Transatlantic Crossing Updates...

About the flight...

Tony Gunn, Chief Pilot of Flywatch, and Peter Kohl, newly qualified FAA PPL/IR pilot, are currently ferrying Peter's C414 across the Atlantic via Bangor (Maine) to London Southend via Goose Bay (Newfoundland, Canada), Iqaluit (Nunavut, Canada), Nuuk (Greenland), Kulusuk (East Greenland), Keflavik (Iceland), Vagar (Faeroe Islands), Stavangar (Norway) and Aahus (Denmark). This is the daily diary of their activities.

Peter Kohl (left) and Tony Gunn, Chief Pilot and founder of Flywatch on the ramp of London Aviation, Naples, Florida. London Aviation is where Flywatch takes its European trainee pilots for a finishing course and to complete FAA flight testing procedures. Tony also holds the post of Head of Training for Naples Air Center which is a JAR and JAR ATP theory school also based in Naples.

10th February, 2008 - Vagar, Faeroe Islands (14:00 GMT)

Vagar, Faeroe Islands: Tony has been in contact to say that he and Peter have just taken off from Vagar. They left Reykjavik at 0830 GMT and reached Vagar by midday. Due to fog over Norway, he and Peter have decided not to land at Stavanger but to go directly to Aarhus, Denmark, which they expect to reach by 1800 GMT.

If all goes to plan tonight and tomorrow morning in Aarhus, they expect to reach Southend at around 1600 local time tommorrow afternoon.

9th February, 2008 - still Reykjavik today, too

Reykjavik, Iceland: The good news is that the battery has arrived; the not-so-good news is that the weather deteriorated overnight and it is currently 50-knot winds and blizzard conditions. Reykjavik ariport remains closed. Fortunately the aircraft is hangered so the battery will defintely be fitted today ready for a departure tomorrow.

If the weather improves sufficiently, Tony and Peter are thinking they will head directly for Stavanger, Norway tomorrow rather than the shorter hops via Vagar in the Faeroes.

8th February, 2008 - Reykjavik today too

Reykjavik, Iceland: The weather has improved; the temperature climbed to +5 degrees (the first time Peter and Tony have experienced such warmth since the end of January) and the snow started to thaw but strong winds have kept the airport closed. Still no sign of a battery though; the one from New York has gone to Tennessee courtesy of Fedex and the one in Iceland is still snowbound.

If the weather continues to improve, Peter and Tony are looking for a departue to Vagar in the Faeroe Islands tomorrow. Providing, of course, one of the batteries arrives.

7th February, 2008 - Reykjavik, still

Reykjavik, Iceland: Clearly the weather took no account of Peter and Tony's best laid plans for a quick departure this morning; blizzards and 40 knot winds meant that all domestic and international flights in and out of Reykjavik were cancelled today. This meant the cunning plan of ordering a battery from New York (sorry, not Canada) and ANOTHER from an Icelandic airport to see which arrived first was scuppered completely. Tony and Peter have had to accept option three; that of no battery at all!

To add insult to injury, when they woke this morning and went to check on the aircraft, they found that the C414's new coating of 7 inches of snow meant it was sitting on its tail. A carefully-calculated snow-clearing exercise put it back on all three wheels.

When the airport re-opens and the battery arrives, Peter and Tony will continue the ferry but in the meantime they were off for a haircut, sauna and a swim when last in touch.

6th February, 2008 - Reykjavik

Reykjavik, Iceland: After the difficulties of communicating over Northern Canada and Greenland, Tony and Peter have been beset by technical problems. Although they are now able to use mobile phones, it has been to call the Flywatch office to say that after leaving Keflavik this morning an alternator light came on so they had to divert to Hornafjordur (BIHN) in south west Iceland. The problem seemed to have resolved itself by the time they landed but they then had to fly to Egilsstadir (BIEG), another 50 miles away, to clear customs to depart Iceland. The warning light came on again during this flight so they again diverted but this time to Reykjavik (BIRK).

The problem has been diagnosed as a faulty battery which they are now waiting to be delivered from New York. It should arrive tommorrow, 07/02/2008. The last report was that Tony and Peter were off to check out some hot springs this evening!

Despite this delay, Peter and Tony still plan to be in Aarhus, Denmark, by Friday.

5th February, 2008 - Keflavik

Keflavik, Iceland: Peter and Tony arrived in Keflavik (BIKF), Iceland, with a brief stopover on Kulusk (BGKK) in eastern Greenland.

4th February, 2008 - Nuuk

Nuuk (BGGH), Greenland: Tony and Peter arrived in the amazing scenery and snow covered hills of western Greenland in the late afternoon. The temperature was a warm -10 by comparison to the -33 degrees Iqaluit.

The precaution of taking the short route has proved worth taking as the left fuel pump would not pump from the left aft and forward fuel tanks. Peter and Tony will stick to 450 nm hops as they cannot rely on that modification working in such cold temperatures. They will therefore aim to reach Kulusuk and then possibly Iceland on Tuesday. Wednesday's plan is to complete the Vagar - Stavanger - Aarhus legs on Thursday.

4th February, 2008 - Iqaluit, 12.00 GMT

Iqaluit(CYFB), Nunavut: Peter and Tony were planning to depart at 1530 GMT for Nuuk. Preparations were underway; refuelling from barrels and blowing hot air in the engines when Tony wrote at midday. As they head east to Nuuk they will lose 3 hours of daylight. The temperature there is a "balmy" -10, a heat wave compared to the -30 in Iqaluit.

Tomorrow (5th February), Peter and Tony will aim for Iceland if the weather is good with a view to reaching Aarhus by Wednesday night.

3rd February, 2008 - Iqaluit, still

Iqaluit(CYFB), Nunavut: Peter and Tony have been stuck in Iqaluit today as Nuuk has a 300 ft cloud base and it's snowing. They hope to reach there tomorrow but will need better weather. Fortunately the plane is hangered which makes up for some novelties such as fuelling from the barrel.

They are staying in a lodge with rooms that look out over a thousand miles of icy tundra and have just been invited on a tour of the town with a German party - Peter is right at home. The tour should prove interesting as the town, as it is now, only came into being in 1942 with the arrival of the USAAF. Prior to that it was a traditional Inuit camping site and fishing spot.

2nd February, 2008 - Iqaluit

Iqaluit(CYFB), Nunavut: Tony and Peter left Kuujjuaq for Iqaluit and flew in amazing sunshine over the snow-covered tundra.

The cold is again severe (-25 degrees) but they managed to get the aircraft hangered. Tony described their accomodation as "a strange but nice place". As Greenland closes on a Sunday, they are hoping to get Nuuk (BGGH), Greenland to open tomorrow at a cost of $1200. If they succeed, they will continue to Nuuk on 3rd February and Keflavik (BIKF), Iceland, on 4th. This would mean arriving in Southend on 7th or 8th (Thursday/Friday) if all goes well.

1st February, 2008

Kuujjuaq (CYVP), Quebec: Peter and Tony landed in blizzards and drifting snow with winds of 35 knots and temperatures of -25 degrees. The village is very isolated and they were lucky to find a hotel. To prevent the cyclinders cracking on start, Air Inuit heated the engines overnight with hot blowers.

Tony managed to eat dodgy fish in an Inuit settlement dedicated to hunting and fishing. Both he and Peter were getting used to things taking twice as long or just being impossible becasue of the severe cold. However, the compensation was that the Northern lights put a spectacular show.

31st January, 2008

Goose Bay (CYYR), Newfoundland and Labrador: Peter and Tony had a good flight from Bangor. However just after landing at Goose Bay the weather went down to 500m visibility, a 400 foot cloud base, blowing snow with 35kt winds and a temperature of -7 (last week it went down to -32). This is typical of how suddenly the weather can change in this part of the world; in the summer it can reach +35 c and the winter can see - 40 c.

One of the three fuel pumps froze so Tony and Peter could not get fuel out of that tank; one of the ones Peter had fitted in Florida. They had contemplated earlier on in the day going directly to Nuuk but because of the frozen pump have chose to make shorter hops.

The current plan is to leave for Kuujjuaq (CYVP), Quebec, in the morning and then night stop at Iqaluit(CYFB), Nunavut, even though more snow is forecast in the morning in both those two places. The aircraft has suffered a master switch failure so Peter and Tony are doing ground power starts and hoping that engineers can sort it out.

30th January, 2008

Bangor (KBGR), Maine: Tony Gunn and Peter Kohl arrived by schedule service from London Heathrow via Boston to pick up Peter's C414 which they left hangered there on 14th December. Due to weather they are planning to follow a different transatlantic route from the one originally planned. The new route will take them from Bangor (Maine) to London Southend via Goose Bay (Newfoundland, Canada), Iqaluit (Nunavut, Canada), Nuuk (Greenland), Kulusuk (East Greenland), Keflavik (Iceland), Vagar (Faeroe Islands), Stavangar (Norway) and Aarhus (Denmark). The aircraft will be based and managed by Flywatch at London Southend for Peter Kohl for his corporate operation.

Peter and Tony flew the first leg of the journey in mid December 2007 when they set out to ferry the C414 across the Atlantic from Naples (Florida) to London Southend via Norfolk (Virginia), New York, Bangor (Maine), Goose Bay (Canada), Nuuk (Greenland), Iceland, Norway and Denmark. Atrocious weather conditions on the Eastern seaboard in December forced them to leave the aircraft in Bangor until they could try again.

14th December, 2007

Peter and Tony departed for Norfolk, Virginia on time with a weather forecast of 200ft ceilings which cleared by the time they arrived. The aircraft performed well; at times reaching ground speeds of 250kts and a TAS of 209kts at FL200, completing this leg in a time of 4hrs 20mins, The fuel calculations and fuel transfer system were put to the test and all worked well.

With light snow and -12 degrees C with good visibility, Peter and Tony continued to Bangor (KBGR). Pulling off a successful VFR landing on an icy runway with 3ft snow banks and a cool -10 degrees C., the taxing had to be conducted at snail's pace mixing in with the troop carrying flights of Tristars and DC-10s. Avitat, the handling agent, organised immediate hangarage. Helped by the friendly staff from Avitat, export and customs formalities and procedures were dealt with. Peter and Tony then had to ponder their plans for Saturday 15th December.

The beautiful clear skies that stretched from Bangor to Greenland with 70kt westerly tailwinds were perfect. However Bangor's forecast for Sunday 16th December was for 18 inches of snow! Due to high pressure centered over the UK and low pressure north east of Iceland, strong 90 knot winds at FL250 were forecast from the southeast for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The Greenland to Iceland leg (670 nm) and Iceland to Norway leg (840 nm) depended completely on tailwinds or at least zero wind. Ninety knot headwinds at the destination were well outside safety endurance. So Peter and Tony were trapped and a speedy decision had to be made. Peter's wife, Elif, made swift telephone calls to see what airline options were available.

The deciding factor was that Peter and Tony knew Greenland was as far as they could for the next four or five days because of the forecast winds. On Sunday, Bangor and New York were due to be hit again by -10 degree C and heavy snow. With Peter's business pressures and Tony being booked to fly to Italy and Ireland with two other aircraft owners, they decided to make a quick exit from Bangor to Boston and then on to Heathrow by airline. Hopefully they could do this before the east coast above New York shutdown. So Peter and Tony boarded a Delta Beech 1900 to Boston to connect with the Virgin Airbus flight to Heathrow.

However, the sting in the tail was a four hour wait on board the airbus at Boston; a fuel pump froze giving false cockpit indications. The credit for getting them on their way before the forecast snow hit goes to some poor Virgin engineer who worked in -8 degrees for four hours.

Due to the fuel tank modifications, Peter and Tony hit the north's harsh winter with Goose Bay temperatures currently down to -25 degrees C. Leaving N414AK hangared in Bangor at $1300 per month was a cheaper option to hangarage in Goose Bay at $500 per night. They never had time to establish costs in Greenland before they had to catch the one flight out to avoid being stuck by snow or strong headwinds. The plan is to resume the ferry in February allowing time to sit out unfavourable winds or weather.

13th December, 2007

With the outside air temperature in Florida 25 degrees C, final preparations made, GPS updates and test flights completed, Peter and Tony get the news of snow storms and freezing rain in the New York area. Despite this, they plan to depart Naples (KAPF) at 0600 local time for Norfolk, Virginia (KORF) with the intention of continuing to Bangor, Maine (KBGR) the same day.