Aviation Specials – May 2018

64 // Extreme Airports

STOL bush-planes were ideal workhorses

for the job. A empts were made to use

larger 36-seat Short 360s in 1994, but

their restrictive crosswind abilities and

poor reliability put paid to the change

after just eight months and the Twin

O ers returned. When the time fi nally

came to retire the venerable Canadian

aircraft in 2015, the Sco ish Government

ordered two new Viking Air Twin O er

400s as replacements. The link from the

mainland is currently fl own under a Public

Service Obligation (PSO) agreement with

Transport Scotland. Loganair claims to

be the only airline worldwide to operate

commercial fl ights onto the beach, and

likewise it is the only carrier to have a

timetable that must be adjusted for tides.

Its Barra schedule varies throughout the

year but is once daily in the winter and

twice a day in the summer, although peak

travel periods can involve three trips.

A fl ight northwestwards over the

Sco ish lochs can be a very pleasant

experience on a warm sunny day

when much of the journey is fl own at

1,000ft. But under the leaden skies that

are a regular feature of the region it

threatens to be a much more turbulent

aff air. Occasionally the wind pushes the

Twin O er towards Barra and it arrives

overhead a li le early, although that is not

an advantage if the tide has yet to recede.

And Loganair also must keep a watchful

eye on delays to ensure its aircraft can get

into Barra and airborne again before the

water returns.

Life on the beach

The airport’s three runways allow the

Twin O ers to land into a very stiff

breeze, a vauable consideration when

the alternative can involve returning to

Glasgow. Each airstrip is marked with

wooden poles at its ends, but at high tide

even these disappear under the water,

leaving the tiny terminal topped with a

tower as almost the only evidence there

is an airport on the island. The incoming

sea puts a stop to aircraft movements,

but within a few hours the beach will be

washed clean by Mother Nature and

the action resumes – and not all of it is

aviation related. The bay is popular with

walkers and cockle pickers, and although

the authorities permit these recreational

activities they take a dim view of anyone

digging holes in the sand runways. A

windsock is fl own and a strobe light

fl ashes on the tower when a movement is

imminent, warning people to return to the

dunes around the airfi eld perimeter.

Barra’s small terminal doubles as a café

and waiting room and has a single check-

A turn round

with a diff erence.

Viking Air

Twin O er 400

G-SGTS makes a

splash as

it departs.

Ground crew

prepare an

aircra for

departure.

A panoramic

view of the

‘airfi eld’ from the

control tower.

In the summer

Loganair fl ies be-

tween Glasgow

and Barra

twice daily.

BARRA

Passengers have

a short walk

across the sand

to the terminal.

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