After leaving Ilulissat we set westerly course leaving the coast of Greenland into the Davis Straight. Cruising at flight level 260 (26.000ft) at 300 knots and mostly in the clouds we only got a few chances to see what’s underneath us – and once again we were grateful we did not have to ditch considering this view:
Another roughly 2 hours later we reached the coast of Canada and started the descent into Iqualit where a mix of low clouds, rain and strong, gusty winds awaited us. Views were impressive again and certainly reminded us that we are far away from home.
After parking and being interviewed and welcomed by two charming immigration ladies we re-fueled 700l of Jet fuel before being transferred to the best hotel in “Town”. The city is an interesting place to see but we could not imagine to live here; it’s cold (max 20 degrees in summer but more 5C at the moment), windy and the town is a collection of trailer home like buildings. Plus there are tons of mosquitos again.
The touch-down beer in one of the local bars and the chats with the people there however was a great cultural experience we would not want to have missed even though the pictures of hunted and killed polar bears that were proudly presented were a bit “special”.
Iqualit is BTW the place where the Swiss Boeing 777 had to emergency land after a engine blow up in 2017. Being stuck here for a week in the Arctic winter they had to fly in a spare turbine from Zurich with an Antonov and it took them a week to replace it. Having been here I have greatest respect for the crew of mechanics. More to the LX divert here.
