Highland Fling

Spring for the Scottish pilot, especially the poor soul who didn’t get to nip off to Colombia or India over the cooler months, is a time so eagerly-awaited for its promise to trade winter gale-hanging for punchy spring climbs over sublime landscapes. But that enthusiasm is often tempered by the memory of many a flyable forecast in this small hilly outpost of Europe melting at the mercy of the Atlantic’s fury. The first weekend of April saw a blocking high forecast to linger over the North Sea, drawing large numbers of pilots out, by Scotland’s standards. I packed my bag and joined the cross-country weather-chasers across the country, learning a few things and being reminded of some more along the way.

Skye Dream flying

It started with a familiar pilgrimage to Skye’s Trotternish Ridge. It’s a mission to get to, but the offer of dramatic landscapes accessed with the ease of coastal-like soaring, levelling up to technical...