Atlantic Crossing Proposed Schedule/Fuel

Day 1 - Thursday 8/31 - Long day of flying to get a good jump on the trip
5h56m total flying
2h24m - 33.6 gal - 1st stop CYFC Lincoln, New Brunswick, Canada to clear customs
1h26m - 20.1 gal - 2nd stop CYZV Sept-Îles, Quebec
1h40m - 23.3 gal - 3rd stop CYKL Shefferville, Quebec. Hotel for the night. Fill to 66 gal before departure for tomorrow's fuel stops


Day 2 - Friday 9/1 - Another long day of flying, super early start required to arrive in Greenland by 6pm before airport closes
5h48m total flying
1h18m - 18.2 gal - 1st stop CYVP Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Canada for rest stop. Aim to have 47.7 gal on arrival. No fuel taken
1h50m - 25.7 gal - 2nd stop CYFB Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada. Aim to have 22 gal on arrival. Fill +54 gal (fuel sold in drums only) to 76 gal
2h40m - 37.3 gal - 3rd stop BGSF Sondre Stromfjord, west coast Greenland for fuel. Must arrive by 6pm. Hotel for the night

Day 3 - Saturday 9/2 - Get across Greenland to Iceland. Spend afternoon and night in Reykjavik
4h13m total flying
1h54m - 26.6 gal - 1st stop BGKK Kulusuk, east coast Greenland for fuel and to stretch legs
2h19m - 32.4 gal - 2nd stop BIRK Reykjavik, Iceland. Hotel for the night.


Day 4 - Sunday 9/3 - Easy day of flying to Edinburgh, Scotland
4h30m total flying
3h30m - 49 gal - 1st stop EGPC Wick, Scotland for fuel and customs
0h54m - 12.6 gal - 2nd stop EGPH Edinburgh. Hotel for the night.


Day 5 - Monday 9/4 - Short hop to Berlin
3h15m total flying
3h15m - 45.5 gal - 1st stop EDAY Berlin


Day 6 - Tuesday 9/5 - To Barcelona
4h48m total flying
4h48m - 67.2 gal - 1st stop LELL Sabadell

Ditching

Everyone crossing large bodies of water outside glide distance from land should have a good idea of how to ditch the aircraft safely and what to do to stay alive and get rescued.

Here are some ditching myths and resources.

Equipment

Life Raft: I'll be carrying a 4 person Revere Aero Life Raft

Dry Bag: I'll also have a dry bag ready to go with survival essentials

Complete gear list for reference.

Dry Bag Contents

Compiled from sites in the Atlantic Crossing Resources list, here are the items I'll have ready to go in my dry bag:

Flare gun, PLB, handheld aviation ratio, cigarette lighter, food rations, water bottle, flashlight, first aid kit, Swiss Army knife, rope/cord.

Ditching Process

Before landing, make sure dry suits are zipped and life vests are secure but not inflated.

After ditching, exit the airplane with dry bag and life raft. Inflate life jackets. Tether the life raft to the plane and pull cord to inflate.

Get into life raft

Once secure in the raft, cut the line to the plane and remove the PLB from the dry bag and activate.

Secure the PLB to the raft!

Wait for rescue...

Camera Gear

Here is some of the camera gear I bring along to document flights:

GoPro frame mounts
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014EGXV6U/

GoPro Suction cup mount
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EF3Q8SU/

Cockpit audio cable
This cable allows recording of all cockpit intercom and radio audio during flight.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M3WJSEL/

Extended battery for exterior GoPro
With WiFi on and in the cold temperatures at altitude, the GoPro mounted to the outside of the plane quickly drains its battery. Hopefully this extended battery pack will provide enough juice to keep the camera alive on each flight leg.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O3H05IS/

ND filters to eliminate prop artifacts
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M749MYF/

Atlantic Crossing Gear

Drysuits
With average water temperatures around 4 or 5°C in August, any exposure to the water will be very hard on the body. Survival suits (aka drysuits) are required to be worn during the flight.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0074K36NC/

Dry bag
This bag will be packed with survival gear needed in the event of ditching in the water, including flare gun, PLB, handheld radio, lighters, survival rations, and Swiss Army knife
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071Y32GPQ/

Flare gun
Required by Greenland to be carried by single engine planes
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/orion--12-gauge-high-performance-alerter-basic-4-flare-kit--8665804

PLB
Essential for assuring rescue can quickly locate your life raft. Broadcasts your GPS location to satellites via 406MHz
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006JXY0CQ/

Life vests
Must be worn during flight over water. Set to manual mode so that it cannot inflate inside the airplane when water is coming in.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032ALK36/

Lighters

Food rations
Protein bars, mixed nuts, and gatorade

Rope/cord

Handheld aviation radio
The Yaesu FTA-450L is a great radio and will come in handy as a backup in the plane as well as in the dry bag if we ditch
https://www.pilotmall.com/product/Yaesu-FTA-450L-COMM-ONLY-Li-Ion-Handheld-VHF-Transceiver/transceivers

Gas cans
Since fuel is purchased in drums, it helps to have couple gas cans on board in order to hold on to unused fuel
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DW4YLLK/

Drum pump
Drum pumps are not provided by airports that provide fuel in drums. This is a siphon pump which requires that the container to be filled is lower than the source container. Will probably have to use this to fill the 5 gallon gas cans and use them to transfer fuel to the plane
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00APU2X2S/

Swiss Army knife

Lanyards

Life Raft
Survivability in cold water is very limited as shown here. A drysuit helps greatly but given that rescue could take a very long time to arrive, being out of the water and dry while waiting is essential.
https://www.starmarinedepot.com/revere-aero-life-raft-4-person-compact-with-canopy.html

Atlantic Crossing Route

This is the route I've chosen, with a little help from 220kts.com and other resources. This northern route is required for airplanes without an HF radio. If you fly at FL250 or higher, you can get better VHF coverage and can take a more southerly (and hence more direct) route. The Mooney can do FL250 but it's close to the service ceiling of FL280 and I didn't want to have to huff a ton of oxygen the entire way at that altitude to meet the requirement.

KFRG  CYFC  CYZV CYVP  CYFB  BGSF  BGKK  BIRK  EGPC  EGPH  EDAY  LELL

I collected as much information as I could about each stop using online information, Greenland's AIP, and by calling/emailing each airport.

CYFC - Fredericton International Airport New Brunswick

Good first stop for customs inside Canada

Hours m-f 12-22Z (0800-1800), s-s 13-21Z (0900-1700)

Fuel 100LL $5.80

Landing fees no

Approaches ILS, etc

ATIS 127.55

Tower 119.0

Has customs CANPASS 888-226-7277 hours 12-04Z (0800-0000)
FBO Capital Airways 506-446-3588

CYZV - Sept-Îles

Hours 0800-1800 approx

Fuel yes

FBO 450-443-0500
Fuel man 418-350-1702 call in advance to arrange

CYVP - Kuujjuaq

Hours 1330-22Z (0930-1800)

Fuel by drum only $9/gal - 54 gal drum - Halutik Fuel 819-964-6413/2978

Need drum key and pump

Landing fees ?

FSS 819 964 2841

Contact FSS 15 nm 3200 MSL

Approaches ILS, etc

No tower

FBO no

CYFB - Iqaluit

Hours runway closure 2030-0600

Fuel by drum $4.65/gal - 54 gal drum - Uqsuq Corp 867 222 2855 (867-979-1620 or 867-979-2855)

Landing fees no

Approaches ILS, etc

No tower

FBO Frobisher Bay Touchdown Svcs 123.35 867-979-6226

BGSF - Kangerlussuaq/Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland (west coast)

Hours MON-SAT 1000-1900 UTC EXC SUN/HOL

PPR no

Customs 4 hr prior notice

Fuel ?

Landing fees ?

Approaches LOC/DME

Tower 118.3

Approach 126.2

FBO general terminal

BGKK - Kulusuk (east coast)

Hours MON-SAT 1000-1900 UTC EXC SUN/HOL

PPR 3 hours prior call +299 986901

Fuel 100LL $14.04/gal

Landing fees ?

Start fee $40

Parking $20.50/night

Handling $128 mandatory

Approaches NDB only

Tower no

AFIS 118.1

FBO general terminal

BIRK - Reykjavik

Hours 24 hours

PPR no

Customs 24 hours

Fuel 

Landing fees ?

Approaches ILS, etc.

Tower 118.0

Approach 119.0

ATIS 128.1

FBO 

EGPC - Wick, Scotland

Hours Mon-Thu 0700-2030 (0600-1930); Fri 0815-2030 (0715-1930); Sun 1515-1715 (1415-1615)

PPR yes

Fuel 100LL

Landing fees ?

Approaches ILS, etc.

Tower 119.7

Approach 119.7

ATIS 113.6 (NAV freq)

FBO Far North Aviation Tel: 01955-602201

EGPH - Edinburgh, Scotland

Hours 24 hours

PPR yes

Fuel 100LL

Landing fees ?

Approaches ILS, etc.

Tower 118.7

Approach 121.2

ATIS 131.35

Atlantic Crossing Resources

Some great resources I used in planning my Atlantic crossing adventure:

General Aviation Flying to Europe

AOPA Transatlantic Flights

Atlantic Flight Routes

Atlantic Ferry Flight Checklist

Crossing the Atlantic

I've always dreamed of flying my own plane across the Atlantic to Europe. Making the journey involves a lot of preparation, knowledge, and skill, not to mention time and energy. It seemed like a worthy challenge and when I bought a plane I made sure whatever I purchased would be up to the task.

After 4 years of airplane ownership and several long trips out to California; over water to Honduras, Bahamas, and Puerto Rico; and up to Canada, I've decided I'm ready for the adventure and also at a time in my life perfect to move to Barcelona, a city I've always loved dearly.

I'll be traveling with my friend, adventure buddy, and copilot, Joe. Not only will he be great company but he'll also take on some of the planning and flying workload being a pilot himself.

The route takes us up to northern Canada, across the ocean to Greenland, to Iceland, down to Scotland, and then to mainland Europe. We plan to stop for a day or two in Iceland, a day or so in Scotland, a few days in Berlin, and then finally head to Barcelona.

Planned total distance 4988 nautical miles, planned total flying time approximately 28h 30m.

Check out my plans and progress here in this blog. Click "Newer Post" at the bottom of each page to go on to the next.

Atlantic Crossing Resources
Atlantic Crossing Route
Atlantic Crossing Gear
Camera Gear
Ditching
Atlantic Crossing Proposed Schedule/Fuel
Atlantic Crossing Day 1 KFRG CYFC CYZV CYKL
Atlantic Crossing Day 2 CYKL CYVP CYFB
Atlantic Crossing Day 3 CYFB BGSF BGKK BIRK
Atlantic Crossing Day 4 BIRK EGPC
Atlantic Crossing Day 5 EGPC EDAZ
Atlantic Crossing Day 6 EDAZ LFLP LEGE
Atlantic Crossing Day 7 LEGE LELL
Atlantic Crossing Recap