The flight that lasts one minute

It only takes 1 and half minute in air or even less, and definitely you spend more time buying the ticket or fasten your seat belt. This is the flight between two close islands in Scotland’s Highlands and islands, exactly the Orkney Islands of Westray and Papa Westray.

Distance between the airports. Source: aerotime.aero

The distance flown covered by the plane there is 2.7 km, a distance less than an average airport runway. The record with the shortest time 53 seconds is granted to Pilot Stuart Linklater, pilot from Loganair. It is a short time to retract a landing gear for a conventional airline aircraft.

Stuart Linklater with his Islander aircraft. Source: Loganair/PA Wire/itv.com

The airline Loganair owns the Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander, an aircraft with habilitation for a crew of 1 pilot and a capacity of 10 passengers and cruise speed of 257 km/h and a range of 1400 km, a performance that exceeds the flight between these islands. You may think that the plane performance also exceeds this flight but any aircraft will do.

The World’s Shortest Scheduled Flight. Source: Yoho Media/youtube

So keeping a flight between these two points should be interesting especially if we are talking about islands. Papa Westray is home to St Boniface Kirk, a 12th century recently restored church with a Viking hogback grave in the kirkyard and Home to the Knap of Howar a structure dating back to 3,500BC which is the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe.

St Boniface Kirk, Papa Westray – photograph by Douglas Hourston. Source: papawestray.co.uk

It is a fact that you spend more time reading this than taking a flight between these two destinations, if you like to fly and live the most exciting phases of flight “take-off and landing” this is your flight along with a great destination.

References:

https://www.loganair.co.uk/destinations/scotland/orkney-inter-island/

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-22668150

Cover photo:

The Britten Norman Islander is landing on Westray after two minutes in the air. Papa Westray is in the background. Photo: Wallace Shackleton (©)/garfors.com/