Sorry for the lack of news and updates during the past week – I have been pretty busy and covered a lot of ground in the past week. The illustration below shows progress to date. The green line is the great circle route (looks kind of funny on a Mercator projection), the magenta line is the planned route, and the black/grey line is the actual path flown, downloaded from the recorder in the plane.
Plan and Progress Map
Departure from Vancouver Island was delayed until Boxing Day due to persistent icing conditions over the coastal mountains of BC. The frontal system that caused all this icing also dropped record amounts of rain on the Island, and snow on the Mainland, so, I didn't feel too bad about waiting it out – the weather was the top news story in BC that week.
Once we got going, we enjoyed 60 MPH plus tailwinds across the Prairies. I've never seen a 222 knot groundspeed in a Twin Otter before (and I'm not sure I'll ever see it again), so, here's a picture. Note that we were limited by Vmo here… the engines had plenty of reserve left.
222 Knots Groundspeed in a Series 400 Twin Otter
So, first flight was direct from Victoria to Churchill, overflying our planned landing in La Ronge. There was a bit of a temperature difference between Victoria (+10°) and Churchill (-25°), and the AMEs from Calm Air came over to visit us and very kindly offered to add a bit of nitrogen to our tires to bring the pressure differential back up to the correct level. This was just the first of many courtesies that we would encounter on this trip.
With a Little Help from Our Friends
We stayed in Churchill overnight, then left for Qikiqtarjuaq (CYVM, previously known as Broughton Island) in the morning. Much to our surprise, there was no frost on the aircraft when we checked it in the morning, just a very thin dusting of light and fluffy powder snow. Special thanks to Kyle at the Shell refuelling center for waiting so patiently while we topped up the ferry tank system in the morning.
The Ramp at Churchill
Once again, we had great tailwinds on the flight to Qikiqtarjuaq, and the weather was clear with excellent viz when we got there. The instrument approach into Qikiqtarjuaq has higher minima than VFR (2000 foot ceiling and 3 miles viz), and we were worried about that for most of the way north. We had more than enough fuel to divert to Frobisher Bay, but I've stayed at Qikiqtarjuaq before and the hospitality there is just great.
After landing, we fuelled up and went to the "crew house" – a really nice fully-furnished two bedroom house provided by the FBO. The kitchen was stocked, and we were given a 4 pound Arctic Char to cook for dinner.
On Ground Qikiqtarjuaq (CYVM)
The weather forecast for the Greenland crossing the next day was poor (icing), so, we stayed two nights in Qikiqtarjuaq. Some FBOs provide a 'crew car', this particular one provides a 'crew snowmobile'. The co-captain, Michael Robert, is from the Seychelles and had never encountered 24 hour darkness or the Northern Lights before. The 'winter games' were in full swing in the village – the celebrations last for 2 weeks at Christmas – and the local kids enthusiastically invited us into the town gym to participate along with everyone else.
Co-Captain Michael Robert, with Qikiqtarjuaq Crew Snowmobile in background
All in all, Qikiqtarjuaq is a great little village with a really nice people and a FBO that offers service as good as any 'big jet' FBO in Europe. I highly recommend this community as a place to night-stop for anyone making a trans-Atlantic overflight.
After being outside for close to 40 hours, the plane was well and truly frosted over. The folks at Canadian North very kindly allowed us to use their de-ice fluid and equipment to clean our plane off. That took a little while to do.
De-icing in Qikiqtarjuaq (the de-ice tower is too big for a Twin Otter)
We then flew to Akureyri (BIAR), in Iceland, where friends of ours from Air Iceland were expecting us. Akureyri is a small community on the north coast of Iceland, again, a really delightful place to be, not as big as Reykjavik. We enjoyed clear weather and tailwinds all across the Greenland icecap.
Approaching Greenland
High winds were forecast for Akureyri the next day, and our hosts graciously offered to put our aircraft in the hangar overnight. That took a bit of doing, because the hangar was already full with other Twin Otters, but eventually they got it in there.
Putting the Plane in the Hangar in Iceland
The forecast for the next day called for icing at our original destination (Bergen, Norway) but nice warm weather over the British Isles, so, we left Iceland just after lunch destined for Prestwick, Scotland.
High Noon over the North Atlantic in Winter
The weather was kind of misty with limited visibility when we landed, the tower sent a follow-me truck out to meet us on the runway and take us to the parking area. I guess that implies that the weather could have been a heck of a lot worse… The 'Ocean Sky' FBO looked after us there – a very professional FBO with super-fast fuel service.
Taxiing in Scotland (photo credit: Steve White)
The next day (New Years' Eve), we left for Switzerland – a relatively (by ferry flight standards) short flight of only 4.5 hours. We landed at Altenrhein Airport (LSZR), where the tower told us we were officially the last landing of the year at the airport. Upon arriving at the guest house, we enjoyed a 6 course New Years' Eve dinner (just awesome).
The Factory Authorized Service Center in Altenrhein, Switzerland
The aircraft needs to have a routine check carried out by an AME every 7 days, so, we are now waiting in Switzerland for the AMO here to open on Monday morning. It's nice to have some time off to catch up on our sleep (and the email and forums).
Michael
