STUART LINKLATER
High fl ier
Orkney’s vital air service has been provided by pilot Stuart Linklater for the past quarter of a century
IMAGE ANGUS BLACKBURN
What made you want to become a pilot? My fi rst job was as a quantity surveyor, and as part of my training I was sent out to survey properties in Orkney. The plane journey was always the highlight for me – I thought it was magical. A few years later I got my pilot’s licence and started working in Orkney in 1989. I’ve been doing it for 24 years – it’s a passion.
What type of plane do you fl y? It’s a ten-seat Britten-Norman Islander. We’ve been using them as long as I have been here.
Which islands does the service cover? The Loganair service fl ies out of Kirkwall to Stronsay, Sanday, Westray, Papa Westray, North Ronaldsay and Eday. Papa Westray gets two boats a week and North Ronaldsay just one – which takes three hours – so these are the most air-dependant of the islands. For the fi rst time this year we’re offering a night service into North Ronaldsay, which has made a huge difference to the islanders, especially in winter when the days are short.
What is the world’s shortest scheduled commercial fl ight? It’s between Westray and Papa Westray. It’s scheduled at two minutes but it never takes that long. The offi cial world record is 58 seconds, recorded when Norris McWhirter came up with the Guinness Book of Records team. I made it in 53 seconds once. First- time passengers receive a certifi cate as a memento, and a Highland Park miniature. We started handing out certifi cates in the 1990s when an American chap who’d come over specifi cally to do the journey asked if we provided anything to mark the occasion. I thought it was a good idea, so I told him I would get certifi cates printed up and send him one. We’ve done it ever since.
Have things changed much over the years? Not really. The biggest change is probably the airfi elds; they were all grass when I came here, which was fi ne in the summer but a real limitation in the winter. Most of them were owned by local farmers, who had to clear livestock off them before the plane arrived. When the wheels hit a cow pat it splattered everywhere. And if the nose wheel hit one it went into the propellers – it literally hit the fan and the whole aeroplane was covered.
What sort of conditions are you able to fl y in? We can fl y in gusts of up to 60 miles an hour; we rarely have a day when you can’t fl y because of the wind. What affects us most is low cloud and poor visibility. When you combine that with a crosswind and you’re running low on fuel, things get a bit stressful. We are also more restricted at night. The plane has GPS fi tted but we’re not allowed to use it as our primary mode of navigation.
Do you ever get bored fl ying the same routes? I never get bored fl ying the plane. The schedules always keep us under pressure, and when you’re fl ying against the clock time literally fl ies by. But on days when we have poor visibility I can’t believe how long it takes for the morning to pass.
You’re retiring this year – how will that feel? It’ll be diffi cult; I’ll miss the job a lot. But I will spend fi ve days a month fl ying out of Glasgow airport and I have some building projects to get on with. I also have some land where I keep a couple of dozen sheep – unfortunately I won’t have an aeroplane to fl y around in and check up on them. I don’t know how much that has cost the company over the years!
www.loganair.co.uk
WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 57
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