Holidays in Scotland II (+ stopover in N France)

We ended up chickening out and going with plan ‘B’: landing &parking @ Dundee EGPN and then driving around.

All about Dundee stays unchanged with the trick being PPR’ing both ATC or airport OPS and then Tayside Aviation for grass parking. An army of student pilots helped us push the airplane out of its own ruts for departure after the occasional rain of the previous days, but other than that taxying was not a problem. If concerned about this it may be worthwhile paying for the more expensive apron parking.

AVIS kindly delivered to the airport for a small fee.

We did drive to Oban, Glenforsa and Fort Augustus airfields.

Weather in general was good but on the coast near Oban, where were staying, there was frequent low BKN/SCT cloud quickly changing back and forths to FEW/NSC every couple of hours…really difficult to predict and hence somewhat unreliable for VFR flying unless you are willing to descend below cloud over the sea for your visual approach. We were able to establish some wx patterns in the few days we stayed there but in the end it was logistically complex to re-base the aircraft at Oban (no improvised rental cars available in high-season: all fully booked) and we thus left it at Dundee.

On departure we also had low cloud at Dundee but we got an instrument clearance so it was not a problem. Had we been @ Oban, is it OK in the UK to self-IFR yourself out of an airfield’s uncontrolled ATZ in marginal wx?

For EGEO/Oban my only comments are the restricted OP times and the lack of IFR approach.
Surely if required, and with all attendant precautions and required licenses, it should be viable to descend through cloud over the wide Firth nearby and then complete the approach from the sea minding the terrain around the airfield (see Peter’s videos further up for terrain awareness).
The variable wx surely made chicken-me uneasy about that prospect with my other half on the RH seat.

For Fort Augustus’ Glendoe airfield, we walked the runway and were in touch with the owner as indicated in Pooley’s/SD.

Owner was happy to let us land and park there. Grass condition was good and after some light rain it was just slightly soft.

It is a 15-min drive to Ft Augustus and there are no services at the airfield.

There is no aircraft parking other than on the corners of the runway, partially obstructing it. There is a windsock mid-field on the south/uphill side.

There are 4ft fences on both ends and the 650m runway sloped slightly down towards 04 so that is the preferred take-off with 22 for landing.

The runway is on the hill on the south side of the valley and, depending on climb performance, terrain dictates an immediate northward turn on both runways after departure. However, after such turn terrain slopes quickly downhill so if you are familiar with mountain airfields, once the fence has been cleared you should be safe.

RWY04

RWY 22 with the owner-recommended parking position closest to the camera

For Glenforsa on the Isle of Mull , it has been said before: a wonderfully scenic grass airfield with a hotel, restaurant and rental cars on site. Owners will do what they can to help and the online webcam does help with wx ascertaining.

Runway is good but also slightly soft after light rain. Taxi uphill into the parking had left some ruts and may require a lot of power for aircraft with small/high-press tires when soft.

Similar comment to Oban applies as to caution with terrain around the airfield when low cloud prevails, as can be seen in the pictures. There are several approach videos online.

As to the ground part of the visit…well, Scotland is simply some of the most scenic land I have ever visited.
A few pictures summarize it for me:

Also, surprisingly, if you like seafood and , like me, appreciate unspoilt, unspiced flavours, food was gorgeous!

Jujupilote wrote:

Driving takes a long time in Scotland but better slow than sorry.

Thanks! Yes, the problem is subsequent ground coordination (hotels+transport) in high season, which is not easy to improvise to the liking of the “other half”
I usually prefer to travel in low season for that reason.