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Narsarsuaq 13:00 local - it has to impress you - such a
wilderness - see photo album
We were no sooner there than off again - all the anxieties - the refuellers truck pump broke down and we had visions of staying there for days - no replacement deicing fluid- will temperatures rise as we go east and north ?
the take off and flight across southern Greenland was \the most spectacular bit of the trip - craggy mountains and the somewhat famous Greenland Ice Cap (ATC apparently cleared us over this at minimum 13000ft - but we went south and west to go over lower ground - The Ice Cap is where many ferry pilots in WWII came to grief - recently a flight of Lightning P43 (or is it P48's) were found and dug up out of the ice. So back to flying a four hour leg to Iceland - well of course its boring - There's actually not much radio traffic and you obviously lose contact with Gander for about an hour before you can pick up Iceland -n we were not equipped with HF and my ferry pilot didn't think a lot of chatting with the airliners we heard overhead. (I agree with keeping the chit chat down on the radio but saying hello and asking for a relay from Speedbird 956 doesn't seem too out of order to me - anyway we played games and read the various manuals - OK so how many American Indian tribes can you name?
It was getting seriously late (at least in my body clock when we approached Iceland. about 8pm - you lose an hour going to Greenland then another 3 hours to Iceland so the day passes quickly in some senses. Its also amazing how relative things are in human life- you know how, when its been chucking it down with rain, and it changes to mist and a bit of drizzle) you can think its almost dry? Well I was put in mind of this by our reactions when we picked up Iceland Radio with about 160 miles to run (all over North Atlantic) and less than an hour to go (we were achieving some 190+ GS - hey were there practically - contrast this with ones first trip across the Channel (from us about 70 miles) ! It wont look quite the same again.
given a localiser approach in at Reykjavik descend for circling approach - broke cloud about 4 miles out and circled at about 700 - believe4 me this feels low after such a long crossing. Wind eve4rywhere driving rain and clouds - yet another cross wind landing
pulled up to a rather good looking female marshaller - classic Nordic looks light blue eyes blond hair and plaits - if it wasn't so dark with rain and clouds I might have run here over being so distracted. Then taxi to hotel - yet again late into the restaurant straight to bed and 0630 start - Geeez is Iceland expensive £25 for a starter (hors d'ouevre to the those who can't spell!) another night of waking every half hour to check the alarm - I guess about 6 hours sleep
Back out to airport - no time for photos - same good looking girlies - but hey have they passed a law in Iceland against smiling like we have banned smoking?- Give me strength - why is it necessary to be so miserable - I am not just having a go at the girls at the FBO they are young and sulky like many youngsters but is it endemic in Reykjavik?- it was Friday night and we were lucky to get a hotel - our hotel was full of dining parties- several all male - who seemed intent on getting obliterated - there are more stories here unpublishable. Let me out of here
We were no sooner there than off again - all the anxieties - the refuellers truck pump broke down and we had visions of staying there for days - no replacement deicing fluid- will temperatures rise as we go east and north ?
the take off and flight across southern Greenland was \the most spectacular bit of the trip - craggy mountains and the somewhat famous Greenland Ice Cap (ATC apparently cleared us over this at minimum 13000ft - but we went south and west to go over lower ground - The Ice Cap is where many ferry pilots in WWII came to grief - recently a flight of Lightning P43 (or is it P48's) were found and dug up out of the ice. So back to flying a four hour leg to Iceland - well of course its boring - There's actually not much radio traffic and you obviously lose contact with Gander for about an hour before you can pick up Iceland -n we were not equipped with HF and my ferry pilot didn't think a lot of chatting with the airliners we heard overhead. (I agree with keeping the chit chat down on the radio but saying hello and asking for a relay from Speedbird 956 doesn't seem too out of order to me - anyway we played games and read the various manuals - OK so how many American Indian tribes can you name?
It was getting seriously late (at least in my body clock when we approached Iceland. about 8pm - you lose an hour going to Greenland then another 3 hours to Iceland so the day passes quickly in some senses. Its also amazing how relative things are in human life- you know how, when its been chucking it down with rain, and it changes to mist and a bit of drizzle) you can think its almost dry? Well I was put in mind of this by our reactions when we picked up Iceland Radio with about 160 miles to run (all over North Atlantic) and less than an hour to go (we were achieving some 190+ GS - hey were there practically - contrast this with ones first trip across the Channel (from us about 70 miles) ! It wont look quite the same again.
given a localiser approach in at Reykjavik descend for circling approach - broke cloud about 4 miles out and circled at about 700 - believe4 me this feels low after such a long crossing. Wind eve4rywhere driving rain and clouds - yet another cross wind landing
pulled up to a rather good looking female marshaller - classic Nordic looks light blue eyes blond hair and plaits - if it wasn't so dark with rain and clouds I might have run here over being so distracted. Then taxi to hotel - yet again late into the restaurant straight to bed and 0630 start - Geeez is Iceland expensive £25 for a starter (hors d'ouevre to the those who can't spell!) another night of waking every half hour to check the alarm - I guess about 6 hours sleep
Back out to airport - no time for photos - same good looking girlies - but hey have they passed a law in Iceland against smiling like we have banned smoking?- Give me strength - why is it necessary to be so miserable - I am not just having a go at the girls at the FBO they are young and sulky like many youngsters but is it endemic in Reykjavik?- it was Friday night and we were lucky to get a hotel - our hotel was full of dining parties- several all male - who seemed intent on getting obliterated - there are more stories here unpublishable. Let me out of here
the island above is about the size of Lundy so you
can guess at the iceberg size
7th Sep - what a night's sleep NOT - wind ripping through or to
be fair around the walls I wasn't sure Charlie Delta would still be on the base
(as they call the airport here) when I go there in the morning. The handling
agent sent a minibus at something like 6am to collect us - just going light (and
I said I didn't do early mornings) There was a 20kt crosswind when I landed last
night - wind has gone round a little bit but still fierce. Clag everywhere
the trip to Narsarsuaq was - as you might expect a little boring - once out over the sea we went up to 7000 and just above the clag so couldn't see anything. climbed later to 9000 and we were dipping in and out of cloud. Temperature dropping - this no forecast kimosabi. in the end we were up at 11000 still skimming cloud with OAT of -5 every time we skimmed the windshield started to fill up with ice - time to come down - but as we approached Greenland it was apparent that the freezing level had gone right down - still -1 at 7000 = so used the TKS deicer and rationed it trying to avoid dropping down to 3000 over the ocean - in reality a slow decent using the deicer sparingly - it worked and about 100 miles from Greenland we were comfortable at 7000 at around 0 and no ice. - sweaty stuff
the trip to Narsarsuaq was - as you might expect a little boring - once out over the sea we went up to 7000 and just above the clag so couldn't see anything. climbed later to 9000 and we were dipping in and out of cloud. Temperature dropping - this no forecast kimosabi. in the end we were up at 11000 still skimming cloud with OAT of -5 every time we skimmed the windshield started to fill up with ice - time to come down - but as we approached Greenland it was apparent that the freezing level had gone right down - still -1 at 7000 = so used the TKS deicer and rationed it trying to avoid dropping down to 3000 over the ocean - in reality a slow decent using the deicer sparingly - it worked and about 100 miles from Greenland we were comfortable at 7000 at around 0 and no ice. - sweaty stuff
doesn't
quite come out but this iceberg in the fjord in front of the airport was
electric blue - quite stunning - we're at about 1000ft here