As the airline would take us home later that day, it was time to make our way back into the Boston area. After another morning run we went to the airport to get the TBM ready for a last flight of this adventure. As Boston Logan isnt very general aviation friendly and charges 600 USD for a landing, we chose the Lawrence Airfield right next to Boston as our final destination. The ride was short and smooth and with a last very windy landing we touched ground for the last time. A non-alcoholic beer right on the apron next to the field concluded this epic 8 days journey across the Atlantic.
In summary we flew 7 legs and more than 4000 miles across 6 countries within 8 days. We experienced Scotland, the amazing nature with its geysirs and waterfalls and endless widths of Iceland, the northern Lights and Icebergs and wonderful people in Greenland and the impressive coast line of Maine as well as the beautiful mountain area around Burlington. All worked as planned and the weather could not have been more perfect. We had blue skies in Iceland and Greenland which is anything else than a given in fall.
In Lawrence we said good bye to the TBM which will stay in the US for a while and took a taxi to Logan from where we would fly back to Europe. Packed with many exciting memories and some amazing photos. And already some ideas for a next trip.
Flying in the US is as simple as it gets. We spontaneously decided to follow the sun and add one more destination to our trip before heading back to Europe the day after. The choice was Burlington, Vermont. A very short 40 minutes hop from Portland. The flight planning was completed within minutes and the flight plan submitted and accepted. So drove back to the Portland Jetport, returned the car, walked to the General Aviation Terminal and got the TBM ready for another trip. The weather forecast for Burlington was good, however for our arrival some very low clouds have been reported. Burlington is embedded into some impressive mountains with high terrain. Flying here in low visibility is possible with instruments flying but not necessarily what one is looking for.
We started the engine and took off towards west and after a very short cruise started our decent into Burlington. The weather was clear all the way but low clouds were hanging directly over the airport. The approach here is impressive and leads across some high mountain peaks. We dove into the clouds and slided down the approach to break out of the clouds just a few hundred feet above the runway.
Greeted with a red carpet and very friendly personnell we got our lugage, had the FBO lady drive us to the rental car station and drove directly to the city. As the AirBnB wasnt ready that early we decided to make good use of our time and the beautiful weather and rent 3 bikes to cruise along the shores of Lake Champlain. A beatiful bike track along the shores, beaches through woods and across a long dam. We drove until the trail ended and stopped on one of the beautiful beaches on the way back
After returning the bikes we made our way through the city and to our house for the night. Burlington is a pretty city with a lot of historic buildings, a big university and a beautiful old town. Everything is clean and well maintained. There plenty of ski resorts around the city and it feels a little bit like central Europe or Switzerland. Definitely a recommendation for a short trip.
Another non-fly day after two long legs from Greenland to Canada to Portland the day before. We decided to explore the beaches around Portland and the city itself. We started the day with the usual morning run around Bideeford Pool – a small village south of Portland where we rented a rather run down house close to the shore. The run along the waterfront, through the woods and across the beach was wonderful. After another healthy breakfast we took the car to Portland. Portland is a fishermen city and and eldorado for all seafood lovers. We finally got our Lobster Rolls here and visited the piers. While the beaches and nature in the area are nice, the city itself is not really a highlight. The omni-present weed-smell aside, there is a small old town, an artist district and the waterfront with the piers and some fish stores and restaurants.
As there isnt too much to see or do around here and as we still had a few day left until the airline would take us home, we spontaneously decided to to add another destination. After a look at the wather map and suitable airports within a 2hrs radius we decided for Burlington, Vermont. So we went to bed early to get some rest before another flight the next day.
After a phenomenal day in Greenland including sailing the Fjord of Nuuk with Icebergs, it was time to move on. While flying from Germany to Scotland to Iceland to Greenland is rather hazzle free, things become a bit more complicated once entering the american continent. For Canada (our first destination) we require a visa waiver upfront (comparable to the US ESTA) plus private flights require an announcement via phone before take-off. This means calling an officer, spelling all the crew names, birth dates, passport numbers, destination and arrival airport and so on. For the US it gets even more complicated: Flying to the US in a private airplane is only possible with valid B1/B2 visas for all crew members plus it requires a customs decleration (online) plus a call prior to leaving the origin country. Means: Its illegal to fly into the US without the prior customs calls where one gets a landing permit – this will become a challenge for us that day.
Back to Greenland: We left the house early towards the airport. Despite temperatures around the freezing point, the plane was not frozen and did not require de-icing. Greenland is as mentioned before mostly un-controlled airspace and so is the airport (even though its the international airport of the capital). This means there is not tower controller providing instructions but pilots decide on their own.
We took off towards the north and turned west, taking course towards Canada. The two and a half hours flight took us across the Atlantic pretty straight into Newfoundland towards Goose Bay. Goose Bay is a huge military airport and mainly used for re-fueling as there is not much else (and you dont want to get stuck there). Our plan was to just re-fuel and immediately continue towards Portland (Maine). We were however unable to reach the customs officer (even though they should be available 24/7) and despite countless calls over the course of an hour and various other numbers and mails we were not able to get our landing permission for the US. Entering the US without a customs landing permit is absolutely illegal – we were stuck. So we had to delay our flight plan while we still hoped for the clearance. After an hour we gave up and re-routed our flight to Groton where we were able to get a hold of customs and a customs clearance.
We finally took off with more then one hour delay and continued our flight over Canadas North. The plane has a satellite phone on-board and we gave the Portland customs call one more chance. The officer finally picked up and gave us the landing permission – in flight. ATC (Air Traffic Control) accepted our request to divert to Portland and hence we were able to continue as planned – with some delay. Once landed in Portland we had to park at the customs office where the officer from the phone inspected us, checked our Visas, checked the plane and gave us some dinner tips for Portland. We then started the engine again to taxi across the airport to our parking stand.
We picked up our rental car and drove to our home in Biddeford Pool. The next day is a ground day to explore Biddeford and Portland.
We are in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland which only counts 40.000 inhabitants. After exploring the city where there is plenty of construction going on and dinner we were lucky on the way back to our home to see the Aurora (Arctic lights). They came as a total suprise and we were lucky to just at this moment pass a hill which we spontaneously climbed. The view was amazing (see pictures – they are not photoshopped or filtered!).
On day two we rented a boat and went for a fjord cruise to explore the icebergs. The views were incredible despite very cold temperatures (2C).
Tomorrow (Saturday) we will continue our journey. Our current planning is to cross the Atlantic further to the west and fly to Goose Bay (Canada) where we will re-fuel (and clear immigration even though we only want to transit but Canada doesnt foresee that) and then continue to the US (Portland, Maine).
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.
Today was a land day. We started it with a phenomenal early morning sunrise run across the shores of Reykjawik before heading to the famous Blue Lagoon – a geothermic spring fed thermal bath embedded into a surreal environment of volcanic stones. The 40C warm water was the perfect warm-up considering the temperature drop of 20C we experienced yesterday between Stuttgart and Reykjawick.
After a good 2 hours in the warm water we continued our sightseeing tour to Geysir (thats the name of the village – the Geysirs around the world are named after it) and then on to an impressive waterfall. We were lucky to hit a day with blue sky and not so many tourists as the peak season is already over here.
The nature here is very divers with amazing views along the coast. Defintely a place to come back. Tomorrow we will continue our journey from here to Nuuk – the capital of Greenland. The latest weather report looks promising and we are confident to be able to make the trip which will take us pretty much straight west across open water for just shy of 3 hours towars the west coast of Greenland.
After a rather extensive security check at the Stuttgart General Aviation Terminal we loaded and prepared the plane and took off in grey and rainy weather. Our first leg took us from Germany over Belgium and across the English Channel, across London and onwards to Scotland (Prestwick). This flight took us close to 3hrs. Scotland greeted us with the typical rainy and cold weather – which didnt matter that much as we anyway just planned to re-fuel and leave again. After a quick break we took off again and flew across Scotland before leaving the coast and heading across the open Atlantic Ocean towards Iceland.
We faced some strong headwinds on the way and a very windy landing after an approach with snow, icing and some moderate turbulences. After another 3 hours we touched ground after a very gusty final approach. Iceland greeted us with chilly temperatures, strong winds and rain. We cleared immigration (very pragmatic process), locked up the plane before taking over our rental car and making the way to the rental apartment downtown.
Day 2 will be a land day with some sight seeing in Iceland before continuing our journey to Greenland.
We got asked quite a few times why someone would take the risk, money and time to cross the Atlantic in a single engine plane. Good question, given the facts that such a trip defnitely comes with signficantly bigger risks than going to the grocery store and costs a multiple of an airline ticket. At the same time our plane offers less comfort, the trip takes much longer (4-5 days) and is mentally demanding and full of uncertainties.
So here is why:
We have to: Our plane needs some technical upgrades and the company specialized on performing the work sits in the US (close to Boston). Hence the plane has to get over there – and eventually also back. But as the modifications will take multiple weeks we for now just fly it over, will return by airline and eventually bring it back at a later point in time.
We want to: Flying is our passion, and we love being up in the air and challenge our brains.
We like to explore the world: Iceland, Greenland and the very far north of Canada are remote areas people usually dont get to easily. While Iceland had a bit of a touristic hypes the last years, its still today complicated and very expensive to get to places like Nuuk (Greenland). Seeing the Icebergs and how people live there is a very impressive experience.
It keeps us fit: Flying requires constant training and experience. A trip into challenging areas with new airports, procedures, weather conditions is like a training boot camp that helps to stay current.
We love Lobster Roll: At least one of us. And they are hard to get anywhere in the world but in the Maine / Boston area. Hence to get one, we have to go there.
So in summary we combine the duty with the pleasure and are looking forward to a week of new impressions.
Our trip is getting closer and while there is still something to do, we are getting there: The optimal route plus alternate options are planned – the weather will decide when we are able to land where. Accomodation and rental car for Iceland are booked. The plane has been checked, emergency equipment is loaded, navigation charts are downloaded and accomodation and rentral car for Iceland are booked.
A flight across the atlantic and some of the remote areas of the world in a single engine plane is a bit more complex than flying with an airline. We have to take care of everything ourselves. This includes:
Flight planning and flight plan submissions
Organizing all kind of documents for immigration, customs, …
Ordering customs at our departure airport (Federal Police)
Instructing the handling company to pull the company out of the hangar and fuel it up
Organizing parking and fueling at our airports along the way
Organizing hotels and rental cars / transportation from/to the airports (especially in greenland and northern Canada options are very limited)
Last but not least: There is no on-board catering, hence we have to bring our own food and drinks
The most important things are planned and ready. For the last 24 hours we are mainly observing weather reports and will file the flight plans accordingly. Currently it looks very good for our first two legs from Stuttgart to Prestwick (Schottland) and then onwards to Reykjavik (Iceland). Both is planned for the first day. As we are flying with the sun, we benefit from long days and with that longer flight legs.
