An intrepid north-east father and son had a Christmas day unlike any other the pair had experienced – free falling 15,000ft through the Portugese sky at 120mph.
Michael Byrne and 16-year-old Liam have been travelling the globe taking part in hair-raising adventures since Liam entered his teenage years.
They have conquered the highest mountains in Russia and Africa, Mount Elbrus and Kilmanjaro, with Liam the youngest Scot ever to reach the peak of the African giant at the age of 13.
In October, former commando Michael and Mackie Academy pupil Liam set off on a 10 day trek to cover 124 miles west to east over Finland, where temperatures can dive as low as -37°C .
The pair have now completed around 130 skydive jumps of the 200 required to advance to wingsuit flying.
As a special treat Mr Byrne jetted out to Stonehaven with his son to complete some festive free falling.
Young Liam’s adventures will continue into 2018, after being accepted by the British exploring society to take part in a five week expedition over in the Amazon jungle in Peru next July.
Mr Byrne said: “Liam got his paragliding license at the age of 14, the minimum age required in Spain, and as soon as he experienced flying under canopy on his own all he spoke about was skydiving but he needed to be 16.
“As the weather in the UK is so bad we booked to go to Portugal to take it up, his instructor “Milko” is currently teaching Tom Cruise for his new Mission Impossible movie.
“Liam took the leadership role from me and talked me through his body position and advised me to try it, my next jump I did exactly as he said and all went well, I did 30 jumps before I started to actually enjoy it and now we are both addicted.”
