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Report:
 On the day of our flight out of Greenland, we spent more time hunting down the flights libation than the actual estimated flight time. Carlsberg might be the only brewery in Nuuk, but their distribution channels only reach so far. Twelve stores, three phone calls and about four hours later, we had finally procured what we believe to be the last twelve-pack of Carlsberg beer in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA. With a Herculean effort such as that, you can imagine our expectations were as high as our flight plan’s cruising altitude; sadly it fell quite short of the runway. We are intrepid explorers, digital earthrounders and to a certain degree purists. We stuck to our flight plan, as well as the watered down taste and headed due east.
 Our 1809 local departure from Nuuk would give us plenty of sunlight to enjoy the coastal regions of Greenland, more than enough of that desolate tundra in the middle, a lot of blue green ocean and some extended twilight for our approach into Reykjavik in the upper latitudes (kudos to Lynn and Bill Lyons for their excellent Water Reflection Replacement Textures for FS2004 from the Golden Eagles Squadron.).
After takeoff from RWY 23, we did a steep climb out to our right and circled back over Nuuk in order to enjoy the underrated coastal scenery and textures of Greenland. Covered with countless small lakes and tributaries with epic snowy cliffs; Greenland truly is a beautifully unspoiled region to explore. On one of our day trips GZ and I rented some Cessna Caravan Amphibians and explored some of the Narsarsuaq region. Another treasure of Greenland that I wouldn’t mind hitting for a proper layover on our trip; in fact if someone out there is willing to send us some Tuborg (which we have learned has been discontinued in our area of the world), I’m sure we’d make it happen.
 During our ascent to FL280, mother nature was much more gracious and we finally had an opportunity to enjoy Ruud Faber’s stellar FScene textures. The lesser traveled areas of Greenland were stunning. A lot of steep cliffs on the water that rose high, spotted with snow and even some grassy patches beginning to peak out during the end of spring. A bit closer to the tundra, some of the textures became brown as dirt that was visible in the lower regions. Once past the rolling hills of the coastal area, we hit the desolate and boring frozen tundra, it was at this point that I had finally located some audio cables to connect the Hopper iPod to the cockpit speakers. Suddenly, an otherwise boring trek across the center of Greenland was disguised by the jazz sounds of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach’s Monkey Jungle and later Mingus’ “Ah Um”. After we had listened to most of Monkey Jungle, we had hit the eastern coast of Greenland and were ready for the trek across more ocean. Again, Mingus filled in nicely as did some mezmorizing water textures that had a very trippy glistening effect that I felt was almost perfectly in time with the music.
 Around 120 miles out from Reykjavik, we noticed the sun tickling the horizon behind us which led us to become a bit trigger happy with the digital camera. We grabbed some wonderful shots of a sunset sky, stars visible in the upper atmosphere with an incredible gradient of horizon colors going from navy blue in the upper atmosphere, to some purple and pink hues enveloping the sun highlighted by the suns brilliant white and yellow glow that cast some truly spectacular rays on our beloved Hopper.
Closer to land near Iceland, a scattered layer of clouds appeared that seemed to occupy the space between FL200 and FL250. We set the Hopper up on her descent around 100 miles out as we headed east into the dark. Descending through 7000 feet, the sun was much lower, it was quite dark in front of us, as we had some large dark clouds to contend with. Our descent was planned quite well as we managed to dodge most of the dark clouds, and got gently tossed around a bit by winds from 357 at 12. It was hazy at 3000 feet, but I had a faint visual on RWY 19 and headed the Hopper in around 95 KIAS. The banks of Reykjavik and the areas around the airport which is quite close to the water was unexpectedly dense with city buildings and lights. Quite a juxtaposition to the otherwise dwelling-less coastal regions of Greenland, but nonetheless a nice welcome back to civilization.
 Although not my best approach, the Hopper touched down without incident, and we headed to the parking area at the opposite end of the runway. No sooner had we turned off the engines and some crazy man who looked half-human and half-wildebeest approached the outside windows pulling a child’s wagon behind him. Not quite the welcome wagon we had expected, this man didn’t come bearing gifts but he did have a window squeegee in hand and a bucket of water – which I initially thought was full of fish. He mumbled something about Dick Schaap and wandered off after doing a fair job of one window.
We
are off to enjoy the sites of Iceland bwfore
heading for Scotland. Maybe some hot springs
and a search for a music store that I can purchase
Pitchfork
Media's "Iceland's 20 Best Albums"
Sigor Ros, Bjork and the Sugarcubes I recognize
but the rest are a musical mystery.
GB
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