Flight trip to Iceland,  (June 2005)

ZRH-EGKB

Take-off in Zürich at 1800LT, delay due to traffic, actual departure at 18:24

There are already high AC clouds which announce the incoming front.

In the area of Dijon, we decide to divert to Geneva, as there is a huge cold front with thunderstorms. We can see many flashes in front of us. In Geneva the ILS is U/S, so it is a VOR/DME 23 approach, however a lot of vectoring and delay due to airliner traffic.

Finally landing at 20:13LT  and looking for a hotel for overnight.

04.06.05

GVA-EGSC

Take off at 0802 on rwy 23 and then a departure to Dijon. There are some clouds left over from the front of last night, but we overclimb them quickly. Below us broken cloud layers, above us blue sky and only very few AC clouds. After Dover VOR we are cleared to Clacton VOR and then to ABBOT. After descending trough some layers of CU couds we come out below and are vectored at 2'000 feet to the ILS 23. Some delaying action with additional vectoring to the north, because there is a Boeing 757 from DHL landing in front of us.

After landing, backtrack and taxing straight to the fuel station. Very friendly people in the C Office and I also could use the local flyings club's PC and printer to print out the latest weather. Now we are ready to go again and in a short rainshower we run to the airplane.

EGSC-EGPC

Take off at 11:30 LT (UK), clearance on rwy heading to 2'000 and then to BKY at 3'000. Soon we are IMC and also cleared to FL120, however on the climb we pick up some rim ice and we get out of the clouds at around 10'000 feet. We get a radar heading assigned until passing Pole Hill VOR (POL), but from then of we have to avoid a lot of CU clouds which go all the way up to FL190 (far too high for a PA34). Scottish Controllers are very helpfull, so that we could fly all the heading we wanted to in order to avoid. About 60 miles from Aberdeen we ask for direct to WICK and get promptly the affirm. We call now Far North Aviation (FBO at Wick) and ask for the current weather: wind 030/06, few at 500, broken at 1'700. Already at 30 miles out, Wick Tower let's us descend to 2'000 feet and clears us for the VOR/DME approach 31, direct approach via the DME arc. We fly direct to a 10miles final point and turn there to the inbound course. At 2'000 feet we are out of clouds and continue visual, as the instrument approach is offset to runway 31.

Prices in EGSC: Fuel price: £ 1.32 per liter. Landing fee: £18.50

Prices in EGPC: Fuel price: £ 1.03 per liter. Landing fee and overnight: £32.--, raft rental: £100.--

05.06.05

EGPC - BIRK

Take off at 11:12LT, clearance to 2'000 feet and then after contact with Scottish Control straight climb to FL120. The cleared routing is as planned: direct DEVBI - RATSU - EL (NBD inbound to BIRK). Initially we have as predicted about 15kts headwind, which is gradually increasing to 25kts. Until the ALDAN intersection we were loosing about 20 minutes to our flight plan. So we have to decide: either be over BIRK with fuel for 25 minutes or land in BIVM with all the legal reserves.

BIVM is a cool airfield with very friendly people. After immigration we get the airplane filled up with 289 Liter, i.e. there was fuel left for about 50 minutes after landing. We go to the tower and file a quick flight plan to BIRK via phone.

In BIRK runway 31 is in use and we get cleared for a straight-in visual approach. After 28 minutes flight time we land in BIRK, where a cute girl from flight services is waving us in to our parking position. The hotel Loftleidir is just 50m from our parked airplane and we got even a room with a view on it.

Prices in BIRK: Fuel price: ? per liter. Landing fee and overnight: ?, handling charge: CHF 250.--

11.06.05

BIRK - BIRK

Take off at 16:56, clearance to FL110 and direct to RATSU.

12.06.05

BIRK - EGPC

Take off at 16:56, clearance to FL110 and direct to RATSU.

Landing in Wick after four hours and 36 minutes.

Andrew from Far North Aviation (http://www.farnorthaviation.cu.uk) was very helpful, transmitting the latest weather on the company frequency 130.375 MHZ to us, having a car and hotel reservation for us ready upon arrival. The most dangerous part of the journey was to drive an english car on the left side of the road at night and in rain showers downtown to Wick to the hotel (Harbor Café) Andrew reserved for us.

13.06.05

EGPC – EBOS