Another long night…
The weather briefing documents where all over the place. Progs and high level charts where a mess with no clear indications but rough conditions. The worst part was light winds.
The return home (2)
Having options available is a great safety enhancement and confidence builder. Then and only then flying becomes a solid operation. Solid operations are good! Flight planing out of BIRK On the morning of August 28th, Iceland was still covered by the low pressure system. This forbade any hope of a scenic flight once again. We… Read more »
Refresher
Refurbishing a Twin Comanche
The return home (1)
Let’s get this thing back home! It took some time to return to the keyboard to write the return story. The first item up on arrival was to complete the annual inspection on DSY. Your patience is appreciated. How cool was it to fly in Switzerland? Every pilot knows that our perspective from above is… Read more »
The slow, insidious degradation
We have to deal with the issue every day we fly. That is why we are taught early on its lethal effect. Write the exam with 99 other questions then forget about it, you got the licence, right? Never mind how to deal with it or seriously prevent it. I would venture that is why… Read more »
The journey to Switzerland (4)
From Iceland to Wick The morning weather in Iceland was a good VFR, only if you remained in the coastal areas. The inland solid overcast prevented flying over the hills and so we were negated a fair closeup of island’s majestic countryside. We also faced forecasted extensive icing up to 13 000 feet over the… Read more »
The journey to Switzerland (3)
Greenland: the wall One thing has to be said about sleeping: it repairs. That is what kept Winston Churchill going during this world’s darkest hours. We were, of course, nowhere close from being in such predicament and quite frankly Iqualuit was basking in 24 hours daylight at this time of year. An 8 o’clock departure… Read more »
The journey to Switzerland (2)
The Arctic Nobody said it would be easy and even tough the voyage is one of no real significance to human kind, why bother? Well, one thing is certain, our planet is rich of wonderful landscapes that only wait to be admired. The Canadian arctic is such a place. During the early career I have… Read more »
The journey to Switzerland (1)
The wall « A lifetime planning for the journey » Chris de Burgh Well it seemed that way. Certainly we are far from the heroics of the pioneers who could not depend on much more than a compass, dead reckoning on flimsy charts and weather reports based on a fledging science. No, the project to cross the… Read more »
CYFB layover
The transatlantic crossing begun yesterday aboard the PA-30. We required 7,5 hours of flying with impressive tailwinds for most of the day. Clocking 185 kts in a Twin Comanche is an agreable predicament. Fueling in Schefferville (CYKL) in late fall weather conditions ( crashing rain, 20 kts gusty winds in 3 deg C temperature) was… Read more »