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Unread 02-18-07, 11:37 AM
Dave Underwood Dave Underwood is offline
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: England
Posts: 167
Dave Underwood is on a distinguished road
I have done the crossing via Narsarsuaq a couple of time in my FT337GP and would suggest that as being the safest overall. I also help Ed Carlson teach his Cross the North Atlantic course here in the UK so have heard many of the stories and thought long and hard about the various issues of getting from here to there and back. In fact I am planning to go across this spring again.

A couple of notes on any crossing: the rules require you to carry 50% more fuel than is required for the leg so in the 337, you would need to carry fuel for the best part of 2000 nm to go via the Azores. That's +250 gals by my cals.

There are also the normal extensive safety gear requirements. You will also be airborne for the best part of 9 or 10 hours at 155 kts. That is way beyond my endurance.

This means that tanking the plane is really the only option and please do note that the book values are not achievable, even on a very good day.

EM's -20% view is not bad, certainly that has been my experience on long distance flights. At 55% & std 148 US gals I am on dry tanks at the 950 to 1000 mn mark even using a GEM. I am not likely leaning nearly as much as they did on the test flight. I am sure they were lean of peak to achieve the book figures.

Gami injectors would help extend the range as an FYI and you could then run lean of peak so increase your range by that missing 20% if all was working in your favour.

Carlson has done the Azores trip about 30 times if memory serves me right, mostly in tanked King Airs. These days if asked, his comment would be to fly the north route unless you have heavy iron and tonnes of range.

The southerly, northern trip via Narsarsuaq, BGBW is a series of 650 nm cross countries with BGBW being the only real problem if you go that way. The solution to that is only fly to BGBW when it is going to be VFR. IFR to BGBW is not great as it is surrounded by mountains for an NDB/DME approach with an MDA at 1480 feet and 4 miles as I remember without looking at the chart.

Go when its VFR and it is a nice trip with a pretty easy approach upteh fiord, a left turn to right base & landing. You don't need GPS, but you would be crazy not to have one to find SI and navigate the 40 nm up the fiord. Which leg to take is what fools many folks, but on teh GPS you can see it.

So what is the northern route, three legs over lots of water, but each about 4 hours long east bound with tail winds or 5 hours west bound with head winds. There are also lots of tourist things to see and do on the way.

Did you know that Leif the Red built the first restaurant and house of ill repute just around the corner from BGBW. Unfortunately it was not replaced when it burnt down in 982 AD.

My two cents worth.

Dave
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