Page 34 - Twin and Turbine September 2017

PETER HERR PHOTO
Approach to Reykjavik, Iceland
had blown a hole on the lee side of the mountain peak. He circled down through the hole, dropped the gear, turned right and landed; three hours, 33 minutes out of Goose. Our estimate: 3:40.
Narsarsuaq was an outpost sort of place, peopled by a bunch of fun guys. We were met by Per Christiansen, who said, “I’m the official greeter, gas order taker, customs agent, chauffeur of dignitaries, interpreter, historian and collector of landing fees. Five dollars, please.” Willy Plumhoff, meteorologist, said he’d ordered the warm day for us. He claimed the weather at Narsarsuaq in the summer is never bad more than a few hours at a time. “Unless, of course, a pretty girl lands. Then we order some bad to keep her here a while.”
In short order they had us fueled, fed and flight-planned. It took a bit longer to get a clearance to Iceland, because of atmospheric conditions that made HF communications all but impossible. We got out at midafternoon (no need to worry about darkness up there) turned left 180 degrees and climbed up the glacier face eastbound in VFR conditions. (Standard procedure out of Narsarsuaq is takeoff southwest toward the fjord and mountain, circle back while climbing to above 8,000, then turn east across the ice cap. Miller did it different. As the gear came up he turned back and climbed between canyon walls up the glaciated valley. The result was spectacular scenery as we went up the slope 6,000 feet then topped out over the solid ice pack to our cruising altitude.)
The scenery across Greenland is magnificent. We had a perfect day for gawking at miles of snow pack and, on the east coast, a glacier dropping icebergs into the sea. It seemed we’d never get away from land. Flight Level 210, you know. Every time all that cold water up ahead got to working on us we’d look back and there, apparently just behind the wing, was the coast of Greenland. It was a relief to finally lose sight of it. Never any apprehension; engines in auto-rough or anything like that.
Navigation? The Bendix ADF locked on to a commercial station in Reykjavik, Iceland (210 kc) while we ran up on the ground at Narsarsuaq. All the way across we could get two or more NDBs. Later it was the same into Prestwick, Scotland. We wished for a second ADF for taking cross-bearings.
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32 • TWIN & TURBINE
September 2017