I land on a BEACH, and instantly regret it!

I visit the Scottish island of Barra and make a right mess of my approach to land because of task saturation, but that's not my only regret.
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[@maxflight777]

Superb support from John … No verbosity… Just perfect

[@flying-squirrel-SK]

Hats off. For pushing yourself to try new things, for admitting your mistakes and sharing them with the rest of us!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thank you - it's what I do.... make lots of mistakes and then let everyone know about them 😂

[@cavok1984]

I think I speak for the Flying Reporter community when I say, that is why we are fans of you Jon. You're never afraid to say, "I screwed up!" Life is always about learning and flying is no different. I, as I am sure like many others, look forward to your next adventure. I'm sure Barra will still be there for another day.

[@TheLincolnshireFlyer]

Just shows how having a second pilot with you on something new works so well to keep things safe. Very interesting video Jon thank you 😊

[@TheFlyingReporter]

John's usually there just for jokes, but he helped save the day this time!

[@johnmilner0859]

Flying is a constant learning experience. Anyone who says it’s not is naive at best, stupid at worst. Nice video.

[@gordonbruce2416]

Jon, you are a most humble man. Barra is still there for another day. You live to fight another day. Best decision - taking a friend. Perhaps you could have handed over the controls while you recovered your situational awareness, using him as a semi-intelligent autopilot. Nevertheless, a great effort and as my Ironman Triathlon daughter was once told “Do it once and boast about it for the rest of your life”. Get the beers in.

[@Gobbbbb]

I commend you for also uploading your cockups when things do go wrong, many youtubers would just pretend this didn't happen and delete it. Facing it shows commitment to learning and teaching others, so thank you for that, it's greatly appreciated. 👍 Really really good landing however! Be proud of that for your first go.

[@douglasb5046]

Agree 100%

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thank you . Appreciate the support. 👌

[@Gobbbbb]

@@TheFlyingReporter No problem and thank you for the videos! 😀

[@HairHelmet]

Flying to an unfamiliar airport is stressful enough as it is, great to have a co-pilot in that extra tricky situation.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

John saved the day! I paid his bar bill.

[@HairHelmet]

@@TheFlyingReporter but not before he washed your plane, clever! 😎

[@ajakins4473]

Plenty of lessons and thank you for sharing! We are all human pilots and The day we stop learning on every flight then it is time to hang up the keys. Good call having a P2…esp to wash the plane😅

[@julianforshaw2700]

Lots of good learning points here! Well done for sharing. If I do a better job when I go, it’ll be because of your experience. Very much appreciated.

[@shaunbainbridge1584]

Jon, well done on getting in there. I work on the blue 400 Otter that was on the beach as you landed. I’m glad you washed your aircraft. However, I would pull every single lower panel off and check for sand as it gets everywhere. On the Otter the fuel gallery panels run along the bottom of the fuselage and we speed tape the panel edges to keep the sand out but to no avail. We do a fuel gallery inspection regularly to keep on top of it. If you have sand and salt that has got in behind your panels or into quiet areas you may not realise what’s been going on until it’s too late especially if you park outside. All the best.

[@ranh71]

Great video you guys 😁really interesting and exciting adventure. Good team work when needed, its good to test yourself with 2 pilots sharing the load!!

[@soggybottom3463]

Thoroughly enjoyed that. Totally understand the difficulties in approach, new stressful environment, the extra task load produces "perceptual narrowing" easy, do-it-in-your-sleep stuff becomes hard, with resulting potential for cock-up. Bless your socks for landing, I'd have given that soggy salt swamp a bloody wide berth !! 👏👏👏😅😅

[@markthibault8579]

Great video and thanks for sharing your experience. Barra looks like a great place to have in one's logbook. Well done!

[@aureliomarsili3902]

Spectacular video, thanks !!! I'm not a private pilot, but sometimes, when I drive the car with someone else on board, I get distracted more easily, and I make small mistakes that I normally don't make when I drive alone. I think it's a normal psychological mechanism, and therefore probably if you had been alone, perhaps you would have been more careful. Ciao from Italy ...

[@user-cn9do9xo9h]

Love the honesty and integrity of your videos Jon. We are human and your braver than most, thank you for sharing.

[@blues-extrarockband]

Having landed at Barra as well I completely understand the challenges - an interesting and very worthwhile experience! Great video

[@streamiumlive]

It's great to spread your wings, as you do. Flying is all about experiences like this, although not many who've tried this. A good balance of mostly good decisions with a humble attitude. A perfect pilot attitude. Well done and see you on the next one.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for the support. 🙏

[@Pisiorek6]

Well done and thanks for displaying humility.

[@catherinekilgour2563]

Thank you for your honesty in sharing this.

[@jeffking3693]

Sorry John, I started laughing when I saw your "special task"

[@hypergolic8468]

A great video, and demonstration of CRM and recovery. So many learning points, and again, a lesson on, you can plan it all, do it by the book, and find the book isn't the one you expected!

[@moconn855]

Good video. I've been thinking of a visit to Barra myself and this video has been helpful in that regard. It's good to also share the videos where you feel things didn't quite go so well, I think I learn more from those than the ones where everything seems fairly routine!

[@curiousmatt]

Insightful video Jon. Mistakes happen it's how you cope with them that matters. I like the way you mentally parked it and your co pilot helped recover the situation. Flew the aircraft, sorted yourself out then debriefed and made good decisions. Nicely done and a good learning experience as well as making a really educational video.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks matt.

[@duncancallow]

Brilliant video. There but for the grace... Your humility is for us all to learn from.

[@robd2184]

I think you did a good job. I’ve 12000 hrs from FI on Cessnas to 747 Captain - I’m still learning . The best example I heard was mentour pilot on yT likening it to a game of Tetris …..don’t let those pieces come down too fast and overwhelm !

[@tomdchi12]

Well done, overall. I've said this before of your videos, but thank you for sharing your difficulties with the approach. It's easy to sit here watching the video or flying in familiar areas and think "But it's so simple..." Of course, when you're the one flying it's very different, and it's good to be reminded of how task saturation can happen even on a beautiful VFR day.

[@olivercoffman5238]

Thanks for the amazing and honest video it is great to see Barra and its challenges up close

[@ivorevans1795]

Great video John Appreciate you sharing. Just makes us all feel so much better that we are not alone in getting behind the aeroplane on occasion. Keep up those flying adventures!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Ivor.

[@geardownandlocked]

Great video Jon, we all learn something every time we fly!

[@nicholasr82]

Such a good video John. You showed us learning, that even trained pilots get confused. Good to see and not panic.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Not my best moment eh! It's the sinking feeling and then the embarrassment.

[@barthompson]

Awesome video…made so much better by the mistakes and reality of learning new skills!!

[@jamesb777driver]

Great video John! Loved the scenery and we as pilots are always learning which is why aviation is a fantastic thing

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Always James.

[@CaeRoberts]

Awesome - loved this video so much I watched it twice!

[@AviatingWithMel]

We all make mistakes that leave us chewing ourselves out. The key thing is you got yourself back on track and made a safe landing. Barra is on my bucket list of airports to visit interesting insight into what it is like operating out there.

[@glennog]

Nicely done, that was a huge challenge and you were equal to it (even if you felt you weren't on the initial approach)

[@patrickshea-simonds5827]

Another great video Jon - many thanks

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching.

[@jaronva]

The raw honesty in this vid was brilliant. Thanks!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching.

[@mikeonb4c]

100% agree (as an ex pilot of modest experience) about the importance of being honest about getting it wrong. I too often felt when I was around aviation (some years back) that the culture could make people reluctant to talk about not being on top of things 'up there'. Instead they would invent a cover story. It is so important to get people to understand that we all can all get it wrong, and for them to be able to talk freely, analyse and share what happened that led to getting things wrong. That way, we may better get to know our limitations and to recognise when we may be moving into situations that take us beyond the pilot workload that our current skill level and experience is able to cope with. And you had a safety pilot with you. Great - two heads are better than one👍 Loved the video by the way.

[@JoshGoesSlow]

Great video Jon, I've seen many videos of people landing here commercially, but none from the perspective of a private pilot, and the struggles you might have landing on such a unique runway. Cheers!

[@chrisstevens3776]

Great video. I love the honesty and challenges.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching Chris.

[@JamesGood]

Great video of an interesting place to land!

[@damienmcbratney3197]

Another fantastic well made video John.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Damien.

[@maxflight777]

Incredible honesty … Best wishes . Pat on the back.

[@evanscm3]

Excellent video as usual Jon... certainly seems a challenge, the maintenance implications alone do put me off, but maybe that should go on the bucket list!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

There's a saying apparently - if you want to fly to Barra - fly someone else's plane.

[@stewedwards3122]

After 35 years in commercial aviation with two days in the sim every 6 months, I can say that on a few checks some elements went to rat shit and you certainly find yourself being self critical. it usually comes down to degraded workload management when things hot up. As an island destination, perhaps you could have calculated the available time overhead and diversion time before take off at Oban. Good to see you recognised this was consuming your attention and off-loaded the calculation of a diversion time to John. As regards the situational awareness, the moment the navigation becomes compromised you always have the option to climb to MSA and take a breath to prevent being sucked in and pressing on. I see nothing but a highly skilled and professional aviator clearly evident in all your posted flights, we all have less than optimum days now and again and on this day you did very well. Kind regards Stew

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Stew.

[@DanSmithBK]

Really enjoyed this one! And I think your buddy has a bacon buttie and a brew in the bank for his calmness and reassurance. Every day is a school day!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Dan - I paid his bar bill!

[@fly_neil]

Enjoyed that. Always impressed how you don't shirk from calling out your own mistakes. I say to people the day i/they stop doing the same, or at least acknowledging yourself and striving to improve, is the day to quit flying. Shame you didn't get to stay longer, but understandable given the changing conditions.

[@samuel_tse]

A very good episode!

[@gazcolfer2069]

Great video and very demanding, well done 👍🏼

[@jonathanlambert7004]

Hi John really enjoyed the video. I have flown into Bara many times in the simulator and it is a challenge. I wouldn't of fancied doing it for real. But your landing was very good and your Co. pilot really earned his pay check. As a non pilot I thought you recovered the situation well. It's very professional jto expect perfection but don't be so hard on yourself when you don't achieve it....

[@eddyson2638]

Thanks for such an honest and frank report! We all have off days; it’s what we learn that makes us better

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching.

[@kevchilton908]

Just goes to show how being slightly out of our comfort zone can fuddle the brain in the air. A great video Jon, exciting and entertaining in equal measures. For me the stress usually increases when I can't/don't do an overhead landing as I feel much more confident when I can get the true picture of the whole airfield into my head from above. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👌🏻

[@TheFlyingReporter]

You're right Kevin - it was my biggest mistake this time - and getting task saturated.

[@_pjd]

Thank you for the entertaining video.

[@geoffreycoan]

Great video Jon, love the new viewpoint of the GoPro on the wing. Flying in Scotland is a great experience as you say, beautiful scenery but eyes open to the weather all the time. Good decision to not stay when fog was coming in. SkyDemon is your friend on unfamiliar airports (and runways!) like Barra, click on “make approach”, choose the runway and type of join and it’ll overlay the circuit you need to fly on the map. Takes a lot of stress out of trying to orientate yourself

[@Tom_YouTube_stole_my_handle]

Enjoyed that one, Jon.

[@auspilot6119]

Another great video Jon. We have plenty of beach landings here in Australia but most of them aren’t charted and definitely no RPT! 😮

[@arnoudagr2171]

Love your video's. Its so recognisable how a little bit of workload makes it so much harder to do even simple calculations. I still have to find a way to return my brain to normal operation mode in these kind of situations.

[@bravoalpha101st]

Very cool!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Sure was.

[@johndale7760]

Hi Jon, as "Auspilot" has said, we have numerous beach 'strips' in Oz, each one a similar challenge to Barra, though the 3 runways is new to me. I've flown into our largest sand island here (Fraser Island) with the added thrill of landing between the gutters draining fresh water into the sea. It is indeed a lot to occupy the mind on landing and take off. Full marks to you for posting your experience in a frank and cautionary manner. Like most PPL, I too beat myself up after an error or oversight, and think - why was I so stupid? But it's a never ending learning game as you know my friend, especially as we are essentially weekend warriors with day jobs. Thank you for reminding us that heavy cockpit workload, silly oversight or false assumption, can leave us red-faced. But it's not the end of the world, nor does it mean our skills are slipping. These events grow our experience 'bank', give pause to reflect, then file away the lesson, draw a line, and get back to the fun business of flying. Tally Ho!

[@IanHutchinson1000]

Blimey, that is one difficult place to land. Well done on a successful landing and take off.

[@roloduarte3100]

Great video and landing.

[@dodgydino1]

Dare I say, your best video yet. Open and honest. No mincing words.

[@nigelcaughey2119]

Jon you are just too modest about your ability!! Just remember Barra and it’s airport will still be there the next time you decide to make the trip. Excellent video.

[@Medge2sc]

Nice to see I’m not the only person who can get overworked and find that maths becomes a issue

[@mohammadalihusainy5861]

Great learning

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Certainly was.

[@michaelarcher6278]

Very good video, as a non pilot it was good to see what it is like flying into Barra. I spent two weeks with my brother overlooking the beach there in May watching many aircraft land and take off. Fascinating place to stay 😊

[@TheFlyingReporter]

I bet you have a very peaceful time.

[@gregpinetti1782]

Nice video... great beach landing!

[@kafka8886]

Well done Jon - I had sweaty palms just watching you!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for waching.👌

[@martinandrews2860]

Well done. Great content. Bravo on all fronts. M.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thank you Martin.

[@charrison.photography]

This is a dream for me Jon! Flying to Barra via Skye would be a trip I would love to do once I have my PPL. Thanks for sharing your trip, absolutely epic.

[@lawrencemartin1113]

Excellent video John. Really interesting and shows perfectly just how much and how quickly things can change in flying. Well done. A beautiful day to see the island too, despite not being able to stay and explore. It's on my bucket list of places to visit, but as a non pilot, I will be trusting to a Twin Otter courtesy of Loganair.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

I hope you have a nice visit. Thanks for watching.

[@iamthefatstig]

Stunning location is Barra. We all (should) learn from our gut feelings and minor cock ups. As a motorcyclist for 35 years, and a professional test and development rider/ driver for 15 years, I can vouch that the cock up fairy is only ever a bawhair away!

[@blackcygnus3177]

That is just WOW!!

[@martincerveny4747]

Having an instrument approach, makes this airport even more interesting! :)

[@hengithyblobfish]

I hope next time you land on a beach it turns out better lol😂😂 lovely vid as always Jon, gonna crack open a bottle of Stella tonight and binge a couple vids😊

[@jonnysmith9446]

Fantastic stuff. Great video. With 12,000 hours I still cock plenty of things up too…every flight is a learning experience. Huge bucket list item ticked with Barra, well done John

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Jonny.

[@ufm10xxl27]

Good man Jon , great CRM. you a great pilot and I love your honest videos, no ego . ps. your looking in great shape. happy landings sir...see you in Ireland some day

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thank you ☺️

[@kevinbrook7033]

Great video. I'm a non pilot but a flight simmer in VR and immediately knew you were going to Barra and taking off from Oban just because of doing the same flight last year in the sim. It's amazing how closely the physical earth resembles the real Microsoft Flight Simulator one!

[@TheFlyingReporter]

The simulators are great - and you'd probably have found it had it been you. I used to fly a route on the sim before flying it for real in the old days.

[@aviobrain]

Two Brains better than one! Great and educational fuax pas video

[@RoryOnAir]

Fantastic video Jon. I’ve always wanted to go and land there. A lot to think about for sure. Serious rinsin’ back at Oban.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thank you Rory. 😂

[@lugash4]

What an adventure....try again next year maybe.

[@simonbussey7530]

Fantastic. I love that you keep in all the mistakes. They're the parts the rest of us learn the most from.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

It certainly is a popular feature. If only I didn't make quite so many mistakes though! 😂

[@seonamarion]

G’day from Queensland, where scheduled flights land on public beaches ❤ K’gari (Frazer Island). Nice wee aircraft 😊

[@einherz]

magic or something. just yesterday i flew in simulator spitfire nine from catalina to lax region - burbank, hollywood, lax itself, santa monica. and thought to my self landing on the beach on venice santamonica edge, and after couple a level flight there, talked to my self -nah, that's too crazy even for me... today youtube offers me your video with spitfire, and then this one:)

[@hoverfilm4783]

sick videos as always

[@RobKeen-bg9hs]

As ever great content. Thanks for shareing the rerality of flying under stress. We have all been there. What was the soundtrack that was great too.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks. The track was 'The World Awaits ' by Jo Wandrini

[@filiplowette7003]

Appreciate your openness and honesty. Great video for planning to go to Barra. Filip, F-JTRW

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching.

[@lightning1988]

Another excellent video jon

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thank you 🙏

[@AussieAndyHardy]

Brilliant video John..! First for those of us thinking to one day fly to Barra, it was very instructive. Second, as a reminder that no matter how many hours we have we’re all prone to mistakes and can be overwhelmed by the unfamiliar. Thirdly, how smart it is to take a buddy along for more challenging flights outside one’s comfort zone! A tip I would suggest: especially when landing at somewhere unfamiliar, I use the OBS setting on my GNS430 and set the runway heading on the CDI. This then shows an extended runway centre line on your display, which massively helps in case situational awareness is lost, and/or if the vis deteriorates..! Thanks for all your great content! I’m gonna resubscribe after a period of cash flow challenges ;)

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks Andy. Much appreciated.

[@davidhorobin1060]

Very interesting Jon. I’ve often wondered about landing on Barra but, having seen this, I think I’ll give it a miss!

[@julianpratt9616]

Great video Jon, that all looked tough especially with the non standard beach stuff! At the end of the video, at 19:01 it looks like you have a sizeable piece of what looks to be metal embedded in your port main tyre, just thought I would mention it!

[@lucmatter9601]

Pretty cool

[@glennwatson]

Thanks for the great video and letting us see your mistakes. I'm Australian and we mostly do things the FAA way except we do overhead mid-field joins like the UK. When I went to the US to fly the first time I had to be conscious of mistakes like this one due to downwind joins being the norm there.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

Thanks for watching Glenn.

[@HenwyBenwy]

Nice video as always. Today Im going to the seaside

[@Robinbamv]

The aircraft needs a fresh water wash and then soaking in CorrosionX or another water dispersant, the most likely mid term damage age will be serous corrosion of the flap hinge mounts . These steel mounts suffer from dissimilar metal corrosion with the aluminium flap structure at the best of times, spraying the perfect electrolyte ( salt water ) into the flap structure is a recipe for big time corrosion. If I was responsible for the maintenance of this aircraft the flap internal structure would be a boreoscope inspection at every check into the foreseeable future and a very critical eye cast over all the steel to aluminium fittings as well as the seat rail support structure top had sections under the fuselage. Having worked for a number of Piper specialist maintenance companies and owned piper PA-28 aircraft over the last forty years I have seen almost all the corrosion issues that a PA28 can throw at you and I very much suspect that if you don’t immediately throw a lot of CorrosionX or another water dispersant corrosion inhibiter at the aircraft you will match my Piper corrosion experience all in one airframe.

[@ar15gator]

Yeah, that’s the first thing I said, why the heck would you land in a saltwater covered area, that’s just ludicrous. Good way to ruin a perfectly good airplane.💯

[@luminescentlion]

Literally gets washed at the end of the video.

[@Robinbamv]

@@luminescentlion Yes it did and that is a good start but the salt water has already driven its self into parts of the airframe that it won’t come out of with water, all you are doing is diluting the corrosive. Those aircraft that have to operate in a maritime environment (like military maritime patrol aircraft) Do get a thorough wash after each flight with de-mineralised water and are subject to a rigorous anti corrosion program. The only way to get the contamination out is with one of the water dispersant anti corrosion compounds. I am quite prepared to put my opinion to the test, there is £100 (to the charity of your choice ) that says that at the next annual check if a boroscope inspection of the flaps is carried out it will result in the flaps being taken apart to repair corrosion issues.

[@markk5764]

If you were to fly to that beach again Jon you would be far better prepared and it would feel a lot easier - that's what gaining experience is all about. Well done and thanks for sharing.

[@TheFlyingReporter]

I don't think my engineers would want me to do it again!

[@truemanofkent]

When I was working for BT in London. If anyone was instructed to visit Bara for the first time, we use to give them a tide timetable for Bara as a wind up.

[@user-rp4wg9ng4v]

That was me landing just after you in the yellow Husky! My first time there too, quite the experience. The fog didn’t move in as it happens, it just sat offshore fortunately.

[@dermick]

I have not landed at Barra, but have landed at Sollas, which is also a beautiful sand landing strip. I landed with some friends at the back end of the low tide, and the sand had drained nicely, and there was no spray at all. I don't know the drainage situation at Barra, but perhaps if you had waited a little longer it would have been bone dry, like Sollas was. What surprised me the most was how completely smooth, firm, and flat the "runway" was at Sollas - makes perfect sense with 1000s of years of gentle tidal activity leveling and packing the sand, but I didn't really expect that. It was a great experience - I highly recommend it. "No Ragrets!" 🤣