Our stay in Scotland was fantastic. The afternoon of our arrival, the clouds broke and we had perfect weather for our overnight there. From what I understand that the weather here is picky, so we were lucky to catch this great country under sunny skies.
We flew into the airport at Prestwick and the controllers sound so PROPER over the radio. They are somewhat hard to understand and the ICAO phraseology takes a little getting used to, but all in all it’s pretty much the same as flying in the US. Filing flight plans, however, is an entirely different thing……
We stayed in the Scottish town of Troon, which is world famous to all the golfers out there. Troon is great…it’s exactly what you think of when you think of a small town on the coast of Scotland. The town itself is very neat, with small grey building and cottages with narrow streets filled with traffic round-abouts. Being the UK they drive on the left side of the road, so you have to keep telling yourself “left left left” while you are driving. It takes some getting used to.
We had a great time sightseeing. We went to Castle Cullean (pronounced Ki-ll-ean) which dates back to the 12th century. It has been transformed over time into a manor house that is pretty spectacular. We investigated the country side and explored the ruins of a castle dating to the Dark Ages. And, of course, we hit up the local pubs. Pubs in the UK are nothing like the loud, smoke-filled places in the US. People from the town gather in the pubs to catch up, socialize and watch football (soccer) and rugby. Its great- you can actually talk and carry on a conversation. Not to mention that the beer is fantastic-the Guinness tastes so much better here than in the states for some reason.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
After our expensive overnight stay in Iceland, we woke up to a completely cloud free and wind free morning. It was freezing cold but the sky was a brilliant blue that framed the rising sun perfectly. At breakfast it was shaping up for a great flight across the rest of the Atlantic and on to Scotland.
We loaded up the ole Metroliner and got gassed up for the flight. The ramp by the FBO in Reykjavik is a pretty neat place, with all sorts of cool airplanes making the crossing between Europe, the United States and Canada. This morning the ramp was crowded with Challenger Jets and several light general aviation planes. The most interesting aircraft was a brand new Piaggio twin turbo prop airplane….it is an interesting sight because this particular aircraft is designed in a pusher configuration, with the props facing aft and mounted on the top of the wing. It’s a pretty futuristic design. I believe that this airplane is catching on in the states.
We were soon on our way, after a smooth take off we headed off to the east again…finally on our way to Europe. While climbing out we got a spectacular view of Iceland’s volcanic landscape….it was quite a sight. I caught glimpses of several geysers and old volcanoes, some of which were covered in glaciers. I can now understand why people would want to come here for vacation.
Unfortunately, while enroute to Prestwick, we caught up with the weather and the clouds again, obscuring our view of the ocean. It was shaping up to be a dull day when the said farewell the Iceland controllers and soon after were talking to the friendly people at Prestwick control. It was great to hear controllers speaking English again…even if it was in an accent that I usually associate with Monty Python. As we began our approach into Prestwick…the clouds began to break up and we got a great view of the lush green Scottish countryside.
We loaded up the ole Metroliner and got gassed up for the flight. The ramp by the FBO in Reykjavik is a pretty neat place, with all sorts of cool airplanes making the crossing between Europe, the United States and Canada. This morning the ramp was crowded with Challenger Jets and several light general aviation planes. The most interesting aircraft was a brand new Piaggio twin turbo prop airplane….it is an interesting sight because this particular aircraft is designed in a pusher configuration, with the props facing aft and mounted on the top of the wing. It’s a pretty futuristic design. I believe that this airplane is catching on in the states.
We were soon on our way, after a smooth take off we headed off to the east again…finally on our way to Europe. While climbing out we got a spectacular view of Iceland’s volcanic landscape….it was quite a sight. I caught glimpses of several geysers and old volcanoes, some of which were covered in glaciers. I can now understand why people would want to come here for vacation.
Unfortunately, while enroute to Prestwick, we caught up with the weather and the clouds again, obscuring our view of the ocean. It was shaping up to be a dull day when the said farewell the Iceland controllers and soon after were talking to the friendly people at Prestwick control. It was great to hear controllers speaking English again…even if it was in an accent that I usually associate with Monty Python. As we began our approach into Prestwick…the clouds began to break up and we got a great view of the lush green Scottish countryside.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Iceland
Iceland is cool. It’s a big volcanic island with ice and snow in some parts. It is also the land of sucking money rapidly from tourists and transient flight crews.
We arrived in Iceland, finally getting out ahead of the slow moving weather. The approach was somewhat bumpy, but nearly as much as Greenland. We were in the clear on final.
The first thing we noticed was the cold, of course. It was freezing, and with the wind blowing it seemed even colder. We were glad to be here, on our way though. We quickly unloaded and headed for the hotel, which fortunately was within walking distance of the FBO.
It was a nice, modern hotel with a very much a Scandinavian flavor to it. There were all sorts of European tourists floating about…leaving no doubt in our mind that we had finally arrived in Europe.
Reykjavik is a very modern clean place. No trash or bill boards or anything. After we quickly checked in to our hotel, we caught a cab downtown for dinner. We wound up at a little pub in downtown Reykjavik. It had a sports bar kind of flavor to it…and the place was pretty deserted except for a few die hard locals watching soccer on the flat screen tv’s. Apparently, nobody goes out in Iceland except very late at night on the weekends. However….I spent 40 bucks on two beers, a chicken sandwhich(think frozen chicken patty) and fries. They served the fries with mayo. Very chic in Europe apparently.Any way, we eventually went back to the hotel to get ready for a quick overnight and our flight to Scotland.
We arrived in Iceland, finally getting out ahead of the slow moving weather. The approach was somewhat bumpy, but nearly as much as Greenland. We were in the clear on final.
The first thing we noticed was the cold, of course. It was freezing, and with the wind blowing it seemed even colder. We were glad to be here, on our way though. We quickly unloaded and headed for the hotel, which fortunately was within walking distance of the FBO.
It was a nice, modern hotel with a very much a Scandinavian flavor to it. There were all sorts of European tourists floating about…leaving no doubt in our mind that we had finally arrived in Europe.
Reykjavik is a very modern clean place. No trash or bill boards or anything. After we quickly checked in to our hotel, we caught a cab downtown for dinner. We wound up at a little pub in downtown Reykjavik. It had a sports bar kind of flavor to it…and the place was pretty deserted except for a few die hard locals watching soccer on the flat screen tv’s. Apparently, nobody goes out in Iceland except very late at night on the weekends. However….I spent 40 bucks on two beers, a chicken sandwhich(think frozen chicken patty) and fries. They served the fries with mayo. Very chic in Europe apparently.Any way, we eventually went back to the hotel to get ready for a quick overnight and our flight to Scotland.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Leaving For Greenland...
Today we finally departed Goose Bay for the start of our Journey across the Atlantic. It’s cold and overcast here at the airfield in Goose Bay. The wind has died down some, and at least it is not raining. We are following a low pressure system across the North Atlantic towards Reykjavik Iceland where we are expecting to overnight. Unfortunately, it looks as if we will be in the soup all day today…so no view of the ocean or of the Greenland’s ice cap.
We found out the other night after we returned to Otis AFB for maintenance that the airfield here had a gale with winds gusting up to 55 or 60 knots. There are trees down everywhere and some of the buildings have roof damage. I guess that we were lucky to get out of here when we did.
We entered the clouds after our departure at Goose Bay at about 2500 feet…and pretty well stayed either in them or just above them all the way to Narsasuek, Greenland. For the most part once we were airborne, the ride was pretty smooth but the view was disappointing to say the least.
The approach and landing into Narsasuek Greenland was, what we refer to as a white-knuckler. Rob and Hardy had to execute an instrument let down through the clouds into and airfield surrounded on three sides by high terrain…..and up a fjord. As soon as we started our decent for the arrival things got interesting. The wind was causing pretty good jolts and bumps on the way down and when we finally broke out of the clouds (at about 1500 feet) the real fun began. The wind had now picked up, and a cold rain was falling…all in winds that were now topping 45-50 knots across the ground. Turbulence is fine when you are at 25,000 feet, but on short final as we were winging over the ice burgs in the fjord-not so much fun. But Rob and Hardy did a great job flying and soon we were on the ground.
Narsasuek is remote as they come. It was about 3 degrees C outside and raining a cold, hard rain sideways. The poor refuel guys came out dressed like Nanook of the frozen north (which, given where we were, made perfect sense). We ran into this French guy in the FBO there that seemed really glad to have somebody to talk to. This poor chap had been there for 4 months and was getting ready to leave on vacation. We could tell from talking with him that time passes VERY SLOWLY here. Rob and Hardy posted our unit sticker in Base Ops so we can prove that we actually were there.
After a quick stop (we now know why the heck nobody lives in Greenland-its cold, wet, and grey) to refuel, we snapped a couple of pictures and were on our way to Iceland. The take off was as about as hairy as the landing….circling in the clouds to avoid terrain as we climbed up and out. We stayed in the clouds almost all the way to Iceland.
We found out the other night after we returned to Otis AFB for maintenance that the airfield here had a gale with winds gusting up to 55 or 60 knots. There are trees down everywhere and some of the buildings have roof damage. I guess that we were lucky to get out of here when we did.
We entered the clouds after our departure at Goose Bay at about 2500 feet…and pretty well stayed either in them or just above them all the way to Narsasuek, Greenland. For the most part once we were airborne, the ride was pretty smooth but the view was disappointing to say the least.
The approach and landing into Narsasuek Greenland was, what we refer to as a white-knuckler. Rob and Hardy had to execute an instrument let down through the clouds into and airfield surrounded on three sides by high terrain…..and up a fjord. As soon as we started our decent for the arrival things got interesting. The wind was causing pretty good jolts and bumps on the way down and when we finally broke out of the clouds (at about 1500 feet) the real fun began. The wind had now picked up, and a cold rain was falling…all in winds that were now topping 45-50 knots across the ground. Turbulence is fine when you are at 25,000 feet, but on short final as we were winging over the ice burgs in the fjord-not so much fun. But Rob and Hardy did a great job flying and soon we were on the ground.
Narsasuek is remote as they come. It was about 3 degrees C outside and raining a cold, hard rain sideways. The poor refuel guys came out dressed like Nanook of the frozen north (which, given where we were, made perfect sense). We ran into this French guy in the FBO there that seemed really glad to have somebody to talk to. This poor chap had been there for 4 months and was getting ready to leave on vacation. We could tell from talking with him that time passes VERY SLOWLY here. Rob and Hardy posted our unit sticker in Base Ops so we can prove that we actually were there.
After a quick stop (we now know why the heck nobody lives in Greenland-its cold, wet, and grey) to refuel, we snapped a couple of pictures and were on our way to Iceland. The take off was as about as hairy as the landing….circling in the clouds to avoid terrain as we climbed up and out. We stayed in the clouds almost all the way to Iceland.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Goose Bay Redux
We have arrived back into Goose Bay. Except for a few minor problems, the airplane seems to be behaving itself and we arrived back in Goose Bay Labrador this afternoon. The weather was perfect for flying as we took off from Otis AFB. We had unrestricted visibility and no clouds. In fact we got a spectacular aerial view of Cape Cod and most of New England as we turned northward towards Goose Bay. It was sad saying Good Bye to the USA but it was also a great feeling to FINALLY be on our way across the Atlantic.
After an a pretty good flight (well, mostly good, we did have one small maintenance hiccup) we dipped below a small over cast layer at about 4000 feet to fly a spectacular approach landing to the East at Goose Bay Airport. We flew in over the same river that we had seen the waterfall on several days before-and it was just as spectacular from the air as it was from the ground.
We had our overnight at the Hotel North, which is a great hotel located right outside the airfield gate. I have to say, the rooms are nice and the food at the restaurant is excellent.
While we are on the subject, I would like to say a few things about the people and town of Goose Bay. Everyone that we met there was extremely friendly and helpful. It’s nice to see a small town largely unspoiled by the modern hustle and bustle.
I would like to offer special thanks to the nice folks at Woodward Aviation, the local FBO that took care of us while we were broken. They have superior service and made things a lot easier on us.
All in all, it looks like a great place to live-great wide open spaces, plenty of things to outdoors if you don’t mind the cold.
We had uneventful overnight. One thing though-on our way to dinner, it started raining. Hard-this wasn’t too great because we all had left our wet weather gear back in the airplane. Shortly after that it began sleeting. This would be Mother Nature’s way of telling us it’s time to get on with this business of crossing the ocean before we caught up by the winter. I don’t know if it’s possible to mount skis on a Metro liner or not.
More to come....
After an a pretty good flight (well, mostly good, we did have one small maintenance hiccup) we dipped below a small over cast layer at about 4000 feet to fly a spectacular approach landing to the East at Goose Bay Airport. We flew in over the same river that we had seen the waterfall on several days before-and it was just as spectacular from the air as it was from the ground.
We had our overnight at the Hotel North, which is a great hotel located right outside the airfield gate. I have to say, the rooms are nice and the food at the restaurant is excellent.
While we are on the subject, I would like to say a few things about the people and town of Goose Bay. Everyone that we met there was extremely friendly and helpful. It’s nice to see a small town largely unspoiled by the modern hustle and bustle.
I would like to offer special thanks to the nice folks at Woodward Aviation, the local FBO that took care of us while we were broken. They have superior service and made things a lot easier on us.
All in all, it looks like a great place to live-great wide open spaces, plenty of things to outdoors if you don’t mind the cold.
We had uneventful overnight. One thing though-on our way to dinner, it started raining. Hard-this wasn’t too great because we all had left our wet weather gear back in the airplane. Shortly after that it began sleeting. This would be Mother Nature’s way of telling us it’s time to get on with this business of crossing the ocean before we caught up by the winter. I don’t know if it’s possible to mount skis on a Metro liner or not.
More to come....
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