Ferry Flying

ferry tanks in cessna 402
Ferry Tanks in a Cessna 402

In 2011 I delivered five planes to their new owners around the world. I landed in 32 different countries and hit, maybe not quite the right word, six out of seven continents.  Most of my early ferry flights involved crossing the Atlantic Ocean in small single and multi-engine aircraft. In order to get the range required to fly such long distances aircraft making the crossing are often equipped with ferry tanks. These tanks are locked inside the cabin and connected to the fuel system. Adding that much fuel obviously increased the weight of the aircraft, usually exceeding the normal maximum allowable gross weight. When ferrying an aircraft the FAA allows you to exceed the normal limit by twenty five percent.  When I first started ferrying there was no GPS system to tell us our position once we were out of range of the land based navigational aids.  This meant flying for sometimes up to nine hours with nothing but a compass to follow until you picked up the beacon in the Azores, if you missed the Azores you were going swimming.

 

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