And Murray talked him down on the radio when he flew on the lee side of the hill and got into lift from the Valley floor.

Like Ali I also feel for Nairn’s family and their sudden and tragic loss. He will be sadly missed by so many and leaves an big empty place in our small and now smaller band of brothers.

The East Scotland sites and slopes seem devoid of vivid colour…..

Nairn had a get out and do it philosophy that shows itself in well balanced, achieving folk. His sense of fun was matched by a well founded, implicit belief in his own capacities. In the air, he had a confidence and adventure in him that only comes from an inspired soul in its element. Flying brought Nairn joy, as it does all of us pleasure pilots in this lucky age. There is a more pragmatic side to aviation that all too suddenly can turn our worlds upside down. So mine is now.

Nairns Family come so suddenly and so strongly to mind at this dreadfull time. I feel an acute sense of loss. How must they feel? I dread to think. My heart goes out to you.

A good day (but no photographs) was also had down in Tayside with Arden starting paragliding training (he knows/works with, Ed, the Canadian PG student) having spent much of the previous day working on the MET & flight theory stuff after ‘jumping ship’ from his train journey down from working (oil industry) in Aberdeen to heading home (lives in Wales)…. following a quick “Murray what is the weather going to be tommorow?” phone call…. he took the chance (I said 50/50) that Sunday would be flyable at least for tandem training (it was ;-)….

Just as per the MET info we got almost 4 hours training in the afternoon with LOTs of take off’s and landings even if the location/wind direction resulted in no significant ‘beats’/flight time… a good SOLID start to his flying.

Murray Hay

So once again in summary…There are NO PRIVATE PARAGLIDING SITES in Scotland.

Suggest you perhaps try reading the agreement again - slowly. If you are still having comprehension problems then perhaps a visit to the local primary would be of benefit. I’m sure any 5 year old will be able to explain it.

Fields with young animals page 93: Responsibilites of public.
You can avoid disturbing sheep close to lambing time, or young animals such as calves, lambs, foals and farmed deer, by going into a neighbouring field. If this is not possible, keep as far from the animals as possible.

Page 92 fields with crops:
Acess extends to such areas

Page 74: Airsports:
Access rights are exercisable above the surface of the land and so extend to non-motorised air sports, such as paragliding. By their very nature, many of
these activities require the use of hilltops and escarpments.
Responsibities of landowner: If you are responsible for a hilltop, escarpment or other well-used launching or landing point, you could work with your local authority and relevant recreation bodies to ensure that any disturbance or damage by air sports is minimised.

Page 60: Prohibited actions by landowners to prevent exercising of access rights: leaving an animal known to be dangerous in a field or area where there is a path or track likely to be used by the public.

Page 9 section 2.2 expressly lays out areas where you can exercise your access rights. These include:

• fields where there are horses, cattle and other farm animals.

Although I could go on quoting, I think that should be more than enough evidence for the reasonably minded to prove once and for all that access code does not only specify unfenced grassland. You may wish to disgree and probably will however its written in black and white. Those with nothing better to do for the next year or so may wish to play semantics however watching paint dry is probably more interesting. You do not have ‘private’ rights to fly these scottish sites. Acess for all means just that.

Joe