Hampton to Pago Pago Leg 2 - Gander to Trondheim, Vaernes (almost): I had planned on hopping across the Atlantic in a few 3-4 hour flights…then I got real. The number of airfields that can take a 707 (long enough runway to take off with a decent fuel load) are few and far between when you start getting that far north. So I decided to make one big hop all the way to Norway (and get some use out of my EVNA scenery).
Still, not wanting to just see water all the way, I decided to take the scenic tour, going by Greenland and Iceland before crossing the Norwegian Sea to Trondheim. A kind of reverse Lief Erikson.
Fuel…Unfortunately my authentic AA 707 Pilot’s Manual (eBay) doesn’t include fuel calculation tables. I put what I though would be a conservative burn rate into SkyVector, but it seemed a little light. I tried FuelPlanner.com and it gave me some better numbers with an hour plus reserve so I went with that.
Take off was nominal…
OK a bit of an over rotation when I got airborne, but that was mostly for the screen shot.
I had practiced a bit with the CVIA so navigation-wise I was pretty good. I had a couple long stretches over water (one 500+ Nm) so I was only planning on using the Doppler on the shorter legs/over land.
Hit the souther tip of Greenland right on track. Things were looking good.
It wasn’t long until I saw Iceland in the distance…
…then it all went to heck.
While turning knobs with the CVIA to get GS for the end of a leg, I accidentally hit “Align”…you are not supposed to do that. Now I know why some of the older jets have two or even three CVIAs. My alignment was gone and while I could certainly get across Iceland, that 500+ Nm leg over water was right after I left Iceland airspace.
Plus I was starting to worry about fuel. About an hour into the flight I did some usage calculations that showed I had more that 5 hours fuel at my current usage…
…plus as the plane got lighter, I went a bit higher and my PPH dropped a bit. Good News.
Approaching Iceland it looked like I could make it but would be cutting items reserve. And now, without an INS…I was 29 Nm from the only runway that can take a 707 in well over a thousand miles…discretion being the better part of valor (or so they say) I decided to divert to Keflavik (BIKF).
I used a published approach ILS / DME RWY 29… downwind leg (109ºM/3000 Ft) north of the airfield, with BIKF off my right wing…(looking down RWY 20)…
…on final and all dirtied up…
…decelerating to Vref, on course, on GS…why does there always seem to be a cloud in the way?
…touchdown, thrust reverse, spoilers and gentle brakes.
Taxied to the stand and shut down. The ORBX Europe scenery combined with UT2 make for a fairly immersive experience.
What’s next? This was my second flight where I experience an issue with “old time” navigation systems. OK, both were operator error but still, dual INS systems would have saved the day. I need to go through my virtual hangar to see if there is another aircraft that has dual CIVAs before I “finish” this flight. Until then, TWA Flight 701 will be at the gate.
