Leg 5
Alert to Qikiqtarjuaq 18th December 2002
Wednesday 18th December and, to be honest, I'd
been dreading this leg.
The prospect of another long haul in permanent night,
with little of interest in the way of screenshots didn't inspire me at all.
Fortunately, I was proved wrong.
I decided to give Weathermaker a try as my internet
access prohibited me being on-line when I wanted to take off. I refuelled the
Baron (I owe those passing penguins a few fish.. ;-)) and lined up on the
runway. At least I assumed I was lined up on the runway because with blanket fog
everywhere, it was very difficult to tell!
I dialled 12,000 feet into the autopilot as a cruise
altitude. This leg spanned 898nm and didn't give me much cause for concern
regarding fuel, and took off at 11.41a.m. local time.
The fog was at it's worst at ground level and cleared
sufficiently for me to see that Alert has some hefty mountains close by which I
decided to clear without the autopilot being on...just in case.
I reached 12,000 feet some minutes later and took a
look at my new temperature gauge. At this point I must give a BIG thankyou to
Dani Backhaus who took the time to program me a gauge that would toggle between
Centigrade and Fahrenheit. It's a strange thing that hadn't occurred to me
before requesting this gauge, but the English at least, tend to refer to cold
weather in degrees Centigrade, and hot weather in Fahrenheit. Anyway, I digress.
The readout told me it was an unbelievable -66C!! I
pulled my emergency temperature early warning system out of my bag and placed
him on the seat. (He's a brass monkey called `Alfie` <Grin>)
After a few hours of fairly boring flight the
temperature rose to around -44 degrees. I was back in on-line availability time
and decided to revert to Activesky for real weather. The result was interesting
in that the temperature as reported for real weather was only one degree
different at 43. The one thing that did occur when I changed to Activesky was a
fabulous display of the Northern lights. I know I've already posted a few pics
of this phenomenon but I couldn't resist a couple more.
Shortly afterwards, the darkness beneath me (I was over
the sea at this point) was replaced by a picturesque blanket of cloud. It's hard
to describe, but I couldn't help but feel a sense of complete tranquility. I'm
not sure the screenshot does it justice but it's marked in my mental diary as
another of those unexpected moments FS2002 sometimes bestows.
However the weather is a fickle friend and I soon found
myself in thick, unrelenting fog. This gave me a few worries. I was about an
hour away from my destination airfield, Qikiqtarjuaq (try saying that after a
beer!) and it has no ILS, or VOR. All I had to work with for a landing was the
GPS and an NDB. The prospect of attempting this blind did nothing for my
confidence!
With half an hour to go, the fog lifted to a light mist
with a significant increase in temperature, and another brief display of the
Northern lights. I started my descent with a cautious eye on the GPS. The thing
that was worrying me at that point was that Qikiqtarjuaq is right on the coast
in an inlet. I had no idea how high the surrounding terrain was and how much
room I'd have to line up an approach.
Then it started snowing. "That'll help!" I
thought cheerily. (Actually I made that up - I wasn't at all cheery).
With only 10nm to go I could just see the
outline of some fairly high cliffs on either side of the inlet. No sign of any
runway lights though. I lowered the speed, dropped the flaps and let the
undercarriage down as I flew closer in, still with no sight of the runway.
Roughly 2nm out, I spotted it through the snow. Some
swift corrections to the course and altitude kept me busy but I finally landed
safely without too much fuss. There were some vague hints of dusk in the sky
through the last 20 minutes of the flight and I sincerely hope I can catch a
little daylight here. From what little I can see, I suspect this place looks
quite spectacular. I'll do my best to get some screenshots before departing for
the next leg if possible.
For now, I'm heading for the bar and Alfie's gone in
search of a welder. :)
Screenshots
1) I haven't moved since my last screenshot - the NDB is in there somewhere!
2) I'm about to disengage the autopilot and clear the rise.
3) Cruise altitude and look at the temperature!!
4) The Northern lights.
5) Really tranquil..
6) Just awesome.
7) Fog as I begin my descent.
8) Fog clears to reveal the lights again.
9) And then a mixture of the two.
10) Snow falls as a hint of daylight creeps into the sky.
11) If you look VERY closely directly beneath the Baron - you can just make out the inlet.
(This was about all I had to work with forming an approach too).
12) Safely down.
13) I bet this place looks great in daylight.
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