangerous or plain stupid? For info, we've got life vests, life raft and PLB.

[neilgeddes]

I don't think you're mad, but you are ambitious and that's good. No doubt you'll plan thoroughly, take sensible precautions and watch the weather carefully. Have fun!

[gasax]

If you're based in the NE of England it is fairly 'doable'. Yes the weather at either end of this trip can be pretty horrible - but the difficulties really only kick in if you are committed to the whole thing on a particular day(s).

With a period of settled weather it is just a long trip within not that many alternatives (or fuel sources).

But the great thing (and most infuriating come to think of it) about Scotland is that the weather systems are generally different from east tot west and often from north to south of east and west. So half of the trip is likely to be possible most of the time! Obviously you can also chose which way around you do it following the weather or pushing through it.

Whilst Barra is a fairly interesting destination, Unst can epitomise bleak. So it is not much of a destination. 'Doing' Orkney and Shetland as a standalone trip can be really good. The outlying strips in shetland are pretty rugged so the right aircraft makes things a lot easier. Orkney in comparison is much more civilised and there is a great deal more to see tourist-wise.

So much however depends on whether we have another MetOffice 'barbeque summer'.

[Tinstaafl]

I used to work for Loganair and was based in Shetland flying Islanders for 2 1/2 years. I don't think you're mad but you'll need to plan carefully. Make damn sure your x-wind technique is up to speed. We used to fly in 50 kts or more. Strongest x-wind *component* I experienced was well over 40kts. Less chance of that in summer but stiff breezes are still around.

Don't fly to a schedule. The weather is variable, even in summer. Some of the airstrips in Shetland aren't suitable for a PA28 eg Out Skerries @ 381m. Especially with a load of pax. Others are quite comfortable and the rest somewhere in between. Use the search function for my username & Shetland and you'll find info about the airstrips.
The 'easy' strips are Sumburgh, Tingwall & Unst. Scatsta too but nothing there for tourists. Tingwall is the best one for access to Lerwick. Fair Isle is fairly easy as long as the wind isn't too high ie no more than 15-20 kts from an arc across the N. or a prominent rock to the S. (Sheep Rock). Before going to any of the other strips talk to the Directflight pilot(s) based at Tingwall. Pretty much all the strips have a gotcha. Commonly length, obstacles or wind limits.

The route that minimises overwater time is to island hop through Orkney - Fair Isle - Sumburgh. No matter when you fly keep in mind that the N. Atlantic & North Sea waters are not conducive to long survival times if you ditch.

[Captain Smithy]

Plenty I know have visited the Western Isles, lovely part of the world. Might want to invest in immersion suits though in case you ditch in the drink!

Some of the islands can get a bit windy too... :\

Smithy

[goldeneaglepilot]

Having flown a few times to the Shetland Isles on an IFR flightplan I can honestly say it is not a place I would want to visit VFR. The weather (even in summer) can change so quickly, its seldom not windy and the sea temperature means that survival time without an immersion suit is measured in minutes. If you take a look around the small airstrips you will see the wreakage of crashed planes nearby. That said it all to me.

I remember my first trip there, greeted with 40kt winds gusting to 60 kts. What amazed me was the North Sea oil rig helicopters treated it as a normal working day.

Its not surprising that the islands have very few trees....

I did remember the air traffic controller in the Shetlands telling me to consider always a diversion to Norway as the weather is often better than Aberdeen.

On a positive note the northern lights were well worth seeing

[dont overfil]

I think it sounds like a great trip, although I've never been north of Kirkwall (yet).
Nobody has mentioned that there are several light aircraft based on various islands. Mostly LAA types. If they can manage the weather......
DO.

[b.a. Baracus]

It does sound like a good trip, beautiful area of the country. Does anyone have any info on Sanday (EGES) in the orkneys because I am planning a visit in the summer months, any 'gotchas' I should know of?

[spittingimage]

Sanday ? Beautiful island. Gorgeous beaches .. and deserted too. From memory, grass for landing is not exactly bowling-green standard. Undulations abound that are not obvious till nigh on touchdown.

SI

[goldeneaglepilot]

Short strips surrounded by low walls, from memory about 400m, but three strips

[Hyperborean]

I would say go. Take into account the weather as others have advised. The main problems are wind and fog, the surprising thing to folk from further south is that both can occur together. 40 knot fog is not unheard of. You have to be prepared to wait out the weather which can take days if you are really unlucky. The upside is that the flying is great as you can to a large extent do what you please. Some of the strips are a bit short so you may find that your aircraft type precludes their use. As for Norway as an alternate, if the conditions are such that you are contemplating that, then I would suggest waiting until conditions improve. It's roughly 180nm from Sumburgh to Bergen, a long way compared to the island hopping gaps N. Ronaldsay/ Fair Isle/ Sumburgh at 25 to 30nm.

[Sir Niall Dementia]

I spent a lot of my early career there flying S61Ns for offshore support. I fell in love with the place and go back as often as possible, sadly not for the last few years (the weather beat us each attempt).

As others have said don't try and keep to a schedule, keep fluid, but plan everything (esp performance and crosswind carefully)

The other alternative is to pole yourselves up to Sumburgh or Tingwall and then use the Islander service to get around. Also take hoofing great big tie downs with you the 40-60kt winds mentioned by goldeneagle pilot are a regular event and I believe that a lot of the wrecked aircraft mentioned by him were just blown straight from their tie-downs into the scenery.

I kept a C150 there for a while, and had huge fun. The people are wonderful, the scenery is memorable and the booze is pricey as everything has to be imported from the mainland.

Let us know how you get on. I can't go this year and envy anyone who does.

[Tinstaafl]

Good point about decent tie downs. Hangarage usually isn't available and wind can be quite .....er......sporting! I've had 100kts at 1000' & below. We had a 50kt wind limit for operations due to a door opening limit but could manage quite a bit more by parking directly into wind (my normal practice anyway) and get the firetruck to park a couple of feet from the nose as a windbreak.

Don't let the horror stories put you off though. There are plenty of beautiful flying days in Shetland - especially in summer. Just be prepared to have non-flying days too if the weather system gods aren't on your side.

[Spotthedog]

As one of the co-authors of the adventure travel article in the April 2010 edition of UK’s “Pilot” magazine about our PA28 trip from Shoreham to the Shetlands (“India Whisky Goes North”) mentioned in the first line of this thread, I would like to add a few comments.

For the three of us the trip was pretty well the most inspirational piece of flying we have ever done so far based on one simply-stated challenge: viz. to see whether we could fly to the top of the Scottish half-mil chart where its neat white border is broken by the intrusion of land that is the island of Unst. The opportunities available on the way there and back, the sheer rugged bleakness and wonder of the scenery from the air and ground, the friendliness and helpfulness of the people we met on the radio and face to face – what can I say except that I am delighted that VMC-on-top found the article inspirational and now wants to fly something similar. :D

The article covers many of the questions and issues raised in this thread, especially on the planning, weather, logistics and sightseeing opportunity fronts. But actually, learning as we went along was part of the fun. A common suggestion on here is that you must “plan” for a trip like this – we’d say take things with you which will enable you to plan safely and efficiently as you go along – a mobile phone (to make sure they do have fuel at the next field!), a laptop with Internet capability to get weather and NOTAMS etc, a Lonely Planet guide or similar and French maps and passports in case you end up there because the weather turns nasty in Scotland! For every morning of the six days when we woke up, we had absolutely no idea where we would be sleeping that night! :rolleyes:

The advice about knowing your plane’s performance is very sound. We went to great pains to create a spreadsheet which calculated the plane’s takeoff and landing performance based on the POH plus the extra safety factors in the CAA safety sense leaflet. Thus, whatever the weight, QNH, wind, temperature, runway surface and altitude etc on the day we could instantly calculate whether we could get into and out of a marginal field without any debate. Same with W&B.

One or two of the negative comments in this thread do need some re-balancing. The advice from the IFR pilots who would never do the Shetlands VFR – well, err, we say don’t go to a field if there’s a 40kt crosswind in fog! As for the comment “Unst can epitomise bleak so it is not much of a destination” – now that's completely off beam! For anyone dreaming of a trip like this then bleakness is the thing, and Unst the ultimate destination! :cool:

There's a link to some pics of our trip. Shetlands trip 2009 | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=122874&id=709662024&l=ff1698c513)

I’d add my request to Sir Niall’s to let us all know how you get on.

Best regards and good luck.

[VMC-on-top]

Thanks for all your advice. Yes, I'll be post something up on here when I get back - planning to in June I think.

Spotthedog - I've PM'd you, thanks.

[PH-UKU]

Be flexible - don't expect 40kt winds - or you'll never go - but equally have a flexible plan and an escape route.

Tie-downs ? Have you seen 'The Claw' ? Light, portable and useful on grass parking.

I've toured all up the westcoast over the years, been to Orkney and Fair Isle a couple of times and heading back to Orkney around 17th/18th June. Another bonus is about 19 hrs of daylight !!

Barra is a joy - try and take a couple of folding bikes if you can fit them in. The island is a joy to cycle round. Orkney and the other islands are beautiful, but even in June an easterly off the cold North Sea can bring fog/low cloud at Wick and Kirkwall - so keep an eye on the forecasts. Or find a good pub :)

Fuel. Your options are Oban, Stornoway, Wick, Kirkwall and Inverness.

Inverness is the cheapest but you can wait ages and ages as the one refueller has to also do the commercial traffic. Don't turn up at teatime rush - early/mid afternoon is best ... but no guarantees.

Stornoway - phone in advance to avoid a wait.

Oban and Kirkwall on demand during airfield hours.

Everyone friendly and helpful.

GO FOR IT. :ok:

Meet you in Kirkwall for a pint :)

[Droopystop]

As PH-UKU mentioned watch for east or south easterlies anywhere north of Aberdeen, especially the northern isles. Fog is common, occasionally unannounced on a TAF. Often Norway offers the only alternate. But if easterlies are forecast, head out west - the Outer Hebrides get very little fog by comparison and will be stunning in easterly weather.

Aberdeen is obviously busy, but also take note that Scatsta is one of Scotland's busiest airfields during the week. But for otherwise quiet airspace and spectacular flying, the Northern and Western Isles are unbeatable.

[Tinstaafl]

Avgas is available at Sumburgh and *may* be available at Tingwall with prior arrangement. They use drum stock for storage at Tingwal, loaded into a bowser for fueling the local Islander flights. If the quantity is a bit low then it's reserved for the Islander. If they have enough then they're usually more than happy to sell you some.

[UKpaxman]

goldeneaglepilot
If you take a look around the small airstrips you will see the wreakage of crashed planes nearby

Which airstrips?

In the 40 yrs I lived there I can only remember 3 aircraft crashes - the tragic Dan Air 748 at Sumburgh, the air ambulance at Tingwall and a small private plane (might have been linked to the flying club) that someone flipped on landing in Whalsay (think it was a competence issue rather than weather) I can't think of any wreakage lying near small airstrips:confused:

A Shorts 330 and an ATR 72 were both tipped onto their wingtips by the wind (ATR was taxiing in 90 mph winds:eek:), but both were righted, inspected and flown out again.

[silverknapper]

but also take note that Scatsta is one of Scotland's busiest airfields during the week

Not sure I agree with that.

[gasax]

The point about Scatsta's 'business' needs to be put in context. It is the 4th busiest Scotland airport (28th in the UK). But the vast majority of its traffic flies from 0700 to 1900, unlike the rest of the airports which have much longer opening hours.

So during the day - which is of course when a VFR flight would occur, you will encounter Scatsta's traffic. Not a problem in itself but it is worth remembering that for all the bleakness and emptiness of the islands - the sky is fair humming with oil related activity.

[Hyperborean]

UKpaxman. You are forgetting the equally tragic Chinook crash. Also in my time there I recall several fairly substantial mishaps. Another 748, a Cessna (303 IIRC) and a Heron all of which wiped off various bits of u/c at Sumburgh but were repaired and flown out; a Twin Com at Scatsta prior to it reopening which had to be road transported out, plus a couple more a a less spectacular nature. I can also recall a couple of helo blade strike incidents, rather scary. Nevertheless your basic point is well made the only wreck adjacent to an Island strip in my time was the 111 (Heinkel variety ) which lay on Fair Isle until the strip was realigned in the early 70s. There were also a couple of high ground wrecks; a Catalina on Yell, a Mossie above the Clift Sound and a few barely recognisable bits of what I believe was a Hudson on Mossy Hill. The only wreck near a runway which I can think of latterly was the Potez which came to grief at Sumburgh and which the fire service used for training, this was taken away by an enthusiast a few years ago.
All of which should not deter a visit by a well prepared PPL in a light aircraft. At the end of the day, the axiom that "All aeroplanes bite fools," can be applied to flying in any part of the Highlands and Islands. Treat the trip with respect, be prepared to wait out bad weather and enjoy the experience,

[Droopystop]

All things are relative and I am sure that some busy GA airfields are busier than Scatsta in terms of numbers of movements. My point is don't assume that Scatsta is the sleepy hollow you might expect.

[10W]

It is the 4th busiest Scotland airport (28th in the UK).

Not according to the CAA for 2009. It was 8th busiest in Scotland and 44th busiest in the UK.

UK CAA Aircraft Movements Report 2009 (http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data/2009Annual/Table_03_1_Aircraft_Movements_2009.pdf)

The point about expecting it to be busier than you might imagine is a valid one however.

[Spotthedog]

Last year on our PA28 trip to Unst we rang Scatsta to see if we could land there on the way. They were really helpful and tried to accommodate but the timing didn't work out in the end. On that particular day they didn't have enough parking space for us in the morning due full complement of helicopters, but the afternoon would have been ok to visit.

Their approach service en route to Unst was fantastic and extremely reassuring in that rather remote corner of the world.

[Ringway Flyer]

We had an excellent week based at Oban a few years ago and went to Barra amongst a good few others. We arrived at Barra OK, landed on 33 and parked up. It was windy, but it wasn't an issue. A Twin Otter departed just before we did and I noticed that he was quite a bit to the right of the centre line of the runway. I found out why when I found a large puddle in the middle of the 33 on my take off run. It knocked a good 10 knots off my speed. Fortunately it was the only one, and I managed to get off with the stall warner bleating, followed by a turn to the right to avoid the NDB mast.... Another puddle and things could have been very different! So if we go there again, the technique will be to back-track the full length of the runway to see what the condition is.

Plockton is another character building place too, but I'll let you discover that one yourself. Oh and the windsocks at Mull - they often indicate different directions at each end of the strip....

Enjoy! RF :ok:

[flybymike]

Plockton is another character building place too,

In any particular respect? I have not flown in there, but plan to this summer.

[dont overfil]

579 metres uphill on 02 with rising ground and trees on the go around. The ground around the threshold is much lower. It's OK so long as the wind is not too strong.
Remember to avoid R610A. It is often busy with fast jets even outside its notamed activity times.
Fabulous destination on a nice day. Have lunch outside under the palm trees. Honesty box for landing fees.
DO.

[flybymike]

Many thanks . Sounds a bit like the Northerly go around at Oban!

[drambuster]

A great base if you're touring the Western Isles is the Glenforsa Hotel on Mull:

Isle of Mull_ Glenforsa Hotel (http://www.glenforsa.co.uk)

If the weather is bad then there is no better place to be stuck than their bar ! (or you can hire a car to explore a wonderful island).

I have been up there in Apr/May for the last six years and it has been without doubt the best flying in the UK. 90% of days were flyable and 100% of it was great fun.

You need to keep diverts and fuel in mind at all times as there is the possibility of rolling sea fog coming in quite fast ( called the Haar). It is more frequent on the east coast but I have seen it once on the west coast and it is an amazing sight:

BBC - Weather Centre - Features - Understanding Weather - Scottish Weather (Part Two) (http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/understanding/scotland_02.shtml)

So long as you have a back-up plan you will be fine (i.e divert to Prestwick, Oban, Islay etc). Always keep 'Scottish' tuned and you will have the best support service in the UK at your side.

Have a great trip . . ... .

[Ringway Flyer]

We were on 20 and the problem, with quite a stiff breeze, was the downdraught about 1/4 of a mile out. Not wishing to hit the 250' cliff face, a burst of power meant that we arrived too fast... But after couple of go-arounds and we mastered it.

We walked down the road to find Civilization and discovered a railway station that was also a café. We spent an enjoyable hour sitting at a table on the platform, watching the local trains come and go whilst enjoying our lunch!

Definitely worth a visit, especially on a nice summer day.

RF

[Will88]

Remember to avoid R610A. It is often busy with fast jets even outside its notamed activity times.

That goes for pretty much the whole of the Highlands, I wouldn't make too massive an effort to avoid it outside the notified times.