I always try to have a little chat with Simon after he posts the weather, but he always seems to go strong an silent on me.

A cynic might speculate that the forum is essentially just a place on the internet for him to advertise his premimum-rate phone lines.

On a more practical note, I think you’ll find that Simon’s links work if you remove the final bracket which he obviously didn’t intend to include within the URL in each case.

You don’t need a degree to become a Licensed Aircraft Engineer. I strongly suspect that the vast majority of current aero engineers never went anywhere near University. That is how it was in the days before degrees were handed out with packets of cornflakes by former Colleges of Further Education.

The CAA Website provides the details for obtaining engineering licences. That might be worth a read.

If you intend to obtain a degree, you may find yourself overskilled for a life torquing engine mounts whilst being paid half of nothing.

MSA across the snowcap is remarkably high (as high a FL160 depending on route). That exceeds the abilities of many non-turbo-charged pistons, and in any event requires oxygen if the aircraft is unpressurised. Partly because of this, and partly because of the inevitable low freezing levels and the risk of airframe icing, many are tempted to make the crossing below MSA.

White-out, spatial disorientation and even plain old-fashioned CFIT await those who follow that plan.

For those with the endurance, Reykjavik-Narsarsuaq-Goose Bay offers a much more limited exposure to the ice-cap and better low-level options if the weather goes to pieces on you. Sadly, AVGAS availability at Narsarsuaq has become a repeated issue over the last 18 months or so, making more northerly crossings a more frequent occurance.

Nope, in the case of the photo, this is SOBSTORY, the position for which is normally given as 65 10 55N 043 49 44W.

SOBSTORY is on the mandatory route between Nuuq on the West Coast and Kulusuk on the East.

1) Is it normal to turn on the runway lights for a daytime landing with decent visibility (4 -5 miles below the 700ft agl cloud cover)?

In decent visibility it isn’t. However in the case of this particular accident, the visibility was anything but. The NTSB estimates visibility to have been around 3 to 4 Statute Miles in Mist and light snow. The Cloud Base varied between 400 and 700 feet overcast (bear in mind that the lowest permitted descent on this particular VOR approach was 471 feet AGL). Under such circumstances, operating pilot controlled lighting would have been perfectly normal.

2) At what stage in a flight would a pilot normally turn the lights on, before of after spotting the runway? Might a pilot turn on the lights if they were having difficulty locating the airport (the pilot had only flown to that airport 3 or 4 times, there were problems with the VOR and the plane was about 7 degrees off track).

Lights are an aid to acquiring the runway visually. As such, there is little point in turning the lights on after the runway is in sight. PCL are normally activated when the pilot is handed by the Approach Controller to the UNICOM/CTAF/MULTICOM frequency for the landing airport. This normally occurs on or just before the aircraft reaches the initial approach fix and is cleared for the approach. In the case of the aircraft you are interested in, it happened when the Approach Controller had vectored the aircraft onto the final approach track of the VOR approach. This is normal for radar-assisted approaches.

All of this relates to Instrument (IFR) operations, rather than visual (VFR) flying. As such, there is no question of “having difficulty locating the airport”. Either you are on the approach, or you aren’t. In this instance, the pilots failed to establish correctly onto the final approach track. There were no VOR problems that were material to the accident.

3) I assume that in order to “click on” the runway lights at Eveleth Airport one of the pilots would have to have switched the radio which had previously been set for the Duluth tower to Eveleth’s frequency, is that correct?

Yes (although approaching aircraft talk to Duluth Approach, not Tower). However the PCL frequency is the same as the UNICOM frequency for the airport, so the PCL would have been activated on handover from the approach sector in the normal way, making the whole 1 radio or 2 radios debate pointless.

Additionally, anybody fleetingly familiar with King Airs will appreciate that such an aircraft always carries at least 2 VHF radios and never carries a CVR or FDR. It has nothing to do with the operator being “unable to afford a Black Box”.

Please indicate whether or not you are a pilot.

That’s what it says on my licence. I’ve even been known to fly a King Air from time to time.