Round The World and other travels

August 2005 : Flight Log : BA8855

Glasgow (GLA) - Barra (BRR)

After stocking up on supplies both landside and airside, Alastair, Greg and I made our way to a very quiet BA Terraces lounge at the end of the domestic pier, where we enjoyed some refreshments, compared notes on when we had last flown out of GLA and were entertained by Alastair's biting observations on Western culture   As our Barra flight was called, I wondered when last such a high percentage of lounge patrons had responded to such an announcement. The obvious answer was, of course, the previous day   There seemed to be considerable confusion over whether the departure would be from Gate 17 or 2. Although a change had been made several weeks previously, it seemed that some of the systems at GLA were less than 100% responsive to change. In the end, the matter was settled by simple observation : "But THERE it is!!!" Gate 17 it was, then.

As we boarded the Twin Otter, First Officer Rebecca was stationed in Seat 7A to make sure that everyone took care with the very limited headroom and to announce that it was free seating. So much for the three of us having sequence numbers 1, 2 and 3! In the event, I stuck with my pre-allocated 5A, just forward of the door. When the door was closed, Rebecca repositioned to the front of the cabin and gave the safety demonstration, before finally making her way to her rightful position in the cockpit. We pushed back on time and taxi-ed out to the main runway, dwarfed by the jet aircraft round about us. Even though I knew that the plane was built for exactly this, I was astonished by the brevity of our take-off run and the steepness of the climb. We were on our way!

As we levelled out at around 4,500 feet, I broke out some plastic cups and a small bottle of Czech Sekt that I had acquired on my recent Prague trip. I passed a cup foward to Greg in 3A, but Alastair declined to join in, so I had the rest of the DIY in-flight bubbly myself   Our initial route took us over Argyll, leaving the mainland coast at the entrance to the Crinan Canal, then over the Corryvreckan Whirlpool between Jura and Scarba and on towards Mull. The cloud began to break up a bit and I had a good view of Iona, while those seated on the other side could look down on Staffa and the famous Fingal's Cave. We then headed towards Tiree, passing directly over the little airport to where, I was later to learn, the Twin Otter had made its first round trip of the day.

From there it was straight across the Minch towards Barra, where we made the smoothest of landings on Traigh Mhor beach a little behind schedule at 1248.

Date: Sat 27 Aug 2005
Aircraft : De Havilland Twin Otter
Scheduled dep : 1135
Actual departure : 1135
Scheduled arrival : 1240
Actual arrival : 1248
Cabin : Economy
Seat : 5A



Linked reports from same trip :-

Barra Beach-Landing Party

Flight Log : BA8858

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