Our 3rd leg took us from Iceland to Greenland. A roughly 3 hours flight across the open Atlantic and later the rough terrain of Greenland. The weather was again good and the routing took us pretty direct west. Greenland airspace is mostly uncontrolled which means navigation at own discretion and not guided by ATC (Air Traffic Control). When reaching the west coast of Greenland with wonderful views of the surroundings, we informed Nuuk Tower that we will do some “sightseeing flying” over the bay.
The scenery of greenlands coast is impressive. Shortly after we started the approach into Nuuk International airport (the only international flights depart to Iceland). After parking the plane we experienced the Greenlandian “pragmatism” – made made our way by foot over the Apron towards the Airport, found an unlocked door, walked through the empty security area and ended in the terminal.
Earlier when planning this flight we already noticed a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) mentioning planned “blastings” in the airport proximity. We now learnt that the Nuuk airport currently is being extended (longer rundway for bigger jets). Leveling the rocky terrain takes some hard measures and hence the mountains are being blasted away. This means flying rocks in the air and as our plane parked right next to the blasting area, we were asked to come back later that day to move it to a safe location while the blastings take place.
So we went to our (incredible) house, explored Nuuk and later went back to the Airport where we were able to convince the marshaller to tow the plane with his Pick-up truck. We tied the plane to the middle of the runway and waited for the blast (see video). A certainly unique experience which will repeat the next day.
