Flight to the Island of Bute. June 2012

The plane in the hangar.

Preparing for take off.

The instrument panel. The orange screen is the GPS.

Over Ardrossan wind farm.

Kingarth standing stones.

A little sparrow joined us for lunch.

An Australian Zimbra microlite.

Plane put away to end a most memorable day.

The "Pilot" was a true leader today.

Today Monday June 25 I was invited by my walking colleague the pilot to join him on a flight in his microlite aircraft to the lovely Island of Bute.The plane is stored in a hangar near New Cumnock on a farm with a small landing strip alongside a hay field. Once he had completed all his safety checks he got me strapped in and in no time at all we were on our way up the 2000 feet.Quick word with Prestwick control tower to tell them we were in the air and our proposed route to Bute  as you don't really want to meet a Ryanair jet at this height..It was a lovely clear morning as we flew over Kilmarnock towards the coast. Passing over the wee Cumbrae we started our descent into the airfield on Bute near to Kilchattan Bay.Having landed safely we went for a short walk on the West Island Way past the Kingarth Standing Stones to take us to the very pleasant Kingarth Hotel where lunch was eaten outside in the warm sunshine.Here we  met a fellow pilot who had just flown in from Strathaven to enjoy the delights of this beautiful part of Scotland.After we were suitably refreshed (the pilot only had a lemonade) it was back to the plane and a very pleasant flight back to New Cumnock again in lovely clear conditions .
    A most enjoyable and memorable day that I will remember for a long time to come, my sincere thanks to the pilot for inviting me to join him.