The Jetstream 31 was made at Prestwick, Scotland and a very healthy order book meant that local aviation enthusiasts saw a lot of rather rare examples which, once they left the factory usually never returned there. Not every departure took place in ideal weather conditions, however! This photo shows N300PX, a Republic Express example taking off in a heavy rainstorm. If you look closely, you can see the HF aerial at the rear, bouncing about in the slipstream. This was fixed for the delivery flight only, to enable the aircraft to keep in touch with ATC and other aircraft on the long transatlantic flight. Delivery days could be quite exciting at the factory. When the first few departures took place, the pilot would 'beat up the field' just after taking off. (This was a practice which was not exactly discouraged by some of the resident air trafic controllers, who would occasionally suggest that unusual visitors to the field might like to do a low pass down the taxiway rather than the runway. This meant that the aircrfat passed very close to the tower- and the aforementioned aviation enthusiasts) Anyway, after a few deliveries had taken place, the 'beat ups' got more and more spectacular (ie dangerous!) passing over the factory, and eventually BETWEEN the factory buildings! Suddenly it all stopped, however, and from then on their were no displays at all.

British Caledonian tried a few names for its charter operation. Here DC10, carrying BCA Charter titles, lifts off from Glasgow's runway 23 on a stormy Sunday evening.

Icelandair's Boeing 737-400 TF-FID, the only 400 series aircraft painted in their new colours, lands at Glasgow Airport on a cold spring morning. You can download a model of this aircraft suitable for Microsoft FS98 (and possibly FS2000, although I don't guarantee it!) from the 'Other Aircraft' page of this website.