Page 10 - Volume 20 No. 6

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N61W40, Fuel 2.3.” The vastness of water is beautiful in a lonely kind of way. Occasionally, we see the passing of a ship or the contrail of another aircraft, but overall, you feel entirely isolated from the world, which is actually a nice, albeit strange, feeling. Of course, that’s not the case, given the amount of air traffic.
Two and half hours in and we’re flying over the tip of Greenland. Narsarsuaq, Greenland is our alternate point, slightly north of our route and very close to the calculated equal-time point (ETP). Although a fun airport, I’m sure, on that particular day it was nice to see it from above rather than attempting an NDB approach on the back side of our clocks. The airport sits just on the end of a fjord, and although there is an approach, it appears to be more of a cloud-break procedure than an actual approach. What’s more, viewing YouTube videos of the approach prior to the flight gave me just enough insight to want to attempt it for the first time on a visual day rather than in IMC. Nevertheless, the scenery is majestic as we sail on past. Soon enough, we’re out over water again and passing N63W30 on our way to our last fix, EMBLA.
At this point, the sun is shining and we’re seven hours into our overnight duty day; our destination is within reach. Before we know it, we’re briefing the descent, approach and taxi-in, and preparing the passengers in the cabin. Shortly thereafter, we’re given a frequency and code for Reykjavic FIR and subsequently given a descent,
taking us along the western coast of Iceland. A silent sigh of relief can almost be heard as we see land. Again, being prepared and studying the charts and plates gives us an idea of what to expect, but, shortly after our approach brief is compete, the fog clears and we’re given the visual approach to runway 1. Lining up on final and receiving clearance to land, we finally touch down 10 hours after we left Connecticut. The hotel is calling our names. Then again, so was the whale burger!
A few days later we’re prepping for the flight back, but not before we do a VFR day trip between Reykjavic and a small island just off the southern coast of Iceland, called Vestmannaeyjar. This, however, is another story, in and of itself.
The flight to Iceland was an
incredible journey. The PC-12NG
is a reliable, formidable aircraft;
however, regardless of equipment,
you MUST do your homework, as
the efficacy of one’s preparation
will derive the outcome of the
trip – good or bad. I still can’t
of the past must have had! T&T •
imagine the courage, precision, and
determination the aviation pioneers
Todd Hotes is the current chief pilot and flight department manager for Polymer Resourc- es, LTD. Todd is also a former check airman for a regional airline, flight instructor, and contract captain for a part 135 air carrier on the Eclipse Jet. Todd’s love of aviation began at a very early age and continues to facilitate his passion for safety, professionalism in aviation, and aviation education.
8 • TWIN & TURBINE
JUNE 2016