To fly has always been one of man's great ambitions.Now,at the end of a century of flight,it is still as fascinating as ever to look down on the world from above.Scotland vieved from the air looks simply amazing.Here is a landscape carved by the glaciers of the last ice age,worn and weathered by wind and rain for over a million years and finally manipulated and manicured by man.

All of these things are graphically illustrated from the air amongst the interplay of light and shadow on the land below.As we travel across Scotland the landscape spreads out like a giant three-dimensional map,a massive jigsaw of shapes,textures and colours.But the intricate details of this grand theatre are equally compelling.The formal planning of Edinburgh's New Town and Glasgows West End:the tight cluster of dwellings at europe's best-preserved prahistoric village of skara brae on orkney ;the marvellously irregular collection of pools in the blanket bogs of the Flow country of caithness;and the fishermens cottages at Cullen on the Moray coast,huddling together ready for the inevitable cold northeasterly winds.