Author Archives: Neil

Unknown's avatar

About Neil

Just a keen amateur!

Happy birthday Maggie

Posted on by
Reply

Maggie thought it was just a normal day at the office but she did not know weall knew it was going to be a major birthday, courtesy of Facebook.  2 birthday cakes, 2 balloons and loads of presents later she was suitably embarassed.  Here is the birthday girl!

L1070499

 

 

And the secret squirrel team members, Marion, Liz and Paula.

L1070506

 

Sadly Maggie is leaving us and moving onto a new life in Aberdeenshire.  Maggie is my longest serving member of staff at the information desk and will have been there nearly 9 years.  She will be a huge miss to all and we wish Maggie, Robson, Andrew and Theresa every success in their new life away from Orkney.

No post would be complete without an aircraft pic so here is G-CELV, Saab 2000 on a visit today.  It was a pleasure to meet the crew who had an hour or so to enjoy the delights of Kirkwall Airport.

L1070492

 

L1070498

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to visit.

All the best

Neil 😉

A busy week and the weather is great

Posted on by
Reply

Just a short note to end the week.  It has been one of the mildest weeks in months but there has hardly been a day without some sort of delay for one thing or another.  I thought I would try and get myself into a routine of posting pics as and when things arrived but have failed miserably.

We have had a lot of helicopter activity recently and since it was a nice day for a change, I thought I would snap G-REDO as it was passing through.

L1070482

L1070481

Yesterday, we were visited by Danish Air Transport with a crew change.  Being the enthusiasts (should that be anoraks) that we are, Liz Harcus (Congratulations, as she has been promoted to Security Manager) and I were invited to have a look around the ATR.

A very different animal to the Saab’s we are used to.  First of all, I could stand upright without difficulty, it seats 42 and is much more spacious.  The pilot’s say it is a lovely plane to fly and to fly in.  Could this be a worthy successor to the Saab’s when they are replaced in the future.

Anyway here are the pics

L1070491

Bet you have been waiting for this – and the inside, you will immediately notice the different seating arrangement!

L1070490

L1070488

L1070489

Many thanks to to Captain, Nicolai Jensen, First Officer, Anders Munch and hostie, Charlotte Nielsen

That’s all for now, thanks for taking the time to visit and don’t forget we are now on Twitter @KOIairport

All the best

Neil 😉

Return of the Vikings

Posted on by
Reply

Well, what can I say.  Happy Hallowe’en, Happy Guy Fawkes, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Up Helly A, Happy Chinese New Year, Happy birthday Rabbie Burns.  these are some of the things that have gone on since I last posted.

We haven’t had a lot of snow at Kirkwall but we have had a lot of high winds and seriously dreich weather.  Nothing too unusula has happend at KOI since I last typed but we are rinning a pilot at the moment on Twitter to see how it works.  Find us at @KOIairport.

Just a few photos this time to let you know we are still here starting with this picture of a Zenair CH701 UL owned by a local pilot, Tommy Sinclair.

 

It was sitting in a field next to the airport as I was rushing to take the kids to the airport party in December.  Always time to take a photo though :).

L1070114

 

 

On the 19th of December we had a flypast from a 2 seater Typhoon, sorry it was too dark to get the tail number

L1070266

 

We had a lot of helicopter traffic over christmas and the new year, most of which I have pictures of except this new S92 G-XCII

L1070414

 

 

L1070418

 

Then an unusual sight just after New Year.  Bristoews, Bond and CHC all in the same place at the same time.

L1070424

 

One of the perks of this job is getting to meet some very nice people who are passing through the terminal and this gentleman was no exception.  Sir Ben Kingsley was in Orkney doing research for a program he intends to do in the next couple of years and while he was at the terminal, he made time for everyone that approached him.  Genuinely friendly and interested.  Many thanks Sir Ben.

L1070434

 

Yes, I know, we both have the same hairdresser as I have been told many times 🙂

Short ago we had an ILS approach by G-BVRJ, a 146 or should that be an RJ operated by Qinetiq

L1070437

 

And finally the Vikings.  Today had a distinct viking flavour with LN-BAA operated by Bergen Air Transport arriving from Haugesund and OY-JRJ, an ATR42 operated by Danish Air Transport.

L1070475

 

What a fantastic colour scheme!.  That’s it for now.  More as it happens and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

As always, thanks for taking the time to visit, until next time

All the best

Neil 😉

A busy day

Posted on by
Reply

Some days can be busier than others and today was no exception.  There were a number of events all happening one after another and we had a number of special guests invited for a number of functions.

The event was attended by HIAL’s chairman, Lt Col Grenville Johnston OBE TD, who was formerly my CO in 2/51 HIghland.  Richard Fresson, son of Ted Fresson and Scott Grier, President of Loganair and many other individuals who have made Kirkwall Airport what it is today.

The first unveiling was commemorating the Wideford Airfield just up from the existing airfield, where an information board has been erected by the Fresson Trust.

Secondly a commemorative plaque for the pilots who operated the air ambulance service between 1933 and 2006.

And finally, presentation of Jubilee medals to firefighters at Kirkwall Airport.

Many thanks to all individuals who made this day so special and a special thank you to Craig Horne who is very much the unsung hero in all this.  When the plaque arrived, with the permission of Davie Berston, Airport Manager.  I had a backing board made for the plaque.  I gave a rough sketch to Craig who is  a joiner working for Alfie Fletts in Holm, with a brief to use his eye and surprise us.

He arrived yesterday with something I hope you agree is beautiful and very fitting for the occasion and the pilots who put their lives on the line in all weathers to ensure Orcadians and Orcadian residents arrived safely at larger hospitals on the mainland and in many cases from the outer of islands of Orkney to the Balfour Hospiatal in Kirkwall.

Many thanks Craig from all at the event.  I will hand you over to the photos now.  We were very honoured to have four of the pilots named on the plaque at the event pictured in the last photo.

L to R

Captain Alex Holmes, Captain Stuart Linklater, Captain Andy Alsop and Captain Duncan Peace

L1070024 L1070026 L1070031 L1070035 L1070036 L1070043

And of course the plaque

L1070018

Because of the inclement weather, the unveiling of the information board at Wideford took place at the same time.  This is the actual board installed by Casey Construction on behalf of the trust.

L1070013

Then it was down to the Airport Fire Section for the medal presentation.  The medals were presented by Richard Fresson and Scott Grier

 L1070048 L1070049 L1070050 

L1070051

L1070053 L1070054 L1070055 L1070056 L1070057 L1070059 L1070060 L1070061 L1070062 L1070063 L1070064 L1070065 L1070067 L1070068 L1070069 L1070070 L1070077

In between all this Debbie Henning aka Deb’s Cafe had put on a lovely buffet for all so all in all a lovely day so far.

After the medal presentation it was back to the terminal to finish off the nibblies and a final photo opportunity to get all the hosts together.

L1070079

And finally a picture of our Camera shy Airport Manager

L1070081

L to R Richard Fresson, Scott Grier, Grenville Johnston and Davie Berston

Immediately after the event we went straight in to an airport tour for the Tuesday Club.  Many thanks to Loganair, Security, Petrea from the Information desk and the airport firemen for hosting the visit.

L1070084

And finally (again) no post would be complete without an aircraft or two.  We recently had a low approach by F-WWMZ, an Airbus A400M which is the replacement for the well know Hercules

L1070008

L1070010

Apologies for the quality, very high and very dark.  We also had a visit today by a brand new Citation 560XL from Hawarden.  Very pretty!

L1070021

That’s all for now thanks for taking the time to read

Till next time

Neil 😉

Don’t you just love Picasa

Posted on by
Reply

Hello again

I was having a look through my photos with Picasa and discovered many I had forgotten about.  RAF Kinloss is a sore miss.  I have some wonderful memories and felt like a child in a sweetshop when I got the chance to get close to Nimrod’s.

These photos are from April 2011 and will be some of the last when XV240, the gate guardian was complete.  Thanks to Terry Smith, Dave Ball, Jim Mailer, Keith Treece, Justin Morris, Roxy, John Innes and many more individuals I have a large collection of pictures that are amongst my favourites.

Hope you like them:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

That’s it for now, working on a Flickr account that you can find at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thenookorkney

Thanks for reading, till next time

Neil 😉

Snake 54 and Jedward

Posted on by
Reply

It has been a very busy week this week with one thing or another. We have had a number of visitors this week some flying and some not.  The first picture I just liked, won’t win any competitions but the moon was spectacular during the day this week and I took this shot.

It’s a lot better in full res but gives you an idea.  We had a couple of military visitors pass through, firstly a Tornado which sadly I don’t have the tail number of.

 

 

We had an unusual aircraft for low approaches a number of times.  From the distance it looks just like a KIng Air 350 but once up close you can see it has just about as many sensors as a Nimrod.  This Aircraft is a Beechcraft Shadow R1 callsign Snake 54.  It is operated by No. 14 Squadron as part of the ISTAR contingent located at RAF Waddington.

 

Finally and genuinely by chance I ended up at the airport last night.  It turned out that I arrived almost the same time as Jedward so my girls came into the terminal and had the chance to meet them and get their autograph.

I have to say these boys were pleasant and polite and made time for everyone so thank you very much John and Edward, you made their day.

 

 

 

Finally a picture of an infrquent visitor to Kirkwall.  PH-CIJ stopped off for a few days piloted by Olivier and Alex. Always a pleasure to see them and looking forward to seeing Marco on the next visit.

 

That’s it for now and as always thanks for taking the time to read.

All the best

Neil 😉

Did you think I had forgotten about Kirkwall

Posted on by
Reply

Thought it was about time for me to bring things up to date.  Kirkwall has been very busy and we have had a number of new and unusual aircraft in.  In a previous post I told you we had a visit by a beautiful King Air registration M-FIVE.

I got a chance the next day to take a few further pics as the pilot was very hospitable so I am now able to say “and the inside”

We had a visit from SE-DJH, Citation

And a fleeting visit from G-PDGR, obviously a squirrel

It was a pleasant surprise to find Andrew Brown back in Kirkwall with his wife, in this case G-WIFE, his C182.  I had to take a second look though as she now is the proud owner of a 3 blade prop.

Last week saw a visit by LX-JFO, a TBM850 from Luxembourg, A first for me and a seriously fast single engine plane.

It was a pleasure to catch up with some old friends when PH-RID, owned by Cartier came in piloted by Captain Morgan Beret and First Officer Alex Balcells.

We also had a couple of bizjets in today, first of all M-CICO, Falcon 50

And another first for me, HB-JRV, a Geneva based CL60

That’s about it for now apart from what I heard on the news tonight.  It seems “Mr Loganair” Scott Grier who has made Loganair what it is, has decided to retire.

He is an amazing man and is well known in Orkney.  I believe he is going stay on for the next two years in an advisory capacity, however, I and I am sure everyone else wishes him the very best.

This is Scott on the right with the local engineering team as you have probably never seen them before taken 6 years ago at the formal opening of the hangar.  Yes!!! 6 years ago.

That’s it for now, as always thanks for taking the time to visit

All the best

Neil 😉

Leuchars Airshow day 2

Posted on by
Reply

Saturday morning came and as always there is time to walk along the static display before the hordes arrive.  I also had to go and pick up my limited edition print for the formation of the new 1 squadron.  Sorry about my shadow in a number of pics but I hope you like the aircraft.

The day was not as busy as normal but none the less a terrific day.  Sadly the wind was from the west so afterburner shots were limited.

Highlights of the day were The Blades, The Red Arrows and the Sea Fury.  Again their were a number of no shows including the Dakota from the BBMF. Again the Sentry was stunning and no-one can deny the majesty of the Vulcan.

Thank you to RAF Leuchars and the Air Show team for another great 2 days, hope there is another next year.

Enjoy the photos.

As always, thanks for taking the time to drop past

All the best

Neil 😉

Leuchars Airshow 2012 review day 1

Posted on by
Reply

Hello and thanks for visiting.  My annual pilgrimage to RAF Leuchars took place last week when the Diamond Celebration Airshow took place over the 14th and 15th of September.  I am always very fortunate that my family club in together and buy this weekend for my birthday every year so they never have to think about what I want.

It is always a bit of a rush but this year I took my dad who was keen to see the Vampires, Venom and Meteor.  In the end the Venom went tech but there were attendances and displays from the others.

Day 1

Sadly we were stuck in car park 6 for the 2 days which is a step back from previous years but we were well looked after by the serving members of the RAF.

The weather was very mixed with a strong westerly blowing all day which meant the aircraft were all taking off and landing from the 27 end, which was a pity.  Soon after bacon rolls and coffee the aircraft started arriving and/or practising their routine.  I did take a number of photographs and have posted them here.  As always none of my photos are photoshopped.

A lot of photos to look through and an extremely long day.  This show seemed to have a lot less flying than previous ones I have attended, however, the RAF did an outstanding job by having a large number of aircraft in the air, particularly Typhoons but the highlight of the two days for me was the displays by the Chinook and the E3 Sentry.

In recent years the enthusiasts normally parked in the Officers Mess car park for day 1 and on base on day 2.  This became car park 6 which requires a shuttle service provided by the RAF.  It just means arriving a little earlier on the day and leaving a bit later.  I made the mistake a number of years ago of parking in the main car park.  A hard lesson as it took me longer to get out of the base than it did to drive to Forres so never again.

We arrived at the enthusiasts compound about 0815 in time to pick a reasonable spot for our days activities, set down our gear and waited for breakfast.  Sure enough a short time later, coffee and unlimited bacon rolls arrived.  The RAF are fantastic hosts and I may be an old fashioned type of guy but the uniforms worn by the females are very smart in comparison to the tat that you see down the high street at the weekend.

Stomachs full, it was outside for the briefing and the days activities.  There was a steady wind all day which got a little tiresome but none the less the day got underway.  It was nice to see the T33 alongside the Vampires early in the day.  A steady stream of aircraft passed in front of us, some of them a first for me, in particular the French Rafale and the Hawk T2.  The F16’s of the Belgian Air Component and the Royal Netherlands Air Force were a sore miss as they produce outstanding displays.  No German element this year, I doubt Angela Merkel is getting more miserable as she gets older.  No Polish element this year.  I am sure you are seeing a pattern.

There seemed to be huge gaps in the arrivals and rehearsals with a number of no shows but still you can’t keep a good anorak down.  The day was hard going for my dad as there was no shelter at the fenceline but he had a good time.

All too soon the day was over and we headed back to the Strathmartine Avenue Travelodge in Dundee which was a reasonable price as it had been booked for 7 months but it was definitely all fur coat and no knickers. It looked nice from the outside but the rooms were very basic and the food was below average.  I have not had a good experience of Travelodges this year so time to change.

A mix of pics

Posted on by
Reply

Hello and thanks for taking the time to pop past.  Have been on holiday since the last post but have finally set aside an hour to bring things up to date.

Just before heading off into the wilds of Portugal we had a couple of new visitors in for the Subsea Viking crew change.  First of all we had LN-TWL, King Air, from Norway

And D-CCIR, Dornier 328  from Germany.  To my knowledge, the first visit to Kirkwall by Cirrus Airlines.

We had a visiting Beechcraft Baron 58P D-ICVA also from Germany.  The first time I have heard of Navigation by Ipad as you will see in the cockpit photo.

And the inside

Notice anything unusual?  No dual controls but the control column is on a centre pivot and can be rotated upwards and to the right allowing you to fly the aircraft from the co-pilots seat!  Very noticeable in this pic obviously is the Ipad.  I would imaging I will get sued now by Apple for using their name without permission 🙂  Actually I much prefer Android to Apples IOS, but that is another story.

I had the good fortune to spend a couple of weeks in the mountains of Portugal in July.  My family and I stayed in a farmhouse in a little village called Outeiro de Gatos.  A wonderful little village with wonderful people.

The thing about this village is hardly anyone speaks english and we don’t speak portuguese but we managed  to communicate for the fortnight.  One thing couldn’t help but notice is how much we are ripped off by the taxation system in the UK.  Portugal may be struggling financially but even if they doubled the price of things it would not hurt their pockets.

On the final night we were in Gatos 3 course meal for 14 including wine and juice was just over £40.  Tea, coffee and beer was around 25p, bottled water was around 15p for 2 litres and cigarettes about £3 a packet of 20.  Anyway off the soapbox and back to planes.

On the way back from Portugal I took a couple of pictures just for something different

These type of planes passed every couple of minutes but sadly I did not have the time to take any more.  While on the bus at Frankfurt Airport in Germany I saw the Airbus A380 for the first time.

Incidentally, what a huge airport Frankfurt is and I never realised just how big an airline Lufthansa is.  Sadly their ground staff do not have the manners of their flying staff.  I found them rude and unhelpful, but that’s a whinge for another time.

Back to planes again, and a Boeing 777 airliner from All Nippon Airways

And back to Kirkwall where over the last couple of weeks we have been very busy due to inclement weather and a number of GA aircraft.

Starting with D-ISKY, a private charter from Germany with engineers from Blohm & Voss.  And a first for me, a BE65 aka a Beechcraft Queenair.  This particular aircraft has a bit of history.  It’s registration is N911SA which gives a clue.  It used to belong to the police in the USA.  It was built in 1960 for the military and instead of the usual V6 engines, it was fitted with more powerful V8’s.  Apparently this aircraft was frequented by JFK a number of times when in USA VIP military service.

And the inside

We also had our first visit by G-COBI, the Cobham Super King Air 350 calibrator aircraft.  A stunning bit of kit.

Yesterday brought the arrival of a couple of Tucano’s based at RAF Linton on Ouse but on detachment to RAF Leuchars.  At least they brought the sunshine with them.  Many thanks to Flt Lt’s Mark Hume and Steve Iwanek for the guided tour.

And the inside front and rear

At the same time we had a visit from M-FIVE, a stunning King Air 350 based in Southampton

And last one for this post, G-REDT, a Super Puma in for a refuel.

That’s it for just now and would you believe, just a couple of weeks until the Leuchars Airshow www.airshow.co.uk Shaping up to be a good one but as yet the flying programme is missing the good old F16 but there is time yet.  As always I will post my pictures here.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post

All the best

Neil 😉