Barra - the Scottish island with a beach runway
For many plane spotters and avgeeks, an item on the bucket list is the beach runway on the island of Barra, the only such airport in the world with regular scheduled flights and where schedules are subject to tides! Photo credit: Amazon UK Ordnance Survey Maps Located in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland, Barra is the southern most inhabited island of the chain (along with Vatersay to the south which is connected to Barra by a road causeway). The current population is said to be 1,264 people and they have five connections to the outside world: 1) 4 hour 45 minute CalMac ferry Castlebay to Oban on the mainland ~ distance approx 93 miles 2) CalMac ferry Castlebay to Scarinish on the island of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides 3) CalMac ferry Castlebay to Lochboisdale on South Uist the next main island to the north. 4) CalMac ferry Ard Mhor to Eriskay and onward to South Uist by road causeway 5) Or... a twice daily 1 hour 10/15 minute flight to Glasgo...