#all the fun items go in a special box in my camp chest

[oriax]

bg3 act 3 is just. there's SO MUCH. i have to touch everything. please.

[polesupplierswell]

Trekking pole manufacturer/supplier

Millet mountaineering bag measured experience, a century-old outdoor brand

Today I will unpack this Millet PEUT INT 35+10 outdoor hiking bag.

Let’s talk about this outdoor brand! Millet was originally a canvas bag company. It sprouted in Lyon, France in 1921. Since the company moved to the foot of the Alps in 1928, it began to produce professional mountaineering backpacks in the 1930s. The two sons also inherited the family business and further cooperated with mountain guides to jointly develop higher-level and professional mountaineering backpacks.

Millet products are divided into six series, namely, Alpinism-Professional Mountaineering/Climbing, Climbing-Rock Climbing, Trekking Hiking-Hiking, Mountain lifestyle-Leisure Life, Ski-Skiing, TRAIL-Wild Running. And this backpack out of the box today is designed for year-round mountaineering. In addition to basic mountaineering settings, a lot of thoughtful designs for ice climbing or skiing are added to the details of the backpack. Let's take a look!

35+10 liters of flexible large capacity

I like this kind of backpack with elastic capacity the most, because storage is really hard work, especially in the mountains, it is inconvenient to pack, and some items that are light and need easy access (such as raincoats, down jackets, mobile food) sometimes I'm really too lazy to organize it. With flexible capacity, I just throw it all in.

The design of the bag is exquisitely equipped with a harness configuration at 35 liters and an additional 10 liters. With or without the 10 liters, the equipment can be compressed into a fixed shape. Although it seems to be a small design, it is not in use. It is very intimate and can feel the fineness.

In addition, there is another setting that has to be praised, see the picture below.

(The middle picture is taken from Millet's official website)

Because it is designed for year-round climbing and climbing, a rope storage system is specially installed inside the top bag, which solves the inconvenience of rope storage at one go; at the same time, even if there is no ice climbing requirement, this buckle can be used as The secondary compression, or the perfect fixation of any equipment that needs to be fastened here (the Hanchor CINDER 18L top bag is shown on the right above), really greatly improves the storage performance of this bag!

Straight bag type

I didn't pay special attention to the shape of the bag before. Anyway, it is normal to occasionally hook on branches and get stuck on the path. But when I came back to do my homework, I found out: this bag is too thin!

The above picture is not obvious, please see the official website product photo below.

Maybe it’s because of the women’s backpack. It is also narrower in the shape of the backpack to match the shoulder width. The advantage is that when drilling some narrow mountain roads, it is not easy to get stuck on nearby branches or affect activities. Recall that when I was drilling before, I would be hitting everything. This time it seemed to be really unimpeded.

Since the backpack is a bucket type, a double-end zipper is opened on the side of the backpack to improve the convenience of picking up items. You need to make a small hole where you want to take the equipment, and you are not afraid that it will all fall out once you open it. (Later after thinking about it, I found out that it was this way that I used a double-end zipper, so sweet~)

Comfortable carrying system and super breathable back panel

Let's talk about the most important carrying system.

Because my favorite bag is the adjustable back length Mystery Ranch, this bag without a back length adjustment system may make people a little uncomfortable, but in fact, as long as the weight is fixed in a labor-saving position on the body, the carrying is very comfortable of.

At the beginning, I adjusted the elasticity of the strap with the tightness that Mysterious Farm is used to. After more than an hour of departure, I started to have waist and back pain. Later, on the suggestion of a friend, I tightened the belt and pinched my waist (more than when I was carrying Mystery Farm. Tight), so that the waist belt can be locked and fixed to the hip joint, and it will be improved immediately, and there is no back pain at all during the whole trip, which is very powerful in the carrying system!

Although many people admire Mystery Farm’s excellent carrying and user-friendly adjustment system, the empty weight of the backpack is indeed quite heavy. The choice of backpack still depends on the different needs and physical conditions of each person. This time I use Millet to find fun. PEUT INT, it is indeed obvious that the weight on the body has been reduced a lot, and when the backpack is back on the body, it is not as difficult as before. It is a very comfortable carrying experience.

Chest buckle with elastic rope track and adjustable position.

Millet's secret weapon is super breathable back panel!

then! What I want to introduce is the breathable backboard that I feel very good this time.

As a Virgo with a lot of sweat and a bit of cleanliness, at first a large part of the mountain climbing is not able to adapt to the sweat, wet and sticky, and can not take a bath. Every time the backpack upper body will obviously feel a whole piece of sweat on the back, It's terrible. But this bag won't!

Millet's Ariaprène Back technology, I don’t know how to translate it. In short, it looks like it’s hollowed out a whole piece of foam in a special form, so that the back panel foam can take into account comfort and breathability at the same time. The triangle doesn't look much, but it's a peach blossom on the back! Before starting to use, I did a little homework on this backpack, and I noticed the ventilation system on the back. I didn’t think much about it at the beginning, but it was really super comfortable to use. It was sunny and sweaty for three days and two nights. , When I go home and smell the backboard, it is still fragrant (I just smelled it again, um, it is still fragrant), this ventilation system I give a super high evaluation!

Magic large space, large top pocket and storage space

Do you like to keep holding things when climbing a mountain?

Can you take a trekking pole for me, can you take a fur hat for me, in the side pocket, wait a moment, I want to wear a coat, I am hungry, I want to eat... That’s right, it’s that annoying, but I’m lazy to take off the backpack , It’s the kind that when you’re shopping on the street and want to take things, you will reach out to the back to dig out your backpack for a long time, and you will always want to take things. How can you get it in the main bag?

This top bag is basically a big space, super three-dimensional square compartment, no problem to put a bunch of things, if you want to, you should be able to put a total of nine uniform big pudding in three rows, plus a raincoat in it. My own storage habit is to put all the rainproof equipment in the top pocket, which is the most convenient to take, and is not afraid of getting the equipment wet. Also, because the shape of the compartment is almost a cuboid, the shape of the top pocket still won’t run after stuffing so many things. It will even make it look better.

Top pocket, top pocket inner layer, side pockets, large main pocket, thick storage deep pocket on the front side, and water bag hanging ring.

In addition to the top pocket, other storage spaces are also worth mentioning. Excluding the oversized top pocket, there is also a small zipper pocket on the inner layer of the top pocket, which can hold some smaller items; the front side is a thick and deep pocket for ice climbing to place crampons, which is very high and stiff enough. You can also put some small flat objects without crampons; the inside of the bag has a water bag fixing ring configuration, which is quite intimate.

Infinitely possible plug-in settings everywhere

Did you discover it? His external ring is invincible!

As a professional camel beast, one of the bad storage habits is to love plug-ins. Some hiking bags don’t pay much attention to the external system (after all, I’m not happy to see crazy external systems, haha). Although they can be placed in the main backpack of the backpack, they don’t need external ones. (Such as camping lights, stereos, slippers, hats) hanging outside is a kind of hardcore game, handsome~ Then there are really a bunch of loops on the outside of this backpack for me to hang out, satisfying my little vanity.

(Do you know why I can’t resist the modular system of Mystery Ranch 2 Day Assault)

Did you find that even the top pocket has four loops? Because of those four loops, Zhi Jiayang can put the tent on top of the top pocket

Not only the webbing loop, but also because of the needs of ice climbing, there are additional straps, ice axe straps (trekking poles can also be used) and storage compartments. Take a look at the picture below. If it really looks like the right one... . It's too hardcore! ! !

Use experience sharing

It’s almost here when I open the box. Overall, I’m very satisfied with the use. Although some of the features are spoiled by the love bag: adjustable back length, three-way full-opening zipper, and many internal interlayers, which make it uncomfortable at the beginning. However, after these two uses, I can get started slowly, and PEUT also has some comforts that the love bag cannot provide (such as breathability, light weight and large capacity), and the carrying system is indeed no less than the love bag. In fact, after weighing it down, the longer reloading trip should still choose to take PEUT up the mountain.

The most obvious experience of this experience is probably the intimateness of the backpack design. In many cases, I have made thoughtful ideas for the inconvenience and discomfort of mountaineering. It is worthy of a century-old mountaineering equipment brand. There are many ingenuity in product design and delicate attention. Accompany us through every mountain.

Because I have not experienced too many mountaineering bags, I have only used Decathlon, Mystery Ranch 2 Day Assault and this Millet PEUT INT 35+10, plus the positioning of each bag is different, so there are not many here. Make a comparison~ I like it and recommend it!

The above experience is all sincerely shared and recommended. Although the speech is a bit exaggerated, it is really good to memorize it.

[thenovl]

NOVL Excerpt: The Unlikelies

I spent two months assembling care packages for my friends. It was my way of thanking them for being awesome. Nobody had ever seen such a tight senior class, united by over a decade of friendship and compulsive thrill seeking, and a chemistry my own dysfunctional junior class would never have. The inseparable seniors were about to disband, bound for summer camp jobs and sports clinics and European vacations—and then college.

I wanted to do something special before they left.

The boxes, lined up in neat rows on my window seat, were all the same size and shape. I had scoured the shops and flea markets in town, adding online items that reflected the recipients and what they meant to me. The care packages cost me all my birthday money, but as I tucked in the notes, wrapped each small box with brown paper, and tied it with gold-flecked garden twine, it felt right.

I passed out the boxes at the Night of a Thousand Good-byes, held every year after all the graduation parties and drawn-out family dinners.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sadie,” Ellie said as we sat on the log and she took out the contents of the box: A snowflake-shaped cookie cutter to represent Ellie’s annual cookie exchange. An elephant figurine carved out of a giant nut to represent Ellie’s love of elephants. A miniature bobblehead of our assistant principal to represent her strange crush on Mr. Wilson. I had gotten a little obsessed with the custom bobblehead site.

“I will cherish these,” Ellie said, “like forever.” Ellie only had a few more hours of freedom before her family volunteer trip to Mongolia.

Parker was one of the only ones not leaving right away, but I gave her a care package anyway: A tiny plastic Wonder Woman figurine because Parker was the spitting image of Wonder Woman on Halloween. A box of Thin Mints, her favorite cookie since our Girl Scout days. A temporary tattoo collection to help her finally decide if she wanted a real one.

Parker hugged me so hard I thought I might bleed internally.

The care packages were a big hit. I even made Seth a care package, because he had been a damn good boyfriend while it lasted. I saved his for last, which was probably a mistake, because he was drunk by then and very handsy.

“Sadie Cakes, come here,” he said, pulling me toward him and leaning down to kiss me. Our original breakup had happened via text during spring break, in the middle of his trip to Cabo. We had mutually decided it was impossible to sustain a relationship when he would be spending the summer at his dad’s in Israel, then going to college in North Carolina. But mutual and amicable didn’t mean fast or easy. It was easier to hook up than not hook up. It was easier to go to a movie with Seth than stay home and watch HGTV with Mom. It was easier to go to senior prom together than to mess up the whole plan.

The first breakup never sticks anyway, so it was good we’d started in March.

“Stop, we’re broken up,” I said unconvincingly. “Here, I made you a care package.”

“Aww. You’re the best ex-girlfriend ever.” He laid his hand on the small of my back. I didn’t move away, but I didn’t move any closer to Seth’s lips either.

I was going to miss Seth and all our history and our chair, the chair we sat in at every Shawn Flynn party, the chair in the middle of it all. And I would miss the bonfires and the football games and the movie nights in Seth’s basement. But I had to stay strong.

Seth tore open his box. He took out each item and studied it. A bobblehead of my deceased cat, Lucy, Seth’s favorite pet. A bag of hand-cut potato chips, Seth’s favorite snack. And a printout of the first text Seth ever sent me, Do you like sushi? rolled up in a tiny scroll.

He was quiet.

I hadn’t wanted to get too sentimental. As much as I had loved being Seth’s girlfriend, we both knew there wasn’t enough between us to transcend time and space.

“You suck,” he said, rubbing his eyes. I hadn’t planned to make him cry.

I left him standing there, holding the care package. One last hookup wouldn’t be good for either one of us.

Between the care package distributions and handing out Woody’s Ice Cream hats to everybody, compliments of Dad, who always gave out hats to his graduating customers, I barely talked to Shay. When it was time to go, I pried the fine-tipped Sharpie out of her yearbook-signing hand and waited on the edge of the sob-fest for her drawn-out good-byes. 

Shay and I took one last best-friend drive home in Mom’s Prius, which I had basically taken over, forcing Mom to use Grandma Hosseini’s Buick. Shay had to leave for California the next morning to teach at a tennis camp before starting college at Pepperdine. I dug into a bag of tortilla chips and listened to Shay go over her packing checklist one more time.

“Should I just wait until I get there and see what shoes California people are wearing?”

“Yes. It’s humanly impossible to fit another pair of shoes into that suitcase.” Shay turned to me. “Is this happening?” she said. “Because it feels like a normal night.”

“It is a normal night.” I reached over and squeezed her hand.

Shay was a steaming hotbed of emotion. If she started reminiscing about all the things we’d been through together and how awesome our friendship was, she would blow. I wanted her to remember her graduation night as fun and happy.

We pulled into Shay’s driveway and I turned off the car.

“I have a little something for you,” I said, reaching behind the seat.

“A Sadie care package?”

I grabbed my last Woody hat and set it on her head. Shay adjusted it and said, “I’m going to miss him. If it weren’t for the Woodster, there’d be no Shay and Sadie. Isn’t that crazy to think about?” 

When I’d met Shay we had just moved to the East End from Queens and Dad wanted to take me out on the maiden voyage of Woody’s Ice Cream truck. Shay chased us down the street barefoot and, after ordering her Nutty Buddy, promptly invited me to the birthday party she was having that afternoon.

“Should I open it now or wait?” Shay said, taking the care package.

“Open it now.”

She carefully untied the gold-flecked twine and pulled off the paper and the box lid, revealing:

A tin of peppermint drops in honor of the fourteen-act play we’d written, acted, and directed called Peppermint Drop City: The Fairies Take Over.

A berry fusion lip tint and a berry nice lip shimmer (because I always stole hers).

A purple condom (because…college).

A framed photo of Shay and me taken the day we met, when I actually showed up at her tenth birthday party that afternoon.

Twin bobbleheads of Shay and me holding hands. (I had treated myself to a matching set of Bobblehead Shay with the long blond hair and bulging blue eyes and Bobblehead Sadie with the thick wavy black hair and the sharp nose).

“Wow, my bobblehead has a huge rack,” Shay said, running her fingers over the bobblehead’s plastic chest.

“I thought you’d appreciate that.”

“There’s nothing I can say to do justice to this care package, so I’m just going to hug you,” Shay said, leaning over to pull me in. I hugged my best friend and pressed my face into her wild blond mermaid hair. She smelled of the lavender essential oil she rubbed on her temples when she was stressed.

We let go at the same time and said what we said on any normal night.

“Later, Shay-Shay.”

“Later, Sader.”

The next morning I woke at six, still on school time, and reached for my phone to text Shay. It took me a few seconds to remember it was over, that she was probably already on her way to the airport.

I hugged Flopper, my stuffed harp seal, and tried to go back to sleep, but Mom’s kitchen clanging and television sounds put an end to that.

“What are you doing up?” Mom looked up from her perch at the kitchen island, where she sat sipping tea and reading the headlines as the Hamptons forecast blared from the TV above the sink.

“My brain thinks it’s a school day.” I foraged through the fridge. “Can you make pancakes?”

“Chocolate chip?”

I nodded, then sat at the counter, hands folded, waiting for my pancakes.

“What’s on the agenda?” Mom asked, setting a glass of milk in front of me. I stared up at her and then reality set in.

“I have no idea.”

Thanks for reading this sneak peek into Carrie Firestone’s hilarious irreverent and unflinchingly honest new novel about how one good deed could change everything. Learn more about The Unlikelies here >>

[kozzax]

My Ideal Minecraft Update

So I know I don't necessarily have any legs to stand on here. As a complete disclaimer I don't play very much Minecraft, mostly because of the work I need to get done on a regular basis and all the other media I take in. But I do play far more often than I do any other game, and I have thought a lot about this concept.

My ideal Minecraft update is another end update. Explanation of why and details of a couple things I'd like to see under the cut because it's... a lot.

I know the End got an update in 1.9. The update where end cities and elytra and shulker boxes got added. It was an incredibly influential update and I'm not at all saying that it wasn't good. What I am saying is that it doesn't feel.... right.

Look at the End as it was before 1.9. It was a single island, where you fought the final boss of the game, using blocks and colors exclusive to the area. It took place in the void. It was a really cool area and provided at least some sense of accomplishment when you got there, just because of how unique the area was and how distinct it was from the rest of Minecraft. But the original End was never meant to be. Expanded. Not really.

The thing about Minecraft-- and you can see this a lot with the recent updates, too --is that everywhere you go feels new and unique and interesting. There's a reason people love exploring the overworld. Finding really cool terrain is fun. Encountering structures and discovering villages and gathering far-out materials that you'll never use just to say you went there is fun. That's a huge part of what makes Minecraft... Minecraft.

When the Nether update came, that fun expanded into the Nether as well. No longer do you go to the Nether just to get fortress materials and quartz, or just to get between areas in the overworld; now you go to the Nether to explore and discover new biomes and interesting terrain. There are piglins to trade with and hoglins to run from and endermen to find. There are ruined nether portals to hunt down and light, and just overall its more interesting there. No longer is it a fiery hellscape of nothingness; now it's a fiery hellscape of life and adventure and excitement.

The update Aquatic did the same thing with the oceans; taking an area that generally most players hated dealing with and turning them into something genuinely fun to interact with and rewarding to visit. And the Caves and Cliffs update is doing the same thing with cave exploration.

The End just.... doesn't have that. The End is boring, and bland, and despite the fact that many players visit it on a fairly regular basis to get shulker boxes and end rods and elytra it's not very good for... anything else.

What upsets me the most about this is that. The End is called the End. It's meant to be an endgame location. But rather than building off of what the rest of Minecraft feels like and creating this rich environment with cool terrain and interesting blocks and fun concepts, it's just kind of... an endless wasteland, with some chorus fruit and end cities here and there.

It's just... a little underwhelming. You beat the game and your reward is exploring a barren wasteland for hours at a time to find what amounts to one new kind of lighting some extra storage and the ability to fly provided you make a ton of rockets. Sure, the rewards are nice, but getting to them is tedious and boring and it goes against the rest of Minecraft's exploration philosophy entirely.

On top of that, it kind of feels. Isolating?

Okay so hear me out here. Minecraft is a sandbox game. There are tons of different playstyles that people use, right, and its up to the player how they choose to use what they're given. But there are... generally five or so camps of people playing the game. Keep in mind this is an incredibly loose and generic breakdown, let me just. Make my point.

The five general groups of Minecraft players are, from my knowledge, like so:

-The builders [focus on building and creating structures]

-The redstoners [focus on understanding redstone and doing cool stuff with it]

-The domestic players [focus on manual farming and collecting pets]

-The explorers [focus on exploring their Minecraft world and never really settling down]

-The PVPers [focus on. PVP and combat]

Obviously there's some overlap in these-- for example, lots of builders also do exploration to get blocks, and lots of "domestic" players make structures to house their domestic actions, but these are the general breakdowns I've seen.

The End, the endgame of the game, the area after beating the dragon, should in theory provide fairly substantial rewards to all players. It's the "final area" of the game. It's treachorous and dangerous and demands a lot of attention and power to traverse. Not all players are going to visit the End, but considering that it's literally called the End, it should provide rewards for any player who does; not just one type of player.

So who does it reward, then?

Primarily, the explorers. Shulker boxes and elytra lend themselves well to exploring around and collecting odd bits and bobs, like explorers typically do. You could argue that this also applies to builders.

But even then, neither of these rewards really come from the End itself.

Explorers don't get new awesome terrain to explore. They just get materials to go back to the regular game and explore farther; rather than being given any kind of reason to explore the endgame area.

Builders don't get any particularly good new blocks, except perhaps end rods as lighting. Endstone and purpur are widely considered to be generally decent at best for builds, and while shulker boxes are nice, the effect they have can be matched with a lot of chests anyways, so it's not a huge benefit.

The redstoners get nothing out of the End, to my knowledge. Shulker boxes are not a huge endgame level reward for them [see: last paragraph]. I'm not a redstoner, to be fair, but I don't believe there are any redstone materials or new redstone abilities unlocked by visiting the End.

Domestic players get... a new kind of plant, I suppose, and shulker boxes. But once again we run into the same problems as with builders and redstoners.

PVPers get nothing at all, except I guess some nice loot out of the chests in end cities? But even then, that's loot that could be made fairly easily on their own, and I know many PVPers have more specific enchantments they want on their items in more specific orders anyways.

Even if all of the above wasn't true, it still stands that the End dimension doesn't feel like Minecraft. Sure, it's got the blocky nature, but it's a barren wasteland that all looks the same. It goes against every Minecraft exploration philosophy I know.

At the very least, I'd want to see an update where biomes get added to the End. Bring life to this area. Keep the current rewards in place, just make it more interesting to find them. Perhaps there's an area of the End with caves in it, or an area where the islands extend downwards as large pillars in the void. Perhaps there's some purple grass added, similar to how the nylium works in the Nether! Maybe there are some new types of trees that generate! Some kind of biome that's focused around one Large piece of vegetation, like a worldtree of sorts, or maybe something that looks like its hanging from the sky! Keep it within the same color scheme, but add more. Add variation. Make it special.

I'm neither a redstoner or a PVPer so I don't know what rewards would look like for them, but I can confidently say that i'm a builder when I play and just expanding on the yellow and purple would do so much. There's only like, four or five purple blocks in minecraft. Imagine if the End unlocked a whole new color to build with and provided a trove of new purple blocks, with added yellow blocks here and there.

Explorers already get the biggest reward from the End, since the current End rewards are suited to that playstyle the most. But making it fun for them to reach those rewards by providing biomes that stand out from those in the overworld and the Nether would, once again, feel like a reward.

I'm also not necessarily a domestic player, but there are considerations for them too: Add more vegetation in the End, vegetation based on the chorus fruit mostly with some edits here and there. Add a new End-based friendly mob. Provide something vaguely similar to piglin trading so farm-based players have incentive to go to the End.

As it stands, the End just feels... unfinished. And I just really want to see an update where it gets.... finished, I guess. Thanks for hearing me out.

[jacewilliams1]

Denver to Norway in a Pilatus PC-12

In early 2016, my family was ready to see something new and beautiful. The past year had been tough – we nearly lost Dad to a stroke – then, during his recovery from the stroke, we determined that he needed a heart valve replacement, his second such surgery. The day after Christmas he was pumping blood with a new bovine valve in his chest. The old man is tough though, and he bounced back quickly. By February, with a fresh reminder of life’s fragility and brevity, we began laying the groundwork for an August adventure to Iceland and Norway.

At the time, I owned N156WL, a Pilatus PC-12 I recently had refurbished, including new paint, interior, avionics, engine and propeller, and most of the wear items in the control assemblies. She is a great flying machine, and I was looking forward to flying her across the Atlantic – my first crossing as PIC, and a bucket-list item for me. Not everyone in the family was similarly enthused about flying a single-engine aircraft over the North Atlantic, but only after unsuccessfully attempting to source kid-sized immersion survival suits for my 8- and 10-year-old daughters, was I convinced it would be better to put them on Iceland Air with mom and both grandmothers. Dad, however, was all-in from the beginning. He and I, along with safety pilot Shane Jordan, would fly the PC-12 across the Atlantic.

This should be fun…

Planning a complicated trip like this is one of my favorite things to do – I really enjoy pouring over the details of routing, fuel burn and reserves, contingencies, international procedures, and instrument flying. But on a trip like this, you’ve gotta bring in some pros to help with, at a minimum, fuel releases, weather briefing, flight plan filing, and international customs and handling.

After asking around, I was referred to a local jet captain who has a successful consulting gig helping with international handling for trips like this. For me, this was the second time using a handler for an international trip (with no regretting having done so) – I strongly recommend using an experienced handler if you’re planning an international GA trip to a destination that is not Canada, Mexico, or the Bahamas.

With all the I’s dotted and T’s crossed, our plan was set – day one would take us to Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, with day two flying from Goose Bay to Reykjavik, Iceland. We would spend five days touring Iceland, then fly from Reykjavik to Moss Lufthavn Rygge, just south of Oslo in Norway. Ten days of touring Norway later, we would head home via Reykjavik, and an overnight in Narsarsuaq, Greenland, before coasting in to the North American continent. The most difficult part of the trip for me was the time until August 1 – I could not wait to get going!

Day 1, KAPA – CYQT – CYYR.

If you’ve spent any time in Colorado’s summer, you probably already know what the forecast looked like for August 1 out of Denver. Clear and calm in the morning, followed by partly cloudy skies and a 30% chance of severe thunderstorms in the afternoon. So, like every other pilot in Denver flying on their chosen schedule, we planned an early-morning rendezvous at the hangar so that we could start putting waypoints behind us before the convective activity started to pop. The evening prior I had made sure the personal luggage, survival gear and first aid kit were all packed and ready to go. I also removed the rear four seats so we could have a small area to stretch out in the back of the plane – might as well, we had two pilots and over 2,000 nautical miles to cover that day.

I did, however, wait until our departure morning to put fuel in the aircraft. I don’t like warming fuel in the wings overnight in the hangar because it will likely overflow from a top-off, which means a volatile spill inside the hangar and less than full fuel in the tanks. Give me that nice cool, dense morning Jet-A please. Fueled up, preflighted, and briefed, we closed the hatch and fired up.

ATC cleared us to Thunder Bay (CYQT) via the Plains departure procedure, Akron transition, then via Duluth. After a brief stop in the climb at 10,000 ft., we were cleared to climb straight to FL270, which is where we would spend most of our time eastbound. I don’t think I saw a single cloud on this leg to Thunder Bay; it was a beautiful and calm morning for flying.

At FL270 after setting torque we trued at 270 kts with a fuel flow of about 360 pph. Descending in to Thunder Bay was uneventful, and we shot the ILS to runway 7 at the request of the local controllers. A quick stop in the customs area for a cursory phone call to CANPASS, and then we were over to the Esso FBO for some fuel.

I found Steve Davey and Shaun Appell from Levaero Aviation waiting for me at the FBO. These two gentlemen were critical in undertaking the PC-12 refurbishment (all the heavy lifting for the refurbishment was performed by Levaero in Thunder Bay), and it was good to catch up and talk about how well this aircraft was flying and the trip we had planned in it.

Get comfortable – there are many miles to go.

After saying goodbye to Steve and Shaun, picking up some sandwiches, fueling and checking with the handler for weather, we were bound for Irving Aviation at Goose Bay. For me, having flown to Thunder Bay and other areas in southern and western Canada many times, it felt like the real adventure started on this leg to Goose. After leaving Thunder Bay, all of the flying ahead would be north of 50 degrees latitude – much of it north of 60.

We enjoyed beautiful blue skies for the first third of this leg, and the coastal views of northern Lake Superior’s Black and Nipigon Bays were something to see. Coming from Colorado where water is scarce, it is a little stunning to see just how much fresh water this part of the world holds. The bichromatic land below our route across eastern Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador seemed untouched by human civilization – what isn’t blue water is green boreal forest.

Much of that water is in the air too, and the summer sun started sprouting afternoon storms. I’m pretty sure we deviated the entire span of Quebec avoiding imbedded cells, and the descent into Goose Bay involved a few heavy stratus layers, the last from which we broke out around 800 ft. on the ILS Y approach to runway 8.

I enjoyed this first day of flying, and practically rejoiced in my planning to break the journey to Iceland into two days instead of one, which many people will do. Spending 8.2 hours in any seat and I’m done. The folks at Irving were happy to see us – I think we were the last scheduled arrival for the evening – and made sure they knew what our plan was for the morning. After securing the immersion survival suits, liferafts and EPIRBs, we headed over to Hotel North for, to our surprise, a luau.

OK it wasn’t actually a luau, per se, but it was a haltingly-tropical theme for a restaurant in Newfoundland and Labrador. That said, the Canadians know how to pour a proper pint and serve up some red meat, both of which I required in short order. Later I learned that the rest of the family would be delayed by at least six hours on IcelandAir, and were currently camping out in the lounge at DIA. Come morning, my whole family would be eastbound for Reykjavik over the North Atlantic.

Day 2, CYYR – BIRK.

The morning of August 2 in Goose Bay was a great day for flying if you were instrument rated. Barely any temperature-dewpoint spread yielded broken ceilings at 1,000 ft, and the air was cool and still. Today we would “coast out” across open water bound for Reykjavik, Iceland some 1,548 nautical miles distant, via routing across the southern tip of Greenland.

The Pilatus has great legs, so this can safely be done non-stop from Goose. Before going, I made sure to clear the sumps in the fuel system, which took some extra time and is a nasty process, but pretty critical in a single-engine headed out over open water – I don’t want any unexpected interruptions to that flame. One final briefing from the handler for weather later and we sat down to brief some of the special procedures for this leg.

Navigation databases would need some special procedures on this leg. N156WL has dual Garmin GTN 750s, and the internal memory cannot hold the North American and the International databases at the same time. The solution to this is to bring an extra set of SD cards with the international databases loaded, and update the databases en route, and one at a time. I had performed a dry run of this procedure back at Centennial Airport on shore power, so I would at least have some idea what to expect.

We also briefed the ditching procedure in detail, along with contingencies for fuel and weather at various points along the route. Pre-flight briefing and inspections complete, we hopped in, fired up, and programmed the box to take us to the middle of nowhere, which was as far as the North American database would go.

Let’s hope that Pratt keeps running.

Clearance into Reykjavik Airport (BIRK) was as-filed, via PORGY, 5950N (59°N 50°W), OZN, 6140N, 6330N, EPENI, ELDIS. I received an unrestricted climb to FL270 so after pulling up the gear I pitched for max rate of climb – we had a forecast net tailwind and were headed out over water, so no reason not to get up there quickly. By the time we reached the coast we were leveled off, the weather had improved to a few scattered layers, and we were most of the way to PORGY waypoint. Looking down, the rock-and-sod tundra was giving way to long fingers of salt water. Shortly after coasting out, we entered a widespread area of overcast with tops at about 26,000 feet, putting us just barely over the clouds, but still in the sunshine on top. We had seen the last of land for several hours.

At PORGY waypoint we made a slight right-hand turn, and I pulled out the data cards for the database update. My plan was to update the #2 unit first, so after verifying the flight director and autopilot was coupled to #1, I pulled the circuit breaker for the #2 nav/comm and watched part of the panel go black, as planned, over the North Atlantic. A quick swap of the SD cards and I pushed the CB back in, and the #2 Garmin unit came back to life and prompted me through the database update procedure. Once the updates were complete, and I dismissed all the database mismatch and crosstalk errors on both units, I programmed the second half of the flight plan into the #2 unit, entered heading mode on the autopilot, coupled it to #2 nav source, re-engaged nav mode, and then updated the #1 unit in the same fashion.

Fortunately, everything went as planned.

Most of the next few hours passed in relative boredom, over an overcast layer that obscured the view of anything below us and the horizon in all directions. The radio gets really quiet out here too. Goose Bay Oceanic handed us off to Sondrestrom, and mercifully the clouds broke just enough for us to get a few pictures of Prins Christian Sund in the southernmost tip of Greenland.

It looked like a sunny, verdant paradise lined with miles of beaches with cabanas and drinks served in the coconut half-shell for everyone. Negative, ghostrider. This is a realm where rock, ice and sea are unceremoniously crushed into coexistence by Jack Frost’s icy fist. In fact, by the look of things down there in Greenland, Jack Frost didn’t get the memo that it was summertime up here, probably because he was too busy doing grip-strength exercises. We glimpsed a few icebergs near the shorelines before dipping back into obscurity, headed for waypoint 6140N.

Fairly soon after 6140N we were able to contact Reykjavik Oceanic control, thanks to some very large antennas on the westernmost tip of the Keflavik Peninsula. Also, about this time the cloud banks began dissipating, and our first real views of the North Atlantic opened up to blue skies and fair-weather cues. The descent into Reykjavik was smooth and uneventful, and we were cleared for the left-hand RNAV GNSS approach to runway 1. This approach brought us down the length of the Keflavik Peninsula, over the main international airport, a bit north of the Blue Lagoon (which we could see out the right-side windows), and then a left turn directly towards downtown Reykjavik.

Not the most hospitable place to make a forced landing.

Had I been looking out the right-hand side of the aircraft on final, I would have had some fantastic views of a smoldering volcano whose name I’ll never be able to read, much less pronounce. That’s OK because I was focused on the numbers at this point. Shortly after touchdown and taxi, we were amidst a flock of turbine aircraft, from TBMs to Falcons at a bustling GA apron. Customs was a breeze, and we were soon on our way to the hotel in downtown Reykjavik for some fantastic food and drink – a perfect end to a bucket list flight.

Day 3, BIRK – ENRY.

After five days of touring Iceland with my parents, wife and two daughters, Dad and I rose early the morning of August 7th and headed for Ace FBO at Reykjavik Airport. Today our route would cover 987 nautical miles across the Norwegian Sea, traversing the Faroe Islands, and passing north of the Shetland Islands before coasting in to southern Norway.

Based upon the advice of more experienced international flyers and a cost comparison of several airports in Norway, I elected not to fly directly into Olso Gardermoen. Moss Lufthavn in Rygge, Norway, is about 50 minutes south (by car) of Oslo along eastern shore of the Oslofjord, and offered better value in my judgment, so the final waypoint on today’s flight would be ENRY.

Arriving at the FBO, I asked the line guys for a top off and told them I would be adding Prist as they fueled the aircraft – a procedure they were much more familiar with than I was. Until today, I had somehow never even seen Prist being added from a spray can while fueling. It’s really not that big of a deal, but between the jet fuel and the additive, the chemicals involved are not friendly or easy to wash off your hands – I was grateful to have a few pairs of rubber gloves in the kit, thanks again to the sage advice from some more experienced international pilots.

In case you don’t know about it and want to, Prist is a fuel additive that inhibits the formation of ice particles in the fuel, and also acts as a biocide to mitigate the risks of fungi and bacteria growing in the fuel system. It must be added as the aircraft is fueled to achieve an effective mix; it cannot be added before or after fueling. Most jet fuel trucks in the US have a separate tank and, at the pilot’s request, the ability to mix the additive as a jet-powered aircraft is fueled. I’m not sure exactly why this isn’t the case in Europe, but I suspect it is because there isn’t much GA in Europe, and the larger aircraft they fuel most often have fuel heaters which reduce or eliminate the need for ice inhibitors.

Today’s weather briefing detailed strong low-level westerly winds in the Iceland area, and a forecast for fair weather en route, then nimbostratus by the time we arrived in southern Norway. Overall not bad weather, but worth an extra briefing of a potential diversion to the alternate – Oslo, Gardermoen. After sumping the fuel system, checking the survival gear and completing the preflight inspection and briefings, we closed the hatch and fired up. With the exception that you must obtain a startup clearance prior to starting the engine, all other procedures seem just as they are in the US. Reykjavik cleared us to Moss Lufthavn via MOXAL, LARUX, MY, VALDI and ULMUG – about 3.8 hours en route and a little under 1,000 miles.

Looking northeast across Iceland after departing Reykjavik.

Reykjavik tower cleared us for takeoff on runway 01, and we climbed into a nearly cloudless sky over the city, making right turns towards the interior of Iceland and MOXAL waypoint. Once we were eastbound and continuing the climb, we could see Hekla volcano and the national parks behind it covered in snow and ice. Below us, the southern shores of Iceland were gently buffeted by relatively calm seas spotted by the occasional iceberg. This was short-lived, however, because passing MOXAL put us on the leeward side of the mountainous interior, and inside turbulent flow from those westerly winds. The ride in the climb became consistent light turbulence with occasional moderate chop – I set power and pitch for a maximum-rate climb to get us up through it.

N156WL is equipped with the Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67P engine, an upgrade from the B engine offered by Finnoff Aviation Products, which allowed me to climb with an interstage turbine temperature of up to 820 degrees C. Between the engine upgrade and the 5-blade MT propeller, it wasn’t long before we were in smooth air and levelling at FL270 – two upgrades for the legacy PC-12 I strongly recommend.

Not long after passing MOXAL, Iceland disappeared behind the left wing as we coursed over blue waters and entered the first of many cloud layers on this leg which would completely obscure our view of land and sea for the remainder of the journey to Norway – right down to minimums on the approach.

At VALDI, Reykjavik oceanic control handed us over to Norway oceanic, which didn’t cause any excitement. Our route from here would take us in over a magnificent fjordal coast, making the Norwegian mainland over Bergen, then bisecting the southern portion of Norway southeastbound towards Oslo. I knew the sea surface below us would be dotted with offshore drilling platforms extracting oil and gas from subsea reservoirs, which I would love to see from the cockpit of a PC-12, but no such luck this time.

Our descent into the Rygge area took us through multiple stratus layers with increasing precipitation. In my two decades of flying, I’ve developed a severe allergy to airframe ice, so I was very pleased that the air was just a bit too warm for any icing, and we never had to pop the de-icing boots in the descent. ATIS at Moss Lufthavn indicated calm winds in rain, 1,200 meters visibility in mist, overcast at 200 ft., and 10 degrees Celsius. Oslo approach cleared us for the RNAV GNSS Runway 12 approach, so we bugged and briefed the approach, missed approach procedure, fuel state and diversion-to-alternate plan.

At the initial approach fix I checked speed, dropped 15 degrees of flaps and lowered the gear. Moss tower cleared us to land, and there was no other traffic on the tower frequency – we had the whole airport to ourselves. Aside from the increasing shush of rain on the windscreen in the descent, the ride was perfectly smooth and stable on the LPV approach.

Still IMC as we crept up on the missed approach point, I indexed my right thumb to the TOGA (takeoff / go-around) button on the power control lever – the clouds grew darker in the descent, and this approach felt a little “missy.” Without exaggeration, right as I was about to call missed, we picked up the lead-in lights and REILs, so we proceeded to a landing at a very quiet and wet Moss airport.

Not your typical taxi.

At the tower’s instruction we taxied to the ramp customs area and shut down, relieved that a weather diversion wasn’t necessary. Donning our raingear, we popped the hatch and two Shell Aviation reps greeted us in a van and helped us offload the baggage. There is no FBO at Moss – it’s really just a military field with some regional service – so we drove around the airport to the regional airline terminal. The ground guys told us we had to go through one door to enter the terminal, while they took the baggage on the cart through another door about 30 feet away. I got our passports and handling papers arranged, expecting the customs and immigration rigamarole.

Pushing the door open, we found ourselves next to a coffee shop in a small, clean and virtually empty terminal. The ground crew pushed the luggage cart right over to the curb – no customs, literally nothing – and indicated to us where the taxis were (right in front of us). I inquired, somewhat shocked, that we were being turned loose in Norway without so much as a passport stamp. They reassured me that no customs was necessary coming from Iceland, but offered to call the police if I would like. I promptly indicated no, I would not like that, thank you anyway. With that, we hailed the nearest cab – a Tesla Model S – and were soon chatting away with our driver northbound towards Oslo. One more leg on the bucket list flying trip in the bag.

The post Denver to Norway in a Pilatus PC-12 appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2019/08/denver-to-norway-in-a-pilatus-pc-12/