Scotland Tigers-7: Plockton to Wick - Via the Outer Hebrides

For Wed. Sept. 11, June 26, 2024

Plockton Airfield EG29

Today we bring out the old bi-planes for the seventh flight in this Scotland excursion.  Last trip we weaved in and out of the Inner Hebrides. This trip continues from Plockton (EG29) and we head westward over the Inner Hebrides to the Outer Hebrides or Western Isles Island chain west of “mainland” Scotland.

The Outer Hebrides Islands form an archipelago whose major islands, listed in order of our travel, are: Barra, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, and Lewis and Harris,  As a matter of trivia, South Uist is not connected to North Uist! These are separated by Benbecula Island.  Lewis and Harris is the largest island this chain and the third-largest in the British Isles, after Great Britain and Ireland. It incorporates Lewis in the north and Harris in the south, both of which are frequently referred to as individual islands, although they are connected by land. The island does not have a single name in either English or Gaelic, and is referred to as "Lewis and Harris", "Lewis with Harris", "Harris with Lewis" etc.

 

So now to our flight: As we depart Plockton we’ll head to the southwest crossing the Isle of Skye, Isle of Run over Kinloch Castle, to the Hyskeir and Garbh Sgeir Rock formations or islets in the Inner Hebrides which emerge at low tide. We’ll cross the Sea of the Hebrides heading west to reach the Outer Hebrides Islands.

Our first stop is at Barra Airport, on the Island of Barra which is at the extreme south end of the Outer Hebrides Islands. From Barra we’ll head northward across the Sound of Barra to the Island of South Uist and continue heading north to the Island of Benbecula landing at Benbecula Airport. As we depart and head north from Benbecula Airport we’ll cross the “Oitir Mhor” (bay/Inlet) to the Island of North Uist and continue northward to Stornoway Airport located on the Island of Lewis and Harris at the extreme north end of the Outer Hebrides Island chain..

From Stornoway we’ll turn eastward, again over the Sea of Hebrides and we’ll return to the island of mainland Scotland, over the Dounreay Nuclear facility then on to the extreme NE tip of mainland Scotland landing at Wick Airport.  Again, there are lots of castles, lighthouses and other POI along the way in this scenic, rural, outer islands area of Scotland.

This part 7 of the Scotland Tigers totals 262 nm: Departing Plockton Airfield (EG29) with only four stopover landings: Clutton Hill Airstrip (EGEI), Bara Airport (EGPR), Benbecula Airport (EGPL), Stornoway (EGPO) then the final landing at our destination of Wick (EGPC).

This is another “low and slow expedition” using our favorite bi-plane! We won’t have too much time for doddling if we want to reach our destination. Time permitting; we’ll make our destination but no worries as thHereere will definitely be a final part eight of the Scotland Tigers (someday), so that we can continue this trek exploring the country of Scotland, northward through the Orkney and Shetland Islands and finally reaching our ultimate destination of the Scotland tour at Unst, Scotland.  

Flight Plan/Itinerary LINK:  HERE

Aircraft:

The “faster” Stearman or similar aircraft that can maintain 120-130 kts should fit the bill: will plan to use a Stearman for this trip. It is a faster than the Ants Tiger Moth dh.82 or Bucker but as always please feel free to use your choice of aircraft.

 

Add-on Scenery: Flightsim.to: Freeware:

EG29-Plockton-Airstrip-v1.1-RobAirYT: https://flightsim.to/file/18951/plockton-airstrip-eg29-scotland (by RobAirYT)

XBRO-Broadford-(EGEI Clutton-Hill)-Airstrip-v1.1-Simwerft: https://flightsim.to/file/13305/broadford-airfield-xbro (by Simwerft)

EGPR-Barra-Airport-Outer-Hebrides-v1.4-superspud: https://flightsim.to/file/591/egpr-barra-airport (by superspud)

EGPL-Benbecula-Airport-v1.6-Scotflight: https://flightsim.to/file/29229/egpl-benbecula-airport (by Scotflight)

EGPO-Stornoway-Airport-v1.5-Scotflight: https://flightsim.to/file/29891/egpo-stornoway-airport (by Scotflight)

EGPC-Wick-Airport-v1.4-Scotflight: https://flightsim.to/file/28746/egpc-wick-airport (by Scotflight)

Dounreay-Nuclear-Powerstation-v0.2.0-Flak: https://flightsim.to/file/57708/dounreay-nuclear-power-station-caithness-scotland (by Flak)

A pre-assembled scenery package with above pieces can be temporarily found here: LINK HERE (zip-47.5 mb, expands to 202 mb).

 

Other: Supporting/Required Libs: (not included in the pre-assembled package above)

https://flightsim.to/file/33166/animated-humans-library (by superspud)

https://flightsim.to/file/2605/we-love-vfr-region-1 (by puffinflight)

NOTAM:  Payware:  There is a Payware EU Great Britain North (Landmarks) by Orbx (Nice Eye Candy): Please feel free to use if you have but it is not necessary to go out and purchase this add-on for this trip.

Time and Weather
Prefer to fly real weather if possible but if not, the few clouds Jeff 1 or Josh, or few or high clouds stock preset might make a nice choice.  For takeoff: set the simulator time to @1400 local.  Hope you enjoy this scenic flight.

Wick Airport EGPC

 

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Wednesday, Sept 11, 2024 - 1800 UTC, (1400 Eastern)
AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm  - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-WED. COM1
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: EAST-USA Server

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks and we hope you enjoy this flight! 

 

Norm

Edited September 7, 20241 yr by nbrich1

While organizing updates, airports, and aircraft I found an E-Mail indicating an update for Ant's Tiger Moth. The most current version is 1.3.1. The update solves a problem with the slats.

NOTAM. Keeping up with your friends... If you fly the Stearman PT-17 (the ordinary version, not the “aerobatic” version), then you can “enhance” your engine to the 9-cylinder WASP. AIRPAC1 has such a Stearman Performance Enhancement. Simply drop into the Community folder or activate via the FSAddons Linker. (This is a fictional modification, of course.)