Into The Wide Blue Yonder
David C Hamilton
Our son Colin, home on leave for Christmas from Hong Kong, had booked an aircraft from Fife airport for the afternoon of the 28th. of December. Previous to that day we had watched Heather the Weather forecasts with more than the usual interest since Colin although he had his Private Pilots Licence (PPL) he was only cleared to fly under Visual Flight Rules.
On the appointed day the weather was clear and bright, ideal flying conditions, and we made our way to Fife Airport on the west side of Glenrothes. The airport is just a glorified flying club with a tarmac strip. There is a good restaurant and a bar. While we waited for our aircraft, a four seater low wing aeroplane called a Piper Warrior, we watched microlite aircraft, motor cycles with wings take off and land. Also a Tiger Moth doing aerobatics above us, real Biggles stuff.
Our Piper landed and was refuelled. We boarded the aircraft with Rob a flying friend of Colin. Pre flight checks completed we taxied out on to the runway. Permission granted we took off, Colin flying his friend calling out the knots until flying speed had been reached, then up, up and away into the wide blue yonder.
From Glenrothes we climbed to a 1000ft over the Firth of Forth, then south eastwards to the Bass Rock just off North Berwick. We did some tight turns round the rock and then flew over Tantallon Castle for photographs. There we flew west passing over North Berwick, Gullane, Cockenzie, Musselburgh race Course heading for Arthurs Seat and Edinburgh.
Colin was doing most of the flying with Rob handling radio communications with Edinburgh Airport control.
Passing Arthurs Seat to our port we over flew Princes Street at 1000 feet which was full of Saturday shoppers, many looking up at us We got a very good view of Edinburgh Castle and the New Town from the air. We then flew parallel to the main runway of Edinburgh Airport, heading north between the Forth road and rail bridges. A truly thrilling experience to see them both from the air.
We followed the M90 to Kelty where Colin practiced some tight turns, all to soon we had to return to Fife Airport. Truly an experience that my wife Anne and I shall always remember.
