MEBAR 2014 Leg 1: Inverness to Scatsca (Shetlands)

[ddavid 149]

MEBAR 2014 Leg 01:

Well, better late than never! After 3 weeks of painting the house, I finally dragged the Old Girl (sorry, not you, Pam!) out of the hangar and cleared out the worst of the sheep droppings. Stuck some new letters on the fuselage, and we were ready. Tim kindly gave me the latest version of Plan-G and, 48 hours later, we had decoded Andrew's briefing and the flight plan was finished:

As you can see from the flight plan, it's one of Andrew's masterpieces. Looks like we'll be visiting every rocky island between Inverness and the Shetlands. As always, there's method in his madness, so we'd better get on with it and find out...

Oh, yes - the screenshots are not pretty! The flight was VFR, with the aid of Tim's plan and so all the shots are external so that you get an idea of where we went. The weather at Inverness was unusually fine as we took off:

First turn at Chanonry Point on Rosemarkie Bay:

We couldn't find Castle Hill (default scenery - Aarghh!), but did see Fearn airfield:

Next turn was at Tarbat Ness:

Then, on to Wick airport:

Ah Ha! John o' Groats with Cape Wrath in the far west:

A sharp turn at Stroma:

And another over Muckle Skerry (also missing from the bl**dy default scenery):

Next up is Copinsay:

Then Auskerry:

Here we turn at Start Point:

And approach the Fair Isle:

Long final to EGEF:

And our first Touch-and-Go:

Turning again after a circuit of Fair Isle:

That's Sumburgh airport:

After which we turn towards Tingwall:

Where we turn again:

This is Bound Skerry, Bruray (note spelling):

The second Touch-and-Go at Unst:

Turning at Muckle Flugga (sic) and the most northerly point of this year's MEBAR, I think:

Last turn (Hurrah! - Ed) at Eshaness:

That's Scatsta airfield ahead:

Base leg at Scatsta:

And Short Final:

So, my friends, that's Leg 1 in the bag. I was 20 minutes early, for my sins, so I won't get the bottle of champagne this time! But I do hope you enjoyed the flight and all the splendid (Not! - Ed) screenshots. Join me again...

Cheers - Dai.

[brett 2,284]

So that was the names of all those islands   thanks for the flight recap Dai, I learned something today.

 

Your lucky you are not running FTX, you should have seen my hair raising landing at Fair Isle.

[mutley 4,487]

Superb PIREP Dai, I really like your travelogues! 

You definitely need to invest in FTX Global though 

Ciao...Joe

[mutley 4,487]

... Sorry Dai, I see your not keen on FSG 

[ddavid 149]

... Sorry Dai, I see your not keen on FSG 

 

Apologies - just a personal view on global, but I love PNW and am saving up for NorCal!

 

And Thanks for your kind comments on a rather drab set of screenshots. The background research was very interesting for me - typical bl**dy anorak!?!

 

Cheers - Dai.

[stu7708 244]

Great shots Dai..

 

And if your not keen on Global there's always FTX Scotland to save up for  

[Kevin Firth 114]

or ES's new 30cm photoscenery with full autogen (screenshots available on the ES website now):

https://earthsimulations.com/shop/showcase/nggallery/product-screenshots/in-the-works-for-2014/

kinda wish I'd signed up now for the MEBAR Just haven't the time though Arrgh!

(Thanks for the note over on the LM forum as well Dai! )