ddavid 149 Posted December 14, 2010 Report Share Posted December 14, 2010 For the second morning in a row, I was shaken out of my dreams of warmer climes by Sam. Smell that breakfast? C'mon, Doc! The ladies of Happy Valley had prepared us a piping hot, 'Full Newfoundland Platter' - even though it was only 4.30 a.m! Georges favoured coffee as Sam and I sipped our mugs of steaming tea. 'Ere - look at the flight plan If we get to the Greenland coast at sunrise, we catch the - mmm - glacé? 'Ow you say - glass? And miss the mist... Still not awake enough to catch the meaning of this, I was about to ask what cherries had to do with it when, pointing to the canteen clock, Georges got to his feet. Sam picked up some chocolate bars from the kiosk on our way out, as we made our way back to the ramp, where the plane was waiting. After going through the manifest and checking the cargo layout, I stopped by Georges at the radio. He was showing Sam an old sextant and explained why we needed it. We take the 64 degree radial from Goose YYR but we need to confirm position to locate the NDB on Simiutaq Island. A couple of sights on the sun should be O.K. Sam and I settled into our seats to complete the checks. A final wave to the ground crew and we were moving. Sam nudged me as we passed the canteen - Give Doris a wave, Doc - she cooked breakfast! Georges guided us to the threshold of runway 08, where we got take off clearance Let's go, then, Sam. - and we started the roll. We were carrying just over two tons of cargo - close to the limit, especially with full tanks, so the rotation came a little late, but she lifted off well and soon the gear was going up. Let's hope the food's as good at Bluie West One, eh Doc? I grunted a non commital response - someday, Sam would think about something other than his stomach... We'd just about grabbed Georges' 64 degree radial from Goose, when we ran into some snow. The wipers cleared the screens, not that it mattered, we would be on instruments for most of the flight. The snow didn't last that long and a few minutes later, we'd reached cruising altitude at around 10000 feet. The sky in the east was beggining to lighten, so I asked Georges if we could turn the cabin lights off. He pointed out the switch, over Sam's head. But coffee first, eh? - and he brought out the flask. With the cabin lights out, the instruments glowed nicely. No Northern Lights, this morning, I'm afraid I scanned the horizon for any sign... Sam and I chatted about life in the Antipodes. You know, it's really strange, Doc. No one else found that secret island after us - seems like it just disappeared again. We'd given the location to the media, but no other sightings had been made. Strange. The Boss had enjoyed the limelight we'd created for him, and our business had certainly got a lot busier 'til the downturn started to bite. The eastern sky started to glow with the dawn and Georges prepared to take some readings with his optics. We'd drifted a bit too far north of our course, but we were soon in sight of land. Georges tuned into the Simtuaq BDB and we heard, with some relief, the comforting Morse signal. This was where the exciting part of the flight was to commence... Towards Valhalla. The radio altimeter confirmed our height. We needed to get below the overcast, so we started a cautious descent. In the distance, the mountains of Greenland were looming - somehow, we had to get beneath the cloud and find our way past Simiutaq Island and then on into Eriksfjord. The wind began to howl as Sam inched open the forward door. Keep going down, Doc - can't see anything yet... Hang on! Yes - there's the surface! We were below the overcast, with about 200 feet to play with. Sam rejoined me at the controls - Now for some action! As if hanging out the door wasn't enough for him... Georges pointed out the Islands at the mouth of Eriksfjord. Is straightforward now, I think? He showed me a more detailed chart: Just head 78 degrees - we see the middle fjord in a few minutes. We carried on up what looked like the right fjord - keeping an eye out for the wreck... The sun was just visible throught the mist to our right... No sign of any wreck - were we up the proverbial? I kept the plane between sea and overcast... Look - there's the wreck - we are all right! The Montrose had struck an iceberg, some years earlier. Just a bit further on and we saw the lights at Bluie West One: Gear Down - and give us 25 percent flaps, Sam. We swung around for our one chance at the approach. This was tight - too high and we'd be in the fog, too low and... Haven't lost your touch, Doc! We were down... Again, slowing down wasn't simple, but we swung off onto the taxiway... ... to the cargo ramp. Merci - er Doc? Bienvenue a Narsarsuaq!! C'mon, Doc - let's get some dinner - and don't forget that old parcel... We left Georges with the ground crew and crossed the tarmac towards the terminal... Well, Thanks for staying with us on this. It was a bit of an epic, but, hopfully, it was worth it! I hope you try the Valhalla Mission (see below) - it was the inspiration for this Leg of the ATWC and I combined screen shots from the actual mission. Just some acknowledgements: 1. ATR 42-300 model from here 2. Textures for Air Saint-Pierre ATR from photo's at Airliners.net. 3. Miquelon-Saint-Pierre scenery from here 4. DC-3 from Just Flight. 5. DC-3 operational info from DCAirways.com 6. Goose Bay CYYR scenery from here 7. South West Greenland mesh from here - thanks Ulrik! 8. Valhalla Mission from here - thanks Owen! 9. Plan-G Flight Planner from here - thanks Tim! Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted December 14, 2010 Report Share Posted December 14, 2010 Stunning end there Dai! Had me gripped throughout - although 'You're too low!' comment was a bit pointless - unless you are on the water, you're never too low! Link to post Share on other sites
IcedUpPitotTube 0 Posted December 14, 2010 Report Share Posted December 14, 2010 Sweet ATWC as usual Dai. Finished strong! :atwc: Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted December 14, 2010 Report Share Posted December 14, 2010 Dai, a perfect combination of fact, fiction and ATWC action! I was most jealous of the cooked breakfast, although I bet the puds were not as tasty as yours! You included some excellent screenshots too from the side door, the dawn and flying under the fog, inspired! Cheers Joe Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted December 15, 2010 Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 Top notch ATWC action all the way Dai! :icon_rockon: Link to post Share on other sites
rob16584 42 Posted December 15, 2010 Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 Absolutely fantastic Dai Easily my favourite post of the challenge so far :gtfl: :atwc: Link to post Share on other sites
SEATAC 400 Posted December 18, 2010 Report Share Posted December 18, 2010 :birthday1: . What? Oops. My mistake :shrug_no: What I meant was :gtfl: Link to post Share on other sites
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