As far as VFR vs. IFR, bear in mind that once over the wet anything
above FL055 _has_ to be IFR. Not that a number of ferry pilots (no
names, no packdrill) haven't simply gone out there and used whatever
altitude was necessary--after all, it's not exactly a hive of light
aircraft traffic out there at the lower levels! (Murphy's law
notwithstanding). On flights in the last five years or so, I've been
impressed with the fact that the transponder reply light blinks
virtually constantly, all the way across, due to its being interrogated
by the TCAS (sometimes called the "fish-finder" due to its display)
installed in virtually all airliners. Moral: turn off Mode C...
I'd hope the legs are short enough so that with careful calculation of
both ETP (equal time point) and PNR (point of no return), one could beat
a hasty retreat if adverse winds or weather were encountered. As far as
icing is concerned, one of these days when you have wet, cold clouds
aloft and plenty of warmer air below, someone should do a bit of
experimenting to see what a Europa will actually carry. It would be
interesting to talk to Don Dykins and see how he feels about airfoil
contamination. Alternatively, one can temporarily stick "fake ice"
shapes of foam onto the leading edge and check performance--try a foot
on each side first, not the whole wing! The only really safe way to try
it out is on a clear day, above freezing level, behind an icing
tanker--for something the size of a Europa, a 182 equipped with a few
jerrycans of water and a spray nozzle stolen from the Missus' garden
shed might do!
The other point to remember is that on the "short legs" route the
stretch from Kulusuk, on the east coast of Greenland, to Godthaab on the
west will require a cruise altitude of at least FL125 to clear the
icecap. It's 378 nm straight across; 337 to Sondrestromfjord, a bit
further north. Unfortunately, while it would be fabulously scenic to
run at low level down the east cost from Kulusuk, round Cape Farewell at
the end, and back up to Narssarssuaq on the southwest coast (the old
Bluie West One, if you've ever read Ernest K. Gann's "Fate Is The
Hunter"), the ranges there are even longer. Once south of Kulusuk,
there's bugger all on the east coast; the run round to Narssarssuaq
would be all of 520 nm (well worth it, just for fun, if you had the fuel
installed).
As far as I recall, the method for air-dropping a liferaft is to fly
crosswind, somewhat upwind from the survivors in the water, dropping
first the raft, then a float attached to the raft by a long _floating_
line (usually bright orange). The idea here is that while it's
virtually impossible to get the raft or the float close enough to the
survivors, the floating line will drift down onto them and let them haul
the raft in. Good luck--even with a survival suit, I doubt you'd be up
to much hauling after just a couple of minutes in Arctic waters. No
thanks--a raft right in the Europa, or I, for one, ain't going.
That being said, there are some very nifty little Arctic-certified
single-occupant life rafts packed into ejection seat survival kits (in
fact, I have such a raft myself--a Martin Baker--courtesy of the
Romanian Air Force, but that's another story). It might be possible to
hit up either MB or the RAF for sponsorship in the form of the loan of a
few. Packed, it weighs roughly 8 lbs and is about 10 x 10 x 2 inches.
Still, it sounds great fun; I hope you pull it off, and that I might be
involved somehow.
---psl
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