Report:
During our short week in Halifax, Nova Scotia, we witnessed one of the quickest disassembly's of a nuclear plant known to man. While in the hotel room in Halifax this week, I spent a few evenings relaxing watching the Discovery Channel .. some show about engineering feats. I tell ya, I'm sure the Halifax nuclear plant will soon be its own documentary.
So after tooling around the Nova Scotia area for a week, it was time to get on our way to Port Hope Simpson. Weather in Halifax for departure was less than desirable. We had 8 knot winds and a ceiling of 300ft as we headed down the runway. With our Maudite in hand, we lifted off and maintained 7000 for quite a distance down the island. With the overcast skies again blocking out view of Ruud Faber's scenery, we decided to instead enjoy the heavy clouds until we reached the Cabot Strait off the northeastern tip of Nova Scotia.
We climbed to FL270 over the Cabot Strait and stayed there to take advantage of winds aloft until crossing over Newfoundland. It was around this time that I let GZ mind the controls, and in my idleness I picked up the Maudite packaging and got really spooked. Leave it to us to pick out some beer with a legend about Satan in a canoe! From that point on, we literally didn't look back, afraid that somehow this curse would affect us on the way to our logging camp.
Approaching the Strait of Belle Isle, we made a quick descent down to 4,000 about 20 miles out from Port Hope Simpson. Weather was hazy with a 3500 ceiling and mild turbulence. As I turned the Pilatus onto final, we had some crosswinds to deal with. Again as we were about 2 miles out, we hit the magic 15-minute real weather update buffer and visibility dropped considerably. Well, it was really bad there for a second, until I got my bearings. Flaired her out real nice and straddled where the centerline would be, if this little airport believed in paint. At least there is a light or two.
So, Port Hope Simpson is a pretty desolate locale, to be sure. GZ packed up the new inflatable pub in the cargo hold, so at least we'll be able to enjoy some brews while we're here. Looks to be great floatplane territory, so maybe I'll borrow an Aviat and explore the countryside a bit before we head out on that long over-water jaunt to Greenland.
GB
|