By OLIVER PICKUP

'Magical': David West has 33 years' experience as a pilot, but he believes his 'close-and-personal' tours of west Scotland are hard to beat


The best way to admire the west coast of Scotland? By seaplane. Everyone, it seems, wants to clamber aboard a tiny, propeller-powered aircraft - which holds a maximum of ten people - and skim precariously inches above the water.

Since establishing Loch Lomond Seaplanes seven years ago David West has flown the young, the very old, and the very famous, including knights of the realm and pop megastars.

The 53-year-old has guided Susan Boyle, Sir Steve Redgrave, Patsy Kensit, Jackie Stewart and Bill Bailey, among others, across the wonderfully rugged coastline of west Scotland, from Glasgow to Tobermoray on the Isle of Mull, and many places between.

And you may have seen the BBC Two series Three Men in a Boat, starring comedians Griff Rhys Jones, Dara O'Brian and Rory McGrath. Well they, too, boarded David's seaplane just before Christmas and agreed that it is one of the most exhilarating ways to see the wild landscape.

But it is not just the rich and famous who are strapping in for a ride – couples are even getting hitched on the seaplanes, and it’s a hit with the older crowd, surprisingly.

'We get a lot of silver surfers, those wanting to celebrate their eightieth, ninetieth or even hundredth birthdays,' smiles David, who boasts 33 years' experience in the cockpit.


Low-level: One of the two seaplanes landing in Mull, showing the wonderful scenery of Tobermory


'Groups of little grannies often club together and fly, and the funny thing is that they are the coolest passengers - they don't freak out at all.

'It's so popular with the elderly because they may never walk the hills again and this is just a magical way to take it all in, perhaps for the last time.

'But we have clients right across the socio-economic spectrum and we like to give people memories for life. It is a real assault on the senses and people come off the seaplanes speechless.'

After decades as a commercial pilot, flying with the likes of Cathay Pacific and British Midland (and then Fly BMI, where he met his wife Susie, a former stewardess), David was sitting by the picturesque Loch Lomond watching the Scottish Open when he came up with the idea of buying a seaplane.


With over 540 inland lochs and 10,000km of coastline to explore this would be the ideal way to see them, he thought. So, having gained his seaplane license in 2003, he bought a £1.5million Cessna seaplane and set up his company.

Having wrestled through a lot of bureaucratic red tape, Loch Lomond Seaplanes is now really taking off, and - after buying another Cessna four years ago - the company has made nearly 10,000 flights and taken 30,000 very happy passengers in that short time.

It's easily the busiest seaplane company in Europe and features on VisitScotland's latest promotional film. And David is the perfect guide, having been born and bred in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, a town that nestles between Glasgow and Loch Lomond.

To complement the tours, soon every passenger will be handed an iPad2 programmed to provide more information about the lochs, castles and other landmarks they are zipping over. And then there are the organised trips to remote five-star restaurants and inaccessible lochs, where you can hear a pin drop.

'It’s the best flying I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a lot of flying,' continues David. 'You are doing it low-level, and getting up close-and-personal to mile after mile of incredible scenery.


At ease: A seaplane at Kilchurn Castle - a ruined 15th century castle on the northeastern end of Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute


'I’ve had people come on the seaplanes and they have seen the Great Barrier Reef, the Maldives and the Grand Canyon - and they say that they are not a patch on this.

'With this you have wonderful scenery for miles. After one mile you might go past a fantastic mountain – maybe there is even a stag standing proud on the top – the next mile you might go through the most incredible valley, and then, another mile on, a loch with a castle by it…'

However, is it the landing into Glasgow - where David helped create the world's first seaplane base in a city - that provide this pilot with his biggest thrill. 'I've flown into some of the most wonderful airports - large and small - and this water landing, on River Clyde, is hard to beat,' he says.

It's little wonder that some couples decide to tie the knot while airborne.

'Och aye,' adds David, 'we have a number of weddings. Legally you only need to say a couple of sentences. We let the authorities know the longitude and latitude of where the wedding is going to happen, the reverend does his bit and it's finished!

'People come here for all sorts of reasons. We have retirement parties, birthday parties... we do the whole package! But, for us, the product is the wonderful Scottish landscape - the icing on the cake is that you are seeing it on a seaplane, on a low-level, from a window seat, which is just magical.'

For more information visit www.lochlomondseaplanes.com and www.visitscotland.com/surprise.




source: dailymail