In pictures: Microlight flights over RAK give tourists a bird’s-eye view

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  Al Jazira Aviation Club is the company behind the flights. It has about eight 450kg planes, which can hold one passenger and a pilot, and can cruise at about 140kph.

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  Visitors can now get a bird’s-eye view of its rugged mountains, deserts, mangroves and coastal nature reserves as well as new developments during the up to an hour-long flights in a microlight aircraft.

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  Steven Rice, the chief executive of RAK Tourism Development Company (TDA), said he planned to make the plane a feature for visitors, adding it is “one of the best ways to enjoy Ras Al Khaimah’s rich combination of natural features”.

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  “As we work to develop the huge tourism potential of Ras Al Khaimah and raise awareness to a much wider audience, Al Jazira Aviation Club is a great example of the type of company that can be a powerful advocate for the destination and position Ras Al Khaimah as a world-class leisure destination,” says Mr Rice.

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  Chief flight instructor Captain Afaq Ahmed Khan said capacity could increase: “We [four pilots] do around 210-230 flight hours but if the authority helps us to market this, we could increase that to 600-700 if necessary, with increased pilot recruitment.”

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  “Tourism is a big part of what we do. In the UAE most people don’t know about the facility and even in RAK people don’t know about us, even though they may have seen the aircraft.”

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  The minimum age to fly is five years old and it is popular with families.

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  Prices start from Dh250. For more information visit www.jac-uae.net, email [e-mail] or call 07 244 6416.

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  Captain Afaq added that support from the RAK TDA is vital. “This has so much potential and could be to RAK as pivotal as Skydive Dubai is to Dubai.”

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  Al Jazira Aviation Club can currently take about 200 tourists on flights a month.

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  isitors can now get a bird’s-eye view of its rugged mountains, deserts, mangroves and coastal nature reserves as well as new developments during the up to an hour-long flights in a microlight aircraft.

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  isitors can now get a bird’s-eye view of its rugged mountains, deserts, mangroves and coastal nature reserves as well as new developments during the up to an hour-long flights in a microlight aircraft.

Tourism chiefs in Ras Al Khaimah are taking to the skies in a bid to put the emirate on the map. All photos by Antonie Robertson / The National