Hi all,
I’m planning a visit to EKVG Vagar on the Faroe Islands next week, in our DA42-VI. I’m very interested in hearing people’s experiences with Vagar, as I’ve been able to find a quite limited number of trip reports from GA pilots.
I’ve completed the required familiarization program published by the airport, and slots etc. are all in place. And I’ll be keeping a close eye on the met reports the coming days to make sure we avoid the well-known turbulence on the way in and out of there.
One specific question I have is regarding departure in IMC (as it seems to be most of the time). Most of the departure procedures are RNP AR which I can’t fly, except for the MY 1B departure which is a regular RNAV SID. However, the approach notes indicate that all departures require CAA authorization. Does anyone here have any experience with that procedure, or otherwise departing EKVG in IMC as a private non-commercial flight? I’ll otherwise be able to satisfy all the requirements for flying it, including the steep climb gradient of 10.1%.
Thanks for the help, and fingers crossed for nice weather!
Most of the departure procedures are RNP AR which I can’t fly
Why?
Maybe it’s Radius-To-Fix? or RNP0.1nm? I think these tend to require crew training as well as aircraft approval (an E-HSI with auto-slew for the turn)
Any issue with VFR departure (700ft & 8km are the state minima)? plenty of water to head to after rotation instead of flirting with terrain in IMC under IFR? if weather is bad for VFR, I wonder how it’s wise to fly IMC there, especially if it’s windy & cold…
Yes, they are all RNP AR with RF legs — except for the MY 1B which is a regular RNAV SID.
If the same approval steps are required to fly the MY 1B RNAV SID, it would involve a test flight with a flight inspector in VMC, which would not be too practical for a prive flight…
I was under impression that G1000 NXi (Phase II) on DA42-VI/D62 included RF.
chrismiks wrote:
I’m very interested in hearing people’s experiences with Vagar
I havnt been there for 10 years or so and at that time SID’s didnt exist so we had to use whatever was available.
Arrival was on runway 30, by all accounts it is important to check the 2000ft wind which was given on the ATIS (turbulance on app), from Wick we had a 95 kt headwind but that diminished as we got nearer, on the ILS to 30 we broke out at 800ft, between the rocks.
As there was no departure plate (at the time) we departed 08 and flew the reverse of the approach to 30, but keeping higher than the level that was expected for an approach, cloud base on departure was very low and visability very poor, a good rate of climb is necessary and you would want to get to 3000ft as quickly as you can, clearly (if in IMC) staying exactly on course is essential as there is a lot of granite around.
Obviously, when you are there you need a car to get around the islands and we arranged this before we left, the scenery is stunning and we had a great 3 days there.
Staff at the airfield were helpful, but on the morning of departure it was difficult to find someone to open the gate, but all went well in the end.
Enjoy your visit.
Thanks for the replies, highly appreciated.
On the morning of departure, the TAF indicated winds of 20G30 from 040 degrees, so I opted to park the aircraft in Norway and fly over commercially due to the potential turbulence. The actual winds turned out to be 5-15 knots throughout the day, but better safe than sorry. Fingers crossed on finding better weather next time!
