Superman with wings

Dundee Airport’s exciting new service, and first ever international route, allows locals to fly off to Amsterdam Schiphol with Flybe airlines.

Lonely Planet describes the European city as ‘melding history with modern urban flair’. James (Jim) Watt, has worked as the Managing Director of Tayside Aviation for over a decade and his work helps keep Dundee travellers connected.

The 59-year-old has also pioneered a new Aviation degree course there where many of his students will go on to have budding careers as commercial pilots.

James Watt with Aviation degree students.

The pilot, originally from Stirling, got his first inkling of flying when he joined the Royal Navy at age 15.

“We were supported by micro light aircraft on an expedition to Iceland. I was a Canoeing Instructor but was always interested in flying. I thought, yeah, that’s what I want to do. If I can combine flying and canoeing that’s ideal.”

Jim began working elsewhere and his notion for aviation was without wings.

“I never really considered a full-time career in aviation because I worked for British Gas at the time.

“I knew that the commitment to become a professional pilot would take in the region of two years so I never thought that I would find time.

Our Wullies statues were lined up along Dundee Airport's runway to celebrate
their new service to Amsterdam.

“But in 1993 when British Gas were restructuring I decided to pack in my job and do my exams.”

Jim studied an Airline Transport Pilot Licence course at Glasgow Nautical College at age 35. He points out that it was late on in life to decide to be a career pilot.

He flew privately for a few years before becoming a commercial pilot 14 years ago.

 “I was a paragliding pilot as well. I used to enjoy hillwalking and flying so walking up the hill and then flying down was quite a good way of doing it.”

A recent British Airways survey found that children today still dream of becoming a pilot. Their independent poll of 650 children aged 6-12 years revealed that being a footballer is the number one ambition for boys with pilot and superhero flying in as a close second and third.

Jim didn’t make the grade as a footballer but lives the dream as a pilot. So he kind of fits the bill as a superhero as well. It is hard not to envy him as he describes the favourable aspects of his job.

“It’s one of the best environments you can work in - looking out the front of an aeroplane into the sunshine. The ability to work a complex machine is always interesting - it’s a flying machine at the end of the day, so it is a big gadget.

Jim with Carol Vorderman who flew in for a visit.

“I think the lifestyle is very good too. We are getting the opportunity to travel. It’s quite well paid as well. There are few jobs that are as good.”

Jim describes a few of the pre-flight procedures that he likes.

“It’s being able to go somewhere you perhaps don’t know, and find your way there. I get as much enjoyment out of the navigation as I do the flying. There’s a lot involved, but that’s what makes it interesting.”

He describes one of his best experiences from a few years ago.

A stationary plane at Dundee Airport in the night time.

“I flew from here, with another pilot, all the way across to Germany to find and return one of our planes which was stuck. We flew about 3000 miles. That was challenging because we were in a light aeroplane.”

His main downside is that it is a highly regulated industry. All pilots must be tested and their various licences revalidated frequently.

“Keeping track of them is quite difficult.

“Apart from that it is one of the best industries to be involved in. I never take it for granted that I can just go walk out there and jump in a plane and go fly out if I want to.”

Like all catastrophic events, we hear extensive coverage of large-scale plane crashes in the news which can skew our perception of the number of accidents there are. Many of us worry about our safety when flying and might perceive Jim to be more at risk.

During an incident in May 2016 a plane going from Paris to Cairo with 56 passengers and 10 crew members disappeared. An intense media feeding frenzy ensued - with dramatic front page headlines that read ‘Missing in the Med’, ‘flight data points toward a bomb’, and as debris were pulled from the sea they read ‘body parts and luggage found’.

Despite large-scale reporting of such instances - flying is statistically one of the safest means of travel. The OAG Aviation’s accident database, across 20 years, show that the odds of being killed on a single airline flight with the top 78 world’s major airlines is just 1 person for every 4.7 million flyers.

Jim recalls a hairy moment he experienced whilst landing a flight into Dundee Airport.

Demonstrating an admirable gift of understatement a sang-froid Jim explains. “The undercarriage hadn’t come down on the aeroplane so that was a bit of a worry.

“We had to consider doing a belly landing on the runway involving a serious fire risk. So we were trying to burn off some fuel.

The belly flop was not the best of options so he explored all possible alternatives.

“After one hour of circling around we dismantled a panel in the side of the aeroplane and managed to pull the emergency gear down in the end.”

This is a rare occurrence and Jim explains that weather is usually the biggest danger.

They design training so that dealing with a hazard has become instinctive.

“If we expect it to happen, and practice for it then it is not a drama. So if we have an engine failure for example, then we would just glide the aircraft to the ground and fly ourselves into a field.

He explains that one of the skills of being a pilot is learning to do some things which are not what you would want to do naturally.

“If the aeroplane was to stall and stop flying then you have to point the aircraft at the ground which is alien to a lot of people. They want to keep it in the air.”

For fun Jim participates in formation flying using 4 aeroplanes. This is commonly seen at air shows where aircrafts might fly less than one metre apart. They move in complete harmony as if joined.

“To keep ourselves sharp we go off and run our little formation flying team. That’s what we do to relax.”

The discipline was first developed in World War 1 when fighter squadrons discovered that fighting in pairs reduced their losses and increased their victories.

“Some people like aerobatic flying. But I think formation flying requires more skill and discipline and it’s more of a team effort.”

A pilot's view of Dundee's 1400m runway along the riverside.

Flying close to another airplane can be extremely dangerous, and so practice and strict rule-following are necessary.

“A 45 minute flight would require about 2-3 hours of briefing beforehand. So we choreograph the whole lot and rehearse it. We each have a formation number to know when to move position.”

To see footage of their formation flying view their clip entitled 'Tayside Aviation Herons Formation Advert' on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4owAfACC8c. Jim is flying the lead aeroplane. The camera is mounted under a fourth aeroplane looking backwards to where the three aeroplanes follow.

Jim is the formation leader and other pilots are called wingmen. He is in charge of the navigation and radio transmissions. He is also responsible for tactical decisions such as flight altitude, formation positions, split-ups, and re-joins.

“We have to know exactly what we are doing. I lead the formation team so I call the shots. I will make the calls for them to move into different positions. It’s cool.”

So kids football or flying? Lois Lane was spotted on Magdalen Green last week, coincidence?

To find out more about Tayside Aviation visit https://taysideaviation.com/. For Dundee Airport information go to http://www.hial.co.uk/dundee-airport/.