It was about 10.30am on Saturday the 25th of August and I was sitting in front of the TV watching the cricket. England were on 84 for 2 chasing Australia on 641. I decided to switch on my phone and a message came through. It was Neil wondering if I fancied going flying in the Aviemore area. Off course I did. I quickly returned his call. He was already half way up the A9, I put my gear in the car and started the 80 mile trip, leaving Perth, my home town, at around 11.15 am.

We met at the Coylumbridge Visitors Center at 1.45pm. Neil had already kindly arranged a takeoff site which was only a few minutes away. The field was perfect, short green grass and almost completely flat. The weather was also on our side, a light wind with the odd thermal breeze passing through.

After setting up and warming our engines we were ready for take off. At this point I should maybe say that I had never flown with a motor before so I was a bit apprehensive and the 6 or 7 cars that had stopped on a nearby road to watch didn't help.

Neil went first, reverse launch, on his second attempt was off. Now it was me, forward launch, up she came everything looked good, press the start button, full throttle, a few running steps and I was in the air. I quickly climbed above the telephone wires at the bottom of the field and up up and away.

I, being the novice, followed Neil. We circled the takeoff field gaining height all the time before heading north. We flew over the edge of a large forest a small loch and a few farms which is part of Rothiemurchus Estate . At one point I saw a buzzard below me, this is a beautiful part of the country.

After following Neil for about 15mins he turned east and flew towards the Cargingorm ski slopes, I went west gained a bit more height and then started to head back. I was about 4 miles from our takeoff point and initially headed for the wrong field but after getting closer I noticed our cars and turned to the correct field.

Finally, I arrived at the right field with plenty of height, just letting the motor tic over while I descended switching it off as I came over the woods that edged the field. Landing was near perfect just going down on one knee at the end. What a fantastic first flight!

Still on a high I sat down on the grass and had a can of coke chuffed with myself while waiting on Neil. He arrived 20mins later as ecstatic as I was and congratulated me on my first flight. He had a full hour in the air over some of the best countryside in the U.K. His vario showed that he had been to 1300mt abs, the same height as the highest mountain in the Cairngorm range.

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