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Atlantic Crossing
by Gerd Wengler

Part 2

The next problem was the availability of 100LL avgas. Three months before our planned arrival in Iqaluit I found out that avgas which is only sold in 205 litre drums would not be available all summer. I was also not allowed to buy any of the 20 or so remaining drums. It is really a disgrace that one of our provincial/territorial capitals had no fuel for general aviation aircraft available! To the help came a group of a few pilots by the name of “Polar Pilots” who share the ownership of a beautifully maintained C172 in Iqaluit. They bought three drums for us, which was more than enough for filling up FDOW on the way to Ireland and back. One of the two airports in Greenland also ran short of avgas but had an unplanned delivery for a group of 20 airplanes from France to Oshkosh. They had enough fuel left over for us.

A big part of the preparation was survival issues. We purchased a good life raft and a floatable automatic ELT (EPIRB); we rented a satellite phone. A friend of mine from the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians gave us two survival suits. I purchased and organized all necessary survival items, which are mandatory both in northern Canada and Greenland, including a snow saw for building igloos and a stove. The required food rations (4,000 cal.) was added in form of Rice Crispy Squares. My aviation doctor (Dr. Birenbaum in Buttonville) prepared an emergency travel kit for us. Dorothy and I rehearsed the ditching procedures many times. I collected as many trip reports on the internet as possible.

And finally, I studied all relevant Jeppesen IFR approach plates. Some of the approaches, I could have flown without looking at them, I was so familiar with them. All but one airport in Greenland have NDB approaches only without GPS overlays. Most are quite challenging because the airports are usually in fjords so the final approaches are in-between mountains. The fact that we have moving map Jeppesen approach plates displayed on a Garmin MX20 added to the confidence to be able to perform IFR approaches in marginal VFR weather. It is definitively not recommended to fly any of the Greenland approaches in low IMC conditions.

At last, the big day of our departure arrived. We decided to leave for Iqaluit on a Saturday and stay there on Sunday. The landing fee of all airports in Greenland increases from about US$75 to US$800 (!) outside normal hours and on Sundays. Therefore, to avoid any “get-there-itis” it was decided to fly to Greenland very early on Monday morning. We were at our home airport Burlington, Ontario, (CZBA) at 5 am. The temperature was already 31°C. We had planned a departure for 6 am, which was lucky since a big line of thunderstorms was looming in the West. We made it out OK – half an hour later we would have been stuck on the ground waiting out the weather.

The first leg (440 nm, 3hrs) was to Chibougamau, Quebec (CYMT). Many forest fires burned in the area. A fleet of waterbombers and Skymaster air controllers is stationed there. After a quick turn-around it was off to Kuujjuaq, Quebec (CYVP; 540 nm, 3.5 hrs.). This is a busy hub for air services throughout northern Quebec, Labrador and southern Nunavut. Kuujjuaq was founded as Fort Chimo by the Hudson Bay Company in 1831. It is situated at the Northern extent of the tree line. After fuelling we left to reach the first day’s destination Iqaluit (CYFB; 350 nm, 2.5 hrs.). This was the first time we saw icebergs from the air. The landscape became progressively more barren with snowfields and not a sign of any human impact. The whole day was basically flying in VFR conditions.

We arrived in Iqaluit on Baffin Island at about 4 pm landing on the 8,600 ft. long runway. Even though the Inuit had been living for thousands of years in the area, Iqaluit came to prominence only after the American Army Air Force constructed a small airfield at the end of the Frobisher Bay to refuel airplanes being ferried from North America to Europe. During the Cold War the airfield was moved and enlarged to its present state. In 1999, Iqaluit became the capital of Canada’s newest territory, Nunavut.

Patrick Nagle, one of the Polar Pilots, greeted us. He had offered to park FDOW in their hangar, which is big enough for two or three small airplanes. The plan, weather permitting, was to do a sightseeing flight to the spectacular Auyuittuq National Park, about two hours north of Iqaluit. However, a low overcast was expected all next day, so we stayed in Iqaluit. Patrick and his partner Susan showed us around and we spend a very interesting day there. Everything is relatively expensive, but our hotel, the restaurants and bars and the museum are first class.

On Sunday we had ample time to fill FDOW’s tanks from the drums stored in the Polar Pilots’ hangar. Dorothy operated the hand pump whereas I as the Captain of the ship had the much more responsible task to direct the hose into the funnel. In addition I removed the cowls and made sure that no leaks were visible and all hoses and electrical wiring were still firmly attached.

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