Departure weather in Iceland this morning was pretty good, though there were plenty fo clouds along the way. BIRK METAR showed winds 340 at 4 knots, unlimited visibility, except for a few clouds at 3500 feet, and scattered layers above at 5600 feet. Today's leg was 573 nautical miles across the lonely North Atlantic. Actually it wasn't that lonely, because I was able to tune into the HF bands and listen to the airliners overhead check in with long reports - apparently they do this every 300 miles or so...which is about every 45 minutes for those big jets.
Because there would be very few landmarks (in fact none over water), my plan for the day was pretty much as with the previous leg fly a rhumbline course corrected for average magnetic declination. A look at the winds aloft forecasts showed I would be flying into, or actually across an area of low pressure. The winds would be blowing one way for part of the flight, and would be changing directions throughout.
So I hoped for the best and forged on without making any corrections for wind. After refueling at Iceland Combined Air Operations FBO (48.136 gallons of 100LL for only $3.60/gallon), I received a weather report for the Hebrides - Stornoway reporting winds 310 at 10 knots, clear skies, few clouds at 2600 feet. Sounds like lovely weather and I would need it since my arrival would be after sunset. I cranked up Six-Five-Mike, taxied to Runway 13 and took off. The view of Iceland as I climbed to 7500 feet was pretty nice.
The rest of flight was bumpy at times but nevertheless quite pleasant and there's wasn't much to do but drink coffee above the lull of the purring engine, and imagine where the heavies were when they checked in at ALDAN, ATSIX, and GONUT (my favorite!).
As the evening wore on and the sun set, nighfall and clouds were my only companions. The faint ident of STN VOR awoke in me once again a sense of civilization. The winds had died down a little but not enough to compell me to sideslip a little on final just to shake off the rustiness of the long overwater flight. And after landing I realized then that I had done it - I had flown across the Atlantic in a single-engine Piper Cub. I have many more miles to go, but if I stopped now at least I'd know this accomplishment.
The final tally for the day was 573 nautical miles in 5 hours 19 minutes. I burned on average 9.02 gallons per hour and averaged 108 knots ground speed today, not bad.
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