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Vagar end of the month?

R

rob egph

New member
Aircraft Type
114B/115
Planning a trip to Vagar probably 21st to 25th April. Anyone interested?

Our likely route will be Kirknewton EGPH Kelty DCT PTH DCT INS DCT 59N005W DCT 60N00540W DCT 61N00630W DCT MY then Vagar. EET/BIRD is about 0210 for us. 6 hours PPR. Ours is a photo trip.

Weather will of course figure high in the go/no go decision. The average weather is cloud on the mountain tops. Three airport webcams available. Nearest diversion field depends on the wind but might be EGPO 240 miles south or EGPA approx 220 miles southeast

Rob
 
Re: Vagar end of the month?

Hi Guys,
Well i guess there was not enough time to organise a get together in the Faroes but the trip is worthwhile. Just got back tired but happy. This has to be one of the tricky airports in the world. Stuck in the Atlantic with few options for diversion it always fascinated me.
We did the 400 nm trip at FL100 with a slight tailwind. The descent and approach are amazing. First you become aware of a local increase in cloud from a distance. Then you get glimpses of thousand foot high cliffs on the west sides of the islands rising sheer from the water. As we turned in for the localiser dme ndb approach it was clear that there were mountains left and right of the approach track. There is almost always rotor on the approach. It gusts and throws you about. We broke out with about three miles to run, lights where they are supposed to be for a cross wind gusty landing and were greeted like old friends in our little plane.
The islands are truly alien. Well worth a visit. It was so windy today we saw waterfalls where the water was being blown upwards into the sky as we drove to the airport.
Departure was an adventure. We were offered 31. This launches you into a tight valley where you have to make a turn on climb out. The downdrafts were so severe that the controller advised as to make a maximum rate climb to get above the downwards air flow. In the end we took an eighteen knot crosswind gusting higher and five/six knot tailwind to take off in the opposite direction turning after takeoff into ascending air on the downwind side of the valley. Returned to Edinburgh at FL 110 then 115.
So tonight i'm well tired but satisfied. Got the aviating sorted and was well pleased with the controllability of the plane in interesting conditions. They got something really right with the design of this plane.....can hardly keep my eyes open :-)
 
Re: Vagar end of the month?

rob egph said:
Hi Guys,
---------for a cross wind gusty landing and were greeted like old friends in our little plane.---------------:-)
Click to expand...
Did you have to use full deflection rudder, and was it enough to keep you tracking the runway?:rolleyes:
 
Re: Vagar end of the month?

I wish I could fly my airplane over the skies of England, France and Germany. That would be a great trip. I have looked at the route from Iceland to England but ---dont think that will happen. I envy you folks over there that can fly in some very significant historical areas. Being retired US Air Force I have visited many of the England Air Force bases that were used during WWll and I most certainly would like to land at each that are still available today.
 
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Re: Vagar end of the month?

The visual approach was pretty much the same as the instrument approach. So the heading was offset to stay on the localizer. i recall twice using a lot of aileron, possibly full, to counteract the roll. It was a combination of crabbing and rolling to stay on the centre line and kicked the rudder to line us up at the last moment on landing.

On the take off roll had full right rudder and used right brake as well to stay on the runway. I trailed the brake for about half the take off roll. After rotation i was happy to let the wind take us left away from the descending air. By about fifteen hundred feet all was normal. At one point we cross a giant cliff at right angles and went up like an express elevator.

As Frank noted, this is a WWII field (undergoing improvement). It must have been very difficult to operate tail draggers from Vagar. The weather changes so quickly that it would be very difficult to even find it at times with early instrument flying equipment. This is not the sort of place you could easily approach visually beneath cloud and water. I imagine that there are a lot of aviation stories centred on Vagar.
 
Re: Vagar end of the month?

...just read that. had plenty of aileron in use on take off of course !
 
Re: Vagar end of the month?

Hope somebody was with you to take some photos?
 
Re: Vagar end of the month?

Rob

Sorry we couldn't come along this time but still looking to do Iceland and Vagar in July. I have a JAA IR pilot in the right seat now but we are still going to try to do, as much as is legal, VFR.

Pictures Please.
 
Re: Vagar end of the month?

Hi. I just added a handful of pics to my homepage photo section to give you some idea of the place...
 
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