Around the world in 30 days

There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no OLD-BOLD pilots…..

Got to the airport, not as early as I would have liked, but got there all the same.  Re-calculated the fuel requirements and added another margin of safety over and above what we already had, re-did the weight and balance (mass and balance), re-distributed the survival gear for easy access and then refueled the plane.  Decided to check the weather one more time….. icing forecasted for 70% of the 9 hour flight and our plane’s de-icing endurance is max of 2 hours and the plane is NOT certified for flight into known icing conditions.  It took about 5 minutes of studying weather charts and then 30 seconds to verify our findings and scrub the flight.  We will fly another day…..

Haris kept bugging me to get the plane tied down.  Upon checking the weather forecast, found out the winds will be 30 knots today and tomorrow.  We talked with the good people at Woodward Aviation and they informed us that they do not have tie downs but they can put it in a hangar for an arm and a leg.  We decided that we don’t want to take a chance and get crazy canuck winds damage the plane…. time to hunker down and  relax in beautiful, frigid, windy Goose Bay….a town that has no Geese – not even a Goose (maybe they have all migrated South to the US for the summer, except summer has not made it to Goose Bay).  Just saw three canucks try to push and pull the plane towards a hangar.  I had to run out and tell them to use a tug and not push and pull on wings and tip tanks…..need to watch anyone and everyone that comes close to our plane …..