Today we were visited by an ex Compton Abbas instructor .1st seen as a teenage microlight instructor now a Loganair Senior First Officer about to get his command on the Saab 340s . Today his passed his test to be a PPL examiner . This reminded me of my time in Highlands and Islands Division .
Rarely snowy in Stornoway due proximity of the Gulf Stream . Now someone might have mentioned wind .....
SYY , Rwy 36 , 15th April 1992 , about 40+kts from the East ....
G-BTPJ , or Papa Jugular . If zoomed in , flare just started as elevators just beginning to move up . Drift still applied but kicking off beginning as rudder V slightly to the left , and ailerons moving to put right wheels down 1st [ into wind wheels ] . Full flap to get a short stop and avoid a long taxi in .
Bottom centre , even the birds are walking [ or maybe holding on the post ] . Looks like an Oyster catcher , or Sandpiper , but he's parked into wind with ground locks engaged !
Wind is everyday bread and butter in The Western or Northern Isles to those who ply their trade there . 60 kts across is not unknown in Benbecula , operations normal ;
100 kts overnight experienced in Shetland . Luckily we were in hotel bar , but felt like a sledge hammer hitting the hotel .
Taken by a gentleman who was arriving to pick up his daughter , and thought to catch our arrival . He left the photo in Highland Div's office for me to pick up a few weeks later .
rgds condor .
