Page 13 - April 23

“Sometimes you’ve just got to dig deep and find a way out.”
full force between Greenland and Iceland at FL300 at 10 p.m. and put on a show that seemed to be just for me. It was the most incredible show that anyone would have appreciated.
Five: You Meet the Most Interesting People
People that fly the NAT are unusual, and that’s the way I like it. Pilots that fly the NAT want to see all this world has to offer in three dimensions. If you are reading this, you already appreciate the third dimension because you are one of the small minority of people who own an airplane or are a pilot. Interesting people are found all over the NAT.
Four: Experience
“No Turning Back” Scenarios
I’ve had a windshield completely crack over the NAT. I’ve flown into Narsarsuaq when I experienced unexpected severe turbulence. I’ve been over the Greenland Icecap when Nuuk went 200 OVC due to a cloud layer coming in from the Davis Strait. I’ve diverted to an alternate where I had no choice but to land because there simply was not enough fuel to go anywhere else. In the lower 48, if you are at FL200 or above, you are usually in gliding distance to a runway somewhere. Over the NAT, you are rarely within gliding distance of anything resembling a flat, dirt surface.
The NAT will definitely make you think. I recently read the book “Failure is not an Option” by Gene Kranz from the U.S.’s early days in space. It articulated situations within our space program when there seemed to be no “out” of a bad situation. But with Gene’s leadership and many brilliant minds in Mission Control partnering with astronauts in the spacecraft, they came up with the idea that got them out of a jam. Such is the mentality of a ferry pilot over the NAT. Sometimes you’ve just got to dig deep and find a way out. Options are few and many times there’s no turning back.
APRIL 2023
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 11