ALL DONATIONS GO DIRECT TO THE AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

A big thanks to

LOGICOR SCOTLAND

BLACHERE ILLUMINATION

And everyone who has made donations

Tommy and I will be flying our aircrafts RV9 and Bristell round coastal Britain, we will be landing at as many airfields as we can (as weather allows), I will send a daily blog on this page, with our progress and some of the highlights, Tommy and I are self funding this trip but we are hoping that we can raise some money for the charity  through justgiving.

Thanks for your support

Robert and Tommy

Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance is Scotland’s only charity-funded air ambulance service. We rely on public support to keep flying and responding to time-critical emergencies wherever they occur in Scotland. From our bases in Perth and Aberdeen we can reach 90% of Scotland’s population within 25 minutes, providing a vital lifeline to communities all over the country. Our mission is to deliver more care, more quickly, to more people across Scotland - but we can only keep flying and saving lives with your support.

DAY 1 Friday

Weather not the best, left Perth around 11am heading for Newtownards Northern Ireland, flying conditions were not to bad until around Bute, we then crossed over to Isle of Arran heading to the south of arran as cloud base was covering the top of Arran. We got to the south side and hit cloud again, then ventured to the North of Arran heading over toward Campbeltown however on crossing the water to Campbeltown we were struggling for vis due to very low cloud we radioed for a weather diversion into Campbeltown Airport.

The staff at Campbeltown airport were great, I think they were just glad to see aircraft, we had the terminal to ourselves so sat it out for a couple of hours then headed of again for Newtownards, crossing the water was lovely however we hit the dreaded low cloud again but managed to pick our way through to our destination, we could of course always see the ground.

ON ARRIVAL AT NEWTOWNARDS

We were welcomed by Robbie and the team, these guys were wonderful, tower had already been notified we were guests for the night, they escorted the aircraft to accommodation units they had ready for us, we had our own rooms, they had filled the fridge with food and drink for us, set the pool table up, showed us round the accommodation units complete with showers.

Tommy beat me at pool a few times at 8.30pm we called it a night not because we were tired, because Tommy kept beating me at pool, magnificent hospitality from Newtownards and we can’t thank them enough, what a brilliant airfield, and the staff, let’s see what tomorrow brings.

DAY 2

Still at Newtownards Northern Ireland,, cloud base in the morning was around 800ft so we had to sit it out, decided to go for an Ulster Fry breakfast at the airfield cafe, mmmmm, everything was served outside in the marquee tent, very cold but the breakfast made up for it.

We decided to have a go at taking of for our next leg of the journey to Blackpool at 1530 we wanted to go straight over the Isle of Man but it was fogged in over the sea so we headed north of the island, the crossing was 141 miles all over water,  got to Fleetwood then on the radio to Blackpool for a route via the east of the tower, the ATC at Blackpool were great especially Andy, very helpful and kept us up to date with the weather via email.

We landed had no where to stay so we travelled into town only to discover that all the Hotels were closed due to the COVID situation, we ended up very very lucky to get into a premier inn, got some food from the local garage then to bed for 9pm. Hopefully tomorrow we get some remorse from the weather we are heading to Caernarfon Wales then to Swansea, let’s see what tomorrow brings.

DAY 3

Breakfast in Blackpool, we left at 1330 today from Blackpool airport to Caernarfon a fairly short flight down the coast, great views all the way, a big thank you to the ATC at Blackpool for the free landings and parking for the night.

Flying down the welsh coast was stunning, pockets of rain showers but nothing to concern, we landed at Caernarfon to be most welcomed by Jonathan, again free landings and parking, great people, lovely cafe with home baking, great tourist spot and a base for the air ambulance, would highly recommend a visit, the air museum was closed due to COVID restrictions, we then jumped in a taxi into town to try and find a bed for the night, so far so good we haven’t used the tents yet, we are going to Lands End tomorrow and perhaps following on to Swansea and Isle of Wight (sandown)

DAY 4

Stayed at Caernarfon last night stunning town surrounded by the castle and stunning harbours, so back to today there was some debate between me and Tommy regarding the weather, it was not great we decided to take of for lands end, I will attach some photos on the gallery of this page, the route we were going was all over the water, inland was terrible with showers and cloud, but we were always in site of the coastline, we also got our aircraft well washed with the showers.

We left Caernarfon at 0845 heading to Lands end the journey distance was 288 miles, 279 over water (much smoother] we landed at Lands end and delighted to be on the ground the staff their were great they new we were coming and made it easy for us, it, we were glad of the runway lights even in the morning, tea and coffee time in the tremendous cafe, and Nathan the boss was fantastic with us and came for a good chat.

We decided to plan the next leg to Sandown Isle of Wight  that was 241 miles 206 over the water, we landed on 24  at Lands end, we were met by Dan a great guy who has built the airfield up from scratch, it’s magnificent and well worth a visit, a great character and a true aviator, he thought we were mad as no aircraft were in that day,

Got booked into the premier in now going for dinner, and a well deserved pint, I will add some photos when I get back.

DAY 5

We started the day at Sandown Isle of Man, up at 7am, we had to move quick as the bad weather was coming in at 11am we took to the sky’s at around 9 am, Tommy gave me some mints that was our breakfast for the day, we crossed over to the main land and worked our way along the coast, cloudy but not to bad, some great photos going along past Brighton pier along the south coast looked stunning apart from the weather.

Not sure what was going on but there were zones everywhere military notams, airspace restrictions, so we in the main flew over the sea to avoid them, we then turned north heading up the east coast, we were going to stop at Skegness but with the forecast we just pushed on, it was a lovely morning for flying so we decided to push it up to Fishburn airfield for fuel and some lunch.

Dave at Fishburn was great free landings and a great cafe we filled up with Avgas from the help yourself pump, stick the debit card in and of you go, we also filled up with Lunch and decided to then take of for Perth, we headed to the coast again from Fishburn and had a lovely flight , beating the weather, there was quite a lot of military activity there were 4 jets looked like typhoons cross over in front of us as we were flying up the coastline, something going on that’s for sure, we got to Perth around 4pm having covered 540miles today.

We decided to stay at the airfield in the airfield Skylodge who kindly gave us the rooms FOC due to the charity flight trip., we are getting up early tomorrow the forecast is not good, we are trying to get up to the Orkneys but not holding up much hope weather wise but if we can we will, another good 500 mile day should do it, however we need blessed with the weather, if we can’t finish this leg of tomorrow we will complete it in the next weather window..

Thanks to my personal PA 😂 Elaine Whitehead at Perth for all the hard work and help she has given us over the last few weeks.

I will upload some more photos in the MEDIA on this site, and keep you all posted.

Update

At airfield at 0530, weather around the east coast north not good 600 feet cloud at Inverness. Forecast not good for the next few days, ireland done, Wales done, England done, we will complete Scotland next weekend (again weather permitting).

Thanks for everyone that is supporting the charity, I will keep you updated on the completion  of the trip.

Robert and Tommy