Packing for an Atlantic Crossing in a private, single engine plane slightly differs from packing for a trip in a comfy seat in a wide body arliner. Not only do we have to bring our food and drinks – there is also no toilet on board and besides our personal belongings we also need to prepare for all kind of scenarios. Some of them are not very tempting: Like an emergency landing somewhere in the outback – or in the cold Atlantic Ocean.
So what does one pack for such a trip?
- First of all we need all kind of cloths. While we will take off in late summer 20C (80F) weather in Germany, it might already get pretty cold in Schotland (our first stop) and not only cold but also rainy and windy in Iceland. Greenland in September gets as cold as -7C during night and a max of 0C during the day – hence gloves, caps, warm cloths are a good idea.
- Talking snow and ice: They dont go well with planes and like the airliners we need to de-ice the plane if required. So we will bring ice scratchers but also de-icing liquid and a spray-pump as well as additives for the fuel which builds crystals under a certain temperature.
- For the case of an emergency we will have survival suites, a self-inflating raft, emergency position beacons and other emergency equipment which we will hopefully not use.
- Flying privately also requires quite some paperwork (licenses for pilots and planes, medicals, permits, visas, passports) and navigation equipment like navigation charts, navigation software on ipads, flight planning software and so on
- And last but not least: We will spend quite some time in the air, hence we will bring some food, drinks, music and portal “toilets” – which we usually dont use but better be safe
Our flight planning is progressing and the long term weather forecasts look promising for our planned route (Schottland, Iceland, Greenland (Nuuk), Goose Bay, USA). We did already book the accomodation and rental car for our first stopover in Iceland and also the famouse Blue Lagoon is booked. We are now organizing logistics like flight plans, parking for the plane and are familiarizing us with the route and arrival / departure procedurs along the route.