Inland of the runway was high ground of over , but the KLM-issued charts which the crew were using did not mark any land higher than . Three miles (5 km) to the north-east of the runway, rising to over , were a set of wireless masts. inland ran a series of electricity pylons and high-tension cables, the main national grid line for South Scotland, carrying 132,000 volts. However the error-riddled charts issued by KLM did not have these marked and gave a spot height close by of 45'.