As BCA was going to press, a pilot we know with considerable oceanic crossing experience in his logbook offered the following general checklist for keeping your operation gross navigation error (GNE) free. Pay attention to these points, and you have a pretty good chance of staying out of trouble.

Denmark Jutting out of the Europe like a hand reaching for Sweden, Denmark is the smallest of the Scandinavian countries, at 27,000 sq. mi. (not including its possessions Greenland and the Faeroe Islands), about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

“Honeywell's inertial reference systems navigate only in true but display magnetic headings to pilots,” Jerry Norton reminded readers. “However, at 72.5 deg. N, they are programmed to switch to true course.” A retired avmanager at Honeywell, Norton logged considerable time piloting a Gulfstream in avionics trials in the high latitudes. Above 80 deg. N, “just like going across the Pacific,” he observed, “there are not a lot of alternates, just Barrow, Deadhorse, and Spitsbergen Island.” Norton continues to fly as a free-lance contract pilot.