Iain Sim

I'm 65 now, so I'm going back a few years. Dad flew as flight crew with BEA from Glasgow and plied his trade mostly in Scotland. With enormous pride I remember once that we flew from Glasgow to Inverness one evening. We flew over John Browns Shipyard in Clydebank, where they were building the QE2 and finally when we took off it was dark and on our way we were greeted by the Northern Lights, which I saw from the cockpit at the invitation of the Captain. I remember stepping very gingerly over the controls and panels, avoiding the rudder pedals to take up the co-pilots position. I've just worked out that I must have been about 8 at the time. That was in the Vickers Viscount in BEA's distinct livery. Red wings, white fuselage and blue stripe running along the portholes. There was a red and white square logo on the tail. How's that for instant recall ! It made such an impression on me. I would dearly love to be able to "fly" the plane myself in Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2024