Around the world in Cessna 182


December 28, 2003
Maniitsoq, Greenland (BGMQ) to Kulusuk, Greenland (BGKK)

I have decided to go ahead and fly another leg of my long trip today even thought the darkness had fallen. At this latitude (65o 30" North) it is possible to fly at least part of this leg in the daylight at this time of the year, but I would have to start at exactly the right time and even then, the day would mostly be like dusk and the view not all that good. One day, I might come back and traverse this land during the summer (maybe when I am repeating this using FS2010).

Since this was a night flight and I had plenty of fuel (the flight was short) and especially since it was cold and the air was dense, I decided to see how high can my 182S go. I climbed relatively fast to 12,000 ft. and then set the climb rate to 100 ft/min and kept climbing until my air speed reached 60 kn. I have then decided to stop as the plane was getting close to the stall speed. Much to my amazement, I was able to climb to 19,620 ft. Of course, if I was to attempt this in real 182S, I would have to have an oxygen mask as the cabin is not pressurized (and maybe a parachute as well, just in case), but in the simulator I did not have to worry about those things. At that altitude, the temperature was -36 F and I had the tail wind blowing at > 60 kn. Once I started to descend to much more reasonable 12,500 ft. I made another record. Due to the strong tail wind my ground speed was 185 kn (at the air speed of 145 kn). One more for the books.

The approach and the landing to Kulusuk were uneventful. I chose the runway 29 as the wind was coming from the West-Northwest. Oh and BTW, the runway was longer than the one I took off from, but it was not paved. It is always something.

Ready for a takeoff at the Maniitsoq airport

Leaving Maniitsoq

Moon over Greenland

Final approach to Kulusuk

On the ground, in one piece

Parked at the Kulusuk airport next to Moonie
List of countries:

Greenland

Flight log:


Produced and maintained by Peter Askovich.
Last updated December 20, 2003