Cairnwell Pass, Glenshee

The A93 over the Cairnwell is the highest public road in Britain at 665m, which means you start your flight two-thirds of the way up a Munro. Park in the laybys south of the Glenshee Ski Centre and launch from the open hillside for immediate big-mountain terrain: the smooth whaleback ridges of the Cairnwell and Carn Aosda, the deep glacial trench of Glen Shee running south, and in winter a full-on arctic landscape. The road snaking down through the pass makes a superb leading line at dusk when headlights trail through the glen. Legally this is easy country — open access hill ground with no FRZ within 50km (Aberdeen and Dundee are both far away) — but keep TOAL off the ski centre's own car park and infrastructure, which is private; the heather on the east side of the road is a cleaner launch. Gotchas are all environmental. At this altitude the weather is a different sport: wind that is manageable in the glen doubles over the pass, winter days can be genuinely dangerous, and cloud base frequently sits below the summits, killing visual line of sight. Cold-weather battery performance matters here more than anywhere on this list. Summer brings hillwalkers bagging the easy Munros and the chairlift running; avoid overflying the lift line. Autumn, when the heather and deer grass turn, is the sweet spot.