North Atlantic Crossing Video

[Piloto]

Excellent video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w-v1lipBpM&NR=1 of a North Atlantic Crossing. This Mooney Acclaim was configured with the Monroy tanks (130 gals total), no ferry tanks. Gives you an idea of what a Mooney can do.

José

[TurboExec]

Very cool, that is one trip that I would like to make some time.....

[debiassi]

Monroy tanks arent essential, only if you want to do the direct hop to Iceland thus bypassing Greenland. the crossing from Goose Bay to Narsarsuaq is 670 miles. Almost any Mooney can make that hop with legal reserves. Stringent flightplanning is of course essential. I am just planning a trip rom Willmar Minnesota to the UK via Goose Bay, Narsarsuaq, Keflavik, Vargar and Aahrus in Denmark before crossing direct to the UK. West to East crossings are generally assisted by favourable tailwinds and the anticipated leg times will be in the region of 3.5 hours which is well withhin the Bravo's capability with IFR reserves.

[Piloto]

I agree that Narsarsuaq is reachable from Goose Bay with the standard tanks. But what about coming back to Goose Bay? You may face 50kts headwinds as shown on the G1000 below (upper corner 49kts shown as a tail wind) and ocassionally at http://aviationweather.gov/iffdp/fdwndh.phpt.  With the Monroy tanks you have more flexibility with the winds. Otherwise you may have to stay at Narsarsuaq or Rekjavik until the winds wind down. And BTW Narsarsuaq rates are not cheap check at    http://iserit.greennet.gl/bgbw/reservation.html 100LL at $16/gallon and don't even think stoping by on weekends or holidays (they have a bunch of these) they will rip you off.

Jose

 

[debiassi]

The good thing I have on my side is that I wont be in a hurry to make a trip on any given Day. Its easy to check the winds aloft and pick a suitable day on which to make the trip. Also, the winds for this particular route are predominantly from west to east and are usually more favourable for an eastbound crossing but of course not always. I am aware of the fuel cost not just in Narsarsuaq but the whole of Greenland have extortionate prices but it doesnt warrant the cost of fitting either ferry tanks or Monroy tanks just for the purpose of making the crossing one way. I am assuming the G1000 in the picture may be from an acclaim but as you can see, at altitude, that still returns a healthy 197 ground speed eastbound. Even at 180kts ground speed, its still only a 3.5 hour crossing from Goose.

[Piloto]

The G1000 on the picture is from an Ovation with Monroy Tanks (130 gals). The flight was at FL 170 and that explains the low MP. At FL 170 it can easily makes 16nm/gal ROP. At LOP you can get 19nm/gal but it slows to 150knots. As you can see on the picture I had over 3/4 fuel at about 1/3 of the trip. This particular plane had TKS which takes about 5kts of the top speed. Woodward services at Goose Bay are very good and reasonably priced. The girl at the front desk also does Canadian Customs entry registration if you have called in advance. Preheat and coffee is included in your handling services. Excellent service.

José

 

[debiassi]

Looks fantastic Jose, I would love to see some more details of your trip. Please feel free to email me or pm me.

 

[debiassi]

I have now just completed my trip which was an amazing experience. Feel free to view the video of the trip. Best level TAS was 215 at FL190. We had constant 10kth headwinds for the majority of the trip until Faroe then we picked up a 15kt tailwind. The longest leg was 3.50 which was Kulusuk to Eggilstadir