From Greenland to Iceland one loses 2 hours – but we managed to get to Iceland by about 1700 UTC (and local)
Handling agent was very helpful.We fuelled up and got a taxi into town. I asked for the airplane to be triple tied down as gusts of 40 kts forecast for Saturday.
It was obvious from the forecast that it was another day off – Oh No Syd’s going to want to find some museums;-)
Day off (Saturday) dawns and I am dragged out to get some culture. Eventually we compromised on a big red bus tour – the rain was completely horizontal and my companion wanted to go for a bracing walk. Actually its a good way to get a quick absorption of local info. There is a museum on a hill overlooking Reykjavik called Perlan – a glass and steel dome sitting on some huge geothermal tanks. Its a museum and had a planetarium which gave a 20 minute show of the Aurora Borealis – fantastic – now seen the best Northern Lights !!
Evening meal – burger, lamb loin and two beers each – £90 ah well they dont have any banks left and not much cod.
I am afraid I didn’t save the meteo images which would have explained the go/no go dilemmas but here is an early forecast for the Saturday which shows Iceland covered with a low. In fact it arrived as expected but the low was about 980 with very tight isobars much more severe than this forecast from earlier in the week hence the 40-50 kts
So the story was the same as always – sit it out and look for a gap
Clear weather existed from about 1900 Saturday until about 0700 Sunday after which another low/depression charged in bringing rain and wind. More important to us was the icing level which was about 2000ft.
Radar Sunday 0630 – rain front moving in
Sunday we planned out at 0700 only to be told ‘airport doesn’t open until 0800. Hakum the nice guy in the FBO agreed to open up early so we could prep and be ready to roll just after 0800. Complications with flightplan (in the system but tower couldn’t see it) meant we eventually took off about 0825. Eventually climbed up to 15000 with deicing full on for a while but no dramas – easier than expected.
We managed around 200 kts ground speed for much of the journey to Wick with at times a 50knot quartering tailwind – At one stage we got 224 knots GS – It’s about 640 nautical miles Reykjavik to Wick so the tailwind was very welcome.
Wick is only open for about 2 hours on Sunday to receive a scheduled Loganair. We had arranged with FarNorth (as efficient as ever) that we could arrive outside hours. Wx on arrival 30 knots gusting 40 20-30 degrees off runway heading
In the end managed a respectable arrival without drama. Drew Murray (Far North) arranged for the plane to be put in a hangar overnight which, given the wind, was a blessing. Off into town for the hotel and evening meal. Home tomorrow hopefully.