Broken plane stuck on beach 2/4/14
► Pair of Twin Otters on show
A broken plane stuck on the beach on Barra over three days has now been repaired.
The aircraft suffered a fault after arriving with passengers from Glasgow on Monday afternoon.
The stranded plane had to be shunted up the to the edge of the beach to stop the rising sea from flooding it.
The aircraft was stuck there over three days with the waves lapping at its wheels after engineers, summoned from the mainland, encountered problems.
Spare parts had to be sent up by a chartered fast boat from Oban, causing further delays.
The repaired plane eventually took off on today’s lunchtime low tide.
A Loganair spokesman said: “One of our Twin Otter aircraft experienced electrical issues at Barra as it was being prepared for the return flight to Glasgow on Monday.
“We were unable to dispatch the second Twin Otter aircraft from Glasgow to complete the flight because of the tides.
“A number of passengers were transferred by ferry and flown to Glasgow on the first available flight from Benbecula.
“Some passengers elected to stay in Barra and flew to Glasgow on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, the engineers dispatched were unable to fully repair the aircraft on Tuesday and a part had to be shipped out that evening.
“The aircraft is now fully serviceable and returned to Glasgow on Wednesday afternoon.
“We would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.”