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Hebrides Flight

nruzic

nruzic

New member
Hampton, VA
Aircraft Year
1992
Aircraft Type
114B/115
Reg Number
N114PW
Serial Number
14542
I assume that Rob E posted the great picture of Fingal's Cave, what a wild and beautiful spot in the Hebrides islands North of Sciotland. Ron a great picture especially the angle. Are the Hebrides more reccommended or less than the Orkneys as a GA nature place to fly?

Rob just curious were you by any chance listening to The Hebrides (in the original "Die Hebriden" or "die Fingalshöhle") overture by Felix Mendelssohn as you flew by?
 
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die Fingalshöhle?
 
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Exactly! (actually, I took an entire year of classical music history in college, go to the symphony regularly, and love Mendelssohn, although this piece is a bit sleepy. But even at age 60, I still cannot resist the lure of the sophomoric wise-crack now and then, especially given the post was from Sid! You can put it into youtube and about 20 recording of it pop up.)
 
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Scott bull.... you looked it up via Google after DL accused you of having your mind where its always been. I bey you only went to the classical music classes because its a great way to meet girls, bet you didn't learn anything as evidenced by your half baked critisim of F Mendelssohn's romantic period piece as "sleepy"!

Anyway nice recovery Scott even though its obviously after you already dinged your prop.

OK your Scottsmen on the board how did Felix Mendelssohn got facinated by the sea eroded Fingal's cave in the cliffs of teh hebrides?
 
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Okay ... so despite the fact that my "idee fixe" at the time was the relentless pursuit of coeds and a relationship with a certain Ruthie Hoddinott sprang from that class ... but I did love the class and the over-the-top-gay professor was both brilliant and entertaining. I prefer Mendelssohn's "Midsummer Night's Dream" but am more of a Berlioz "Symphonie Fantasique" guy at hear, what with all unrequited love, the witches sabath, descents into hell, etc. etc. Fun.

OK, where were we? Ah yes ... flying to the Herbides.
 
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Sid,

I entered fingals cave on a boat trip a few years back. Regina took some lovely pictures that are now framed on our wall in New Orleans.

The island is on the west coast of Scotland ( not north) just a little south of the Isle of Mull. From the mainland you can take a boat from close to to Iona where St. Columba founded the first monastery in Scotland and where Christianity got it's foothold to spread throughout northern Europe.

It was taught to me in grade school that Mendelssohn visited the site and was inspired by the melodic sound of the waves breaking in the cave to write the piece.

The basalt columns that make up the island are part of the famed 'Giants Causeway' that legend has it connected Scotland and Ireland.

That's about the limit of my memory on the subject.
 
Speaking of the Scots... Going to be there in another week or so. Any Commanders based up around Prestwick or Turnberry? Will be beating the pellet about the countryside for ten days but if the opportunity arises... :-)
 
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Ian thanks forteh scenic and historical description wow this sounds like a great place to visit especially as its so close to Scotland's mainland.

Obviously you paid attention to knowledge in class rather than to girls or gay professors that Scott seemed so focused on by his own confession, no wonder he recently asked for a reference to a bi-directional switch!
 
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Hi Sid,

Yes and yes. I regularly visit those islands. For an excellent day trip, I land at Mull on the grass strip though southerly winds have been the misfortune of a number of pilots and their aircraft over the years. Fingal's Cave is only five minutes away from there and the scenic route would be with a dog-leg over Tobermory and its painted buildings on the harbor.

Would it be seriously off board and topic to bring up the subject of music and travel/flying? Mendelsohn's music has a well regarded space in my collection - with a collection of twenty ounce vinyl LPs of his tribute to the area right in the middle of an excellent bunch of his music. And all those titles mentioned by Scott are there too. For wilder stimulation it'll be something like Sibelius though - 5th usually but the Karelia Suite gets my juices flowing.

I plug music into the plane's audio panel but classical music is problematic. There are too many quiet passages that are just not loud enough to hear properly. Most recent choice at the moment has been Robert Plant and Alison Krause 'Band of Joy' . Alison Krause on her own is great too.

Maybe I should post a few more island pics on my gallery. Barra would be another strip I'd recommend but as it's tidal and sand and the met situation can change fast it requires a bit of thought. I'd also include a visit to Islay - of whisky fame- for almost anyone, non whisky drinkers included.
 
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Hi Bill,
Give me a bit of warning and I can hopefully get over to Prestwick reasonably quickly if the weather allows. The weather here right now is hot by our standards. Up to 28 C forecast for today.

Today begins the great Independence debate - again. Scotland has a referendum coming up on self-rule and Independence. So there will be a lot of talk and politics going on when you're here. Beware...
 
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Just thinking about that question about the Orkneys. Lawrence and I were talking about fields that might be challenging. The Orkneys are are great place to visit. Kirkwall has an international grade runway. Most of the other fields are short take off and landing exercises with walls or fences next to the thresholds. So, a typical island strip will be (say) 460 metres long and consist of packed gravel. I will follow the undulations of the terrain as well. For a flavor of this there are some pics already in my gallery. It may seem like a masochistic exercise but i think that practising these short take-offs are good therapy...
 
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Rob, everything about your descriptions ... the terrain, the landing strips the history and the music ... make me want to return to Scotland. Had a great-grandmother from Edinburgh -- a Gilchrest out of the O'Toole clan. No kilt but I do sport the tartan tie on occasion.

Bill, I would trade every hole of that golf for avgas and a couple of days with Rob flying your around the country!
 
rob egph said:
Hi Bill,
Give me a bit of warning and I can hopefully get over to Prestwick reasonably quickly if the weather allows. The weather here right now is hot by our standards. Up to 28 C forecast for today.

Today begins the great Independence debate - again. Scotland has a referendum coming up on self-rule and Independence. So there will be a lot of talk and politics going on when you're here. Beware...
Click to expand...

28C!! Yikes, that's positively steamy. Hope it chills off a bit. About 18-20 would be perfect. I'll see how the days work out. Learned just today they added another round in Coldstream the day we play Berwick. Will try to have all days dialed in beginning of next week and see if skeds will work. We will be basing out of Berwick and Turnberry. Thank you for offer. Would be great to see area from aloft and note in my personal log paying the very dear petrol prices in EU. ...assuming there is still an EU in a couple of weeks. ;-)
 
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N4843W said:
Rob, everything about your descriptions ... the terrain, the landing strips the history and the music ... make me want to return to Scotland. Had a great-grandmother from Edinburgh -- a Gilchrest out of the O'Toole clan. No kilt but I do sport the tartan tie on occasion.

Bill, I would trade every hole of that golf for avgas and a couple of days with Rob flying your around the country!
Click to expand...

Scott, I think you'll find O'Toole is Irish, slight difference, like saying which part of Mexico is Alabama in.:)

The difference between Rob's Commander and mine, apart from about £100,000, is the ability to get out of a 450m strip with a loose and uneven surface over an obstacle. Which is why I stick to the nice long concrete ones that HIAL provide. However, that doesn't make the Islands any less accessible. Many have invested in a reasonable airport as a community lifeline. Anyway, my wife doesn't like being more than a couple of miles from a restaurant listed in the Michelin guide in case of a gastronomic emergency.
 
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Whoa ... just travelling too much and sleeping too little. I had just got off the phone with a friend named Ryan O'toole! It is definitely Gilchrist out of MacLachlan ... yiiiiiiiiiikes.
 
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Lawrence & Rob I was also about to point out that O'Tooles are the Galeic Clan from across the Irish Sea making them unmistakably Irish rather than Scotish.

However, Scot would like to celebrate his ancestry with entusiasm so let's give him the Scot link since the Irish sea is not that wide and saw a lot of traffic both ways.

I think Scot could pass the Laphroaig test without spilling a driop.
 
Given Scott's size, he could be of either Fingal or McCool ancestry.
 
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Hey Bill,
Did you get back or are you still here draining our Whisky resources?
 
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