AOPA Pilot Blog: Reporting Points

The Hotel North in Goose Bay, Labrador, is a Spartan place. Narrow bed, a basket of candy, canned mini-sausages and kippered herrings sit atop a mini-fridge. No closets, just a cubby. One TV channel–something about Canadians playing poker in Vegas. A crank-out window looks out on a vast expanse of sand, illuminated by a sun that shines all but three or so hours a day this time of year. This made it easy to get up this ayem.

Then it was back and forth again with the wx. BGBW (Narsarsuaq, and that’s THE last time I spell it) is forecasting fog in the vicinity with a chance of 400 scattered. BIRK (Reykjavik, and that’s the last time I spell it) says it will be 500 and 1 1/2. This is not good. Air Journey holds to conservative weather minimums, and one rule is that if ANYONE is concerned about pressing on, then the group stops until the issue is resolved.

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This particular issue was resolved by our flying to Nuuk, Greenland, instead of BGBW. This is where I am now, in the Hotel Hans Egede. The view is colorful. Red, blue and yellow houses carved into rock walls. Snow-covered hills behind it all. We’ll be here one night and move on to BIRK tomorrow if the wx improves. Let’s hope it does. For a good lowdown on our weather, check Air Journey’s around-the-world weather website.

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I flew into Nuuk–a 3,100-foot-long strip hard by a cliff–with Bill Anastos and Dottie Thompson in their 1981 Conquest II. We came over at 29,000 feet doing 300 KTAS and burning 240 pph per side. The weather here was severe clear for the arrival. You could see snow-capped mountains from 75 miles out.

Heard around the dinner table: “I wouldn’t fly anything older than the women I date”… don’t expect a comment from me.

And the trip is just beginning! This group is already getting a little salty …

Stay tuned for more!

Tags: Tom Horne

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 4:20 pm and is filed under North Atlantic Crossing, Tom Horne. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.