planeandpilotmag.com 41Atlantic, G for Greenland and BW for its original name).
From a pilot’s point of view, there are four primary
airports in Greenland, one being Narsarsuaq, on the
southwest coast, near the southern tip. The three others
are: Gothab, the capital of this territory of Denmark,
recently renamed Nuuk, 200 miles north, also on
the west coast; Sondrestrom Fjord (also known as
Kangerlussuaq), 200 miles north of that; and Kulusuk, on
the east coast, straight across from Sondrestrom Fjord.
Today’s airport, BGBW, was constructed at the
end of a 42-mile-long fjord near the southwest coast
of Greenland. The runway, 7-25, begins practically at
water’s edge and slopes steeply uphill toward the ice
cap. Mountains surround the airport on three sides,
close enough that the IFR minimum MDA is 1,800 feet
and 6,000 meters visibility. Eighteen hundred and 3.5
miles is hardly a typical IFR approach minimum. Keep
in mind, that’s the lowest minimum, applicable to a
100-knot aircraft. At 135 knots, the MDA rises to 2,400
feet. Narsarsuaq is no place for amateurs.
Standard procedure at BGBW is to approach and
land uphill toward the east and depart to the west to
avoid the ice cap.
For that very reason, a common practice during
marginal weather used to be to descend VFR (sort of )
below the clouds while still well out over the Labrador
Sea, track inbound to the Tunulliarfik Fjord, designated
by an NDB, and follow the fjord on the south side of the
beacon as it winds inland to the airport. There used to
be a half-submerged ship several miles into the fjord
to reassure pilots that they were in the correct fjord.
Trouble was, there was another fjord on the north
side of the NDB that would lead you just as far inland
but would terminate in a solid mountain wall. If the
weather were low, you would need to retrace your steps
back to the beacon and fly up the proper fjord to find
the airport, adding 84 miles to your trip.
The pilot of a Bellanca Viking 300 made exactly this
mistake many years ago. He flew up the wrong fjord,
turned around and tracked back to the beacon, found
the correct fjord and started back toward Narsarsuaq.
The Viking ran out of fuel only about 2 miles from the
airport. The pilot ditched his Bellanca near a boat in
the fjord, walked out on the right wing and stepped
into the boat practically without getting wet. Relieved
of carrying fuel, the two wing tanks were now full of air
and served as giant pontoons that kept the airplane
afloat. Since the wings were constructed of Sitka spruce,
the airplane floated just fine in the smooth, semi-fresh
water of the fjord.
When it became obvious the airplane wasn’t going to
sink, the boat owner threw a line around the prop and
towed the Viking to shore directly abeam the threshold
of the airport’s runway 7. The pilot climbed back into
the cockpit, extended the gear, and a four-wheel-drive
truck hauled the Viking out of the water onto the beach.
The stor y goes that there was ver y little damage to the
Bellanca, and the avionics never got wet. Water damage