Stuck in the middle of nowhere

[llondel]

This one just came up on the BBC, a Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit had to put down at Goose Bay, some issue with the de-icing gear?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67699790

[unifoxos]

Saw the title and though it would be about Rishi Sunak

[Ex-Ascot]

Do we still have Goose Bay? Been there many times including a night stop with The Late HRH PP. He had the crew bar in his VIP suite.

[tango15]

Speaking of being in the middle of nowhere, it's gone very quiet on the Russian A320 front, with the one that landed in a field. I saw that they had erected a fence around it, and there was speculation that it was to be parted out, but no further news during the last few weeks.

[1DC]

Speaking of being in the middle of nowhere, it's gone very quiet on the Russian A320 front, with the one that landed in a field. I saw that they had erected a fence around it, and there was speculation that it was to be parted out, but no further news during the last few weeks.

I read recently that they were waiting for the ground to freeze..

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

One can see an Abbott and Costello sketch here:

"Well, the ground's frozen enough to move it.."
"Oh heck, the wheels are frozen in"
"Well, melt the ground around the wheels"
"All we've got is this gasoline"
"So, pour it round them and set it alight"
"Oh heck, the tires are on fire!"
"Quick, put it out with this extinguisher"

"So, how to we move an airliner with flat tires that's welded to the ground with frozen foam?"
"Let's just quietly walk away, deny everything, and blame Imperialist Saboteurs"

[G~Man]

I remember landing in Goose bay back in either November or December 1984 with a Nimrod, we dropped that one off with another crew doing top cover on the aircraft heading to Red Flag, and we stayed with a broken one for a week and ferried it back to Kinloss on 3 engines.

Fun town, but COLD.........

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Only stopped there once, ferrying a C152 to Israel from Arizona.
But all my engine worked, so no worries.

[G-CPTN]

Does a C152 feel mundane after a fast jet?

Did you practice predicting the hours flown at the waypoints?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The flying was very interesting.
The aircraft was about 25% over MAUW on T/O, once the extra fuel tank was fitted (one gets permission from Wichita for that kind of thing).
So, it handled differently throughout the flight, and like a fast jet it was often close to its limits, especially ceiling and therefore stall.
It wouldn't climb above 7,000 fully fueled, for the first hour.
And of course the winds and weather have a very big effect.
Headwinds were a no-no, but if a strong one had sprung up after 8 hours, one could have turned around and RTB with the now proportionately huge tailwind.
I used a whole bunch of stuff I got from very old flying instructors, and the autobiographies of people like Ernest K. Gann and Francis Chichester.
Most of the time was spent reassessing the weather and navigation, as you realised, and looking for alternates and flat bits of ground, plus trying to sound nonchalant on the HF.
I did have one of the early handheld GPSs (Trimble, 1994 - it still works now), but it didn't seem wise to trust it.
That said, the GPS, like the engine and everything else on board (bare minimum IF panel), never missed a beat in 80-odd hours, so that was nice.

[G-CPTN]

Many thanks.