Flight Log: Gran Canaria GCLP -- Cascais LPCS 21.02.2011

Distance: 906 NM
scheduled Flying time: 7h 44min
Filed Route: KORAL G5 CBA/N0125F100 R722 AMSEL R72 VFA A5 ESP
ATIS Gran Canaria: RWY 03L Wind 340/16 Kts Sicht 10km Sct 030 Temp 17/11 QNH 1011
Clearance: right hand filed route climb FL 110
Take Off Time: 08:50 (UTC)
ATIS Cascais: RWY 35 Wind 240/13 Kts 10 km Bkn 022 17/12 QNH 1022
Landing Time: 15:35 (UTC)
21.02.2011 Gran Canaria/Cascais: This flight promised to be exciting. It would take about seven hours virtually only over the ocean and the hang-gliding island of Lanzarote. I enjoyed hang gliding for many years there with like-minded friends.

The weather was calm and visibility very good. As usual Martin took plenty of photos over Lanzarote. We actually got a good view of the hang-gliding launch pad on the cliff tops of Famara and were able to see the whole route. That was great for me. Afterwards, we only had the Atlantic Ocean stretching out in front of us. On request, we were given a shortcut directly over the sea. As a result, we only saw again Africa once on the horizon.

And what can you do for an almost five-hour flight over the ocean? OK - sometimes you can take a little nap, then pump avgas from the extra and into the main tank, then repeatedly check the instruments and engine display panel now and again and sporadically issue a radio message. But we also used the time to familiarise ourselves with the Garmin 1000 and previously unknown secrets of flight monitoring and planning. Martin also read pages in the instructions that you would otherwise probably leave out. And he did learn something new. For example how pilots can pre-programme a descent even better. Or that you can read off the probable times from the reporting points. Till then, Martin had always calculated them from the flight log. And that's how you can always find out something new in the cockpit on long Atlantic flights.

After about five hours flying over the ocean, we eventually spotted Portugal. And by the way, without the engine having any problems at all. For the first time during the entire flight, we had to fly through clouds over Cascais airfield until it came into view. At 18 knots side wind, we landed safely on the runway. Now we were back on mainland Europe.