Landing at Kulusuk

Sorry the blog has been sleepy for a long time, I’ve been so busy with work.  Here’s a video of my approach and landing at Kulusuk, Greenland (BGKK) during a trip I just completed.  I was flying a Beech Duchess (BE-76) from Atlanta to Europe.

I had taped the camera to the top of the dash since I was flying by myself.  The weather was perfect on this particular day for crossing the Greenland icecap and landing at Kulusuk.  Clear skies and light winds!

My speeds for landing in a Duchess are as follows:

• Approach: 93 kts. — 1.4Vs with approach flaps.
• Final approach: 78 kts. — 1.3Vs with landing flaps.

With high crosswinds or turbulence on approach I land with partial flaps, in that case the approach speeds are 1.4Vs clean and 1.3Vs with partial flaps respectively.

One for the books

Do you have any remarks in your logbook about a certain airport, “don’t go back there?” Maybe fuel was expensive, service was bad, anything along those lines? Well I just added one of those airports to my logbook…

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I completed a ferry flight (delivery flight) to Peru last week, this time one for the books as they say. The machine was a brand new Cessna 172, the mission was to deliver her safely to Las Palmas, Peru (SPLP). My customer was ESPAC, a new flight school / aero club in Peru. As usual, I was the ferry pilot on the trip and with me was one of the machine’s new pilots/owners.

We left the Cessna factory in Kansas late in the afternoon on the tail end of a low-pressure system and headed to Shreveport, Louisiana. Heading southeast on this first leg we saw groundspeeds in excess of 180kts in the Cessna 172 thanks to the circulation around the low-pressure system. We overnighted in Shreveport and departed the next morning for Tamiami, FL, with stops at Bay Minette (1R8) and Lakeland (KLAL). Hotel space was a bit of a problem by the time we reached Tamiami, but we did catch the Heat-Knicks game over a beer at a local sportsbar. As is typical in Florida, there were a fair amount of New York fans watching the game as well.

One issue about this trip was that our insurance company would not provide insurance for Cuba overflight, so we had to fly from Florida down to the south end of the Bahamas and then around Cuba airspace to Jamaica. We cleared US Customs outbound in Tamiami and headed to the Bahamas on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Our stops in the Bahamas were Exuma (MYEF) for fuel and then Great Inagua (MYIG). Great Inagua is listed as having avgas at times, but we called ahead and were informed there was no avgas (100LL) in Great Inagua.

(Click any image to view full size)

Approaching Exuma, Bahamas (MYEF)

Me in Exuma, Bahamas (MYEF)

On final for landing at Great Inagua, Bahamas (MYIG)

Cessna 172 on ramp at Great Inagua, MYIG.

In Great Inagua we were ramp checked by US Customs and Bahamian police. It was a bit odd to get ramp checked by an unidentified US Customs official (the 3 of them looked like paramilitaries) in the Bahamas, but we cooperated. They left without giving us much of a hard time and the next morning I asked the Bahamian authorities at the airport to confirm if these guys were legit, since none of them identified themselves.

There are no resorts or big hotels on Great Inagua, very few tourists go there. After the ramp check was complete a taxi driver took us to the local guest house and took us to buy some excellent food. I hesitate to say the food was from a local restaurant, it was more a regular house where the family makes its business cooking and selling food. At any rate, the food was excellent and the guest house quite nice.

Stuck for 3 days in Los Cedros, Colombia

If we thought the US Customs ramp check in Inagua was a bit odd, it was nothing compared to what lay ahead. After overnighting in Great Inagua we flew around the tip of Cuba to Kingston, Jamaica. We overnighted in Jamaica and departed Kingston early the next morning to Cartagena, Colombia (SKCG). We rushed through our Cartagena stop to get airborne by 2:00pm that afternoon. Our next leg was Cartagena to Cali, about 4 hours in a C172. We were delayed a bit in Cartagena and didn’t get airborne again until almost 3:00pm.

Now as the pilot-in-command I take responsibility: it was a mistake getting airborne in Cartagena. Once we realized we were delayed I should have decided to go to a hotel and start again the next day. If you’re not familiar with Colombia, single-engine night flight is prohibited in Colombia (with some exceptions). Again, it was my mistake, but we took off in Cartagena. We received our IFR clearance and were on our merry way. Once airborne our FMS (Garmin 1000) was showing an ETA in Cali of 23:55Z and sunset was expected around 23:25Z.

About an hour and a half into the flight we were handed of from Baranquilla control to Los Cedros tower (at low altitudes on the West side of Colombia you have a sort of tower enroute control). A bit later Los Cedros informed us that our flight plan ETA in Cali was after sunset and we were not allowed to continue. We hassled with Los Cedros tower a bit over the exact requirement of “night flight” in Colombia but to no avail. Just for background, in the US the beginning of “night flight” is defined as either the “end of civil twilight” or “1 hour after sunset”, depending on the purpose. Either way, dark does not begin at sunset and I felt comfortable we would be landing in Cali before dark but Los Cedros ATC did not allow us to continue our flight.

After some discussion about alternates we decided to land at Los Cedros airport (SKLC). No big deal, or so we thought. After landing Colombia national police came out in force to check the airplane. This is normal in Colombia: for any unscheduled international flight the national police checks the airplane at each stop. I’ve done the trip several times and I’m quite familiar with the procedures. I also don’t fly for just anybody, flying to South America I only accept trips from known companies (in this case, Cessna) or persons.

The Colombia national police took maybe 30 minutes to check everything and were satisfied. After completion of all their checks the local “Coronel” explained to us that Los Cedros is in a “hot zone”, there is a lot of drug smuggling through the area into Central America and on to the US, so this is why their checks were more elaborate than normal. They told us most pilots who make unscheduled landings at Los Cedros are drug smugglers. When all was finished they were happy and we were ready to leave to the hotel, however, just then a representative of the local anti-narcotics police and Colombian Air Force entered to start the checks all over again. The Coronel of the national police told the anti-narcotics police that all was well. We took a taxi in town and checked into a hotel.

Twenty minutes later the anti-narcotics cop called our hotel and told us to come back to the airport right away. If not, he would send police to get us out of the hotel. Hmmm… not good.

We went back to the airport where the anti-narcotics cop showed us some fax he received from the Colombian Air Force that stated we had deviated from our flight plan. Next thing we know the anti-narcotics cop told us he was immobilizing our airplane. The national police basically looked at us and said sorry he has more authority than us. I tried to explain that we have all the permits, licenses, paperwork in order, but to no avail. By now it was late and nothing we could do. The cops taped up our airplane and left.

At this point I should mention that there were already 2 confiscated aircraft sitting on the ramp at Los Cedros, according to the policemen we talked to those were legitimately confiscated from drugrunners:

Confiscated aircraft at Los Cedros, Colombia (SKLC)

Not ready to become confiscated airplane nr 3:

The rest of the story is long and the details serve no purpose here. I will say that I have done numerous ferry flights to South America, I use an excellent handling agent (the same company that handles US government contracted and military aircraft in Colombia) and all of our permits were in place. We should have been allowed to leave early the next morning with just a simple report explaining the reason for our deviation, but that was not the case. After about a day or so of hassling with the anti-narcotics police in Los Cedros I began to worry, suspect things. Los Cedros ATC as well as agents from the Colombia national police said things that made us be quite concerned about the legitimacy of the proceedings. And again, I know what to expect and this wasn’t the normal.

I made contact with Cessna, Bogota, Washington and Peru, everybody and anybody. I hesitate to mention anyone so as to not take credit away from the many people who made an effort on our behalf, but among many the US embassy in Bogota was very helpful in this issue. In hindsight it was a strange coincidence how one US official gave us a bit of a hassle in the Bahamas but others in Colombia came to our help.

Long story short, on the second day after our diversion to Los Cedros we were finally cleared to continue our trip.

Los Cedros airport, Colombia (SKLC)

After our adventure in Los Cedros we landed in Cali for our second Colombia stop and then on to Guayaquil, Ecuador (SEGU). The boundary between Colombia and Ecuador airspace along the Cali-Guayaquil route is called “ANGEL”, and it’s safe to say I’d never been happier to reach ANGEL!

Our route of flight to ANGEL, the border between Colombia and Ecuador airspace

Guayaquil is wet this time of the year. While I was waiting on my copilot to return from paying the landing fees I snapped a picture of this LAN Boeing 767 landing on a wet runway at SEGU:

LAN Boeing 767 landing in rain at Guayaquil, Ecuador (SEGU)

Cessna 172 and B767 on ramp in Guayaquil (SEGU)

After Guayaquil we flew to Piura, Peru (SPUR). My copilot has friends in Piura so we wanted to overnight there.

Cessna 172 on final for landing at Piura, Peru (SPUR)

After Piura we flew down to Lima’s Jorge Chavez Intl. airport (SPIM) to clear Peru Customs (not for us as pilots, but for the airplane import). Some of the Peru import paperwork hadn’t been prepared properly but after some phone calls that was all resolved. The next day we flew to Las Palmas, which is a Peruvian Air Force base but also accepts civilian aircraft to go to the SEMAN repair station. Lima Intl. is quite busy nowadays, when I called up for our departure out of Lima we were nr. 12 in line. We ended up having nearly 1 hour of block time for the 11nm flight from Lima Intl. to Las Palmas.

At Peruvian Air Force (FAP) group 8 in Lima, Peru (SPIM)

Cessna 172 shares ramp with Antonov AN-124 in Lima, Peru (SPIM)

It just so happens that my copilot is a dual citizen US/Peru but his wife is Colombian. After arriving to Lima she asked “How was Colombia?” I replied “I think you already know”. However, as bad as our experience in Los Cedros was, it was only 2 guys giving us a hard time, everybody else has always treated me fantastically in all of Colombia.

As they say, “All’s well that ends well”

About those people who write aircraft POH’s

3 words for the people at the big factories who write aircraft Pilot’s Operating Handbooks (POHs):

“GET A MAULE”.

Seriously, a 352 page POH (manual) for a Cessna 172? The manual for a Maule M7 is about 40 pages or so and works so much better.

Aircraft manuals should be concise. Airlines have standard operating procedures and their crews are almost like human robots. Every part of the operation is a standardized procedure and there is very little room for interpretation, human judgment or deviation. With tens of thousands of crews flying tens of thousands of flights every day, this is how your operations must be. You want everything to be simple and standardized, guaranteed to have the same desired outcome each and every time.

General Aviation has a far worse safety record than the airlines and while there may be many reasons for that and no simple solutions, I personally think that the undue complexity of aircraft manuals and checklists is a contributing factor. General Aviation manuals aren’t simple and standardized: they’re complex and verbose.

As a ferry pilot I fly many different aircraft so I consider use of checklists even more important for me than for the average pilot who typically flies the same airplane. I recently picked up a factory new Cessna 172 and the only checklist in the airplane was the factory-issued normal and emergency procedures out of the Cessna 172 POH, so that’s what I used to start the trip.

Take a look at this C172 “before takeoff” checklist, I’ve pasted it out of a copy of a late-model, G1000 Cessna 172SP POH:

BEFORE TAKEOFF
1. Parking Brake – SET
2. Pilot and Passenger Seat Backs – MOST UPRIGHT POSITION
3. Seats and Seat Belts – CHECK SECURE
4. Cabin Doors – CLOSED and LOCKED
5. Flight Controls – FREE and CORRECT
6. Flight Instruments (PFD) – CHECK (no red X’s)
7. Altimeters:
a. PFD (BARO) – SET
b. Standby Altimeter – SET
8. ALT SEL – SET
9. Standby Flight Instruments – CHECK
10. Fuel Quantity – CHECK (verify level is correct)
NOTE
Flight is not recommended when both fuel quantity
indicators are in the yellow band range.
11. Mixture Control – RICH
12. FUEL SELECTOR Valve – SET BOTH
13. Autopilot – ENGAGE (if installed)
(push AP button on either PFD or MFD bezel)
14. Flight Controls – CHECK (verify autopilot can be overpowered in
both pitch and roll axes)
(Continued Next Page)

BEFORE TAKEOFF (Continued)
15. A/P TRIM DISC Button – PRESS (if installed)
(verify autopilot disengages and aural alert is heard)
16. Flight Director – OFF (if installed)
(push FD button on either PFD or MFD bezel)
17. Elevator Trim Control – SET FOR TAKEOFF
18. Throttle Control – 1800 RPM
a. MAGNETOS Switch – CHECK (RPM drop should not
exceed 150 RPM on either magneto or 50 RPM differential
between magnetos)
b. VAC Indicator – CHECK
c. Engine Indicators – CHECK
d. Ammeters and Voltmeters – CHECK
19. Annunciators – CHECK (verify no annunciators are shown)
20. Throttle Control – CHECK IDLE
21. Throttle Control – 1000 RPM or LESS
22. Throttle Control Friction Lock – ADJUST
23. COM Frequency(s) – SET
24. NAV Frequency(s) – SET
25. FMS/GPS Flight Plan – AS DESIRED
NOTE
Check GPS availability on AUX-GPS STATUS page. No
annunciation is provided for loss of GPS2.
26. XPDR – SET
(Continued Next Page)
BEFORE TAKEOFF (Continued)
27. CDI Softkey – SELECT NAV SOURCE
CAUTION
THE G1000 HSI SHOWS A COURSE DEVIATION
INDICATOR FOR THE SELECTED GPS, NAV 1 OR NAV 2
NAVIGATION SOURCE. THE G1000 HSI DOES NOT
PROVIDE A WARNING FLAG WHEN A VALID
NAVIGATION SIGNAL IS NOT BEING SUPPLIED TO THE
INDICATOR. WHEN A VALID NAVIGATION SIGNAL IS
NOT BEING SUPPLIED, THE COURSE DEVIATION BAR
(D-BAR) PART OF THE INDICATOR IS NOT SHOWN ON
THE HSI COMPASS CARD. THE MISSING D-BAR IS
CONSIDERED TO BE THE WARNING FLAG.
WARNING
WHEN THE AUTOPILOT IS ENGAGED IN NAV, APR OR
BC OPERATING MODES, IF THE HSI NAVIGATION
SOURCE IS CHANGED MANUALLY, USING THE CDI
SOFTKEY, THE CHANGE WILL INTERRUPT THE
NAVIGATION SIGNAL TO THE AUTOPILOT AND WILL
CAUSE THE AUTOPILOT TO REVERT TO ROL MODE
OPERATION. NO AURAL ALERT WILL BE PROVIDED.
IN ROL MODE, THE AUTOPILOT WILL ONLY KEEP THE
WINGS LEVEL AND WILL NOT CORRECT THE
AIRPLANE HEADING OR COURSE. SET THE HDG BUG
TO THE CORRECT HEADING AND SELECT THE
CORRECT NAVIGATION SOURCE ON THE HSI, USING
THE CDI SOFTKEY, BEFORE ENGAGING THE
AUTOPILOT IN ANY OTHER OPERATING MODE.
28. CABIN PWR 12V Switch – OFF
29. Wing Flaps – UP – 10° (10° preferred)
30. Cabin Windows – CLOSED and LOCKED
31. STROBE Light Switch – ON
32. Brakes – RELEASE

Seriously, 3 pages and 32 items is your “before takeoff” checklist, a hand full of warnings and cautions and then you omit the most important item:

“TAKEOFF BRIEFING – COMPLETE”.

Sorry Cessna, I love you guys and I’ve flown your airplanes practically all over God’s creation but the “before takeoff” checklist in a C172 should not be 3 pages long, it should not have 32 items in it but it darn well ought to have a takeoff briefing in it!

Take a look by comparison at the “before takeoff” checklist out of a Maule M7 manual:

BEFORE TAKEOFF
1. Seat Belt and Shoulder Harnesses – RECHECK FASTENED
2. Doors – CLOSED and LATCHED
3. Fuel Selector Value – FULLER TANK or BOTH (If Equal)
4. Flaps – SET FOR TAKEOFF (MAX 24 Degrees/2nd Notch)
5. Trim Controls – SET FOR TAKEOFF
6. Flight Controls – CHECK FREE and CORRECT
7. Crew Briefing – COMPLETE
a. Departure
b. Emergencies
8. Radios and NAV Equipment – AS DESIRED
9. Altimeter – SET
10. Mixture Control – FULL RICH
11. Propeller Control – HIGH RPM
12. Alternate Air Control – IN and LOCKED
13. Anti-collision Light – ON
14. Pulse Lights – As Required
15. Transponder – ALT
16. Engine Instruments – CHECK
17. Attitude Indicator – CHECK ERECT
18. Directional Gyro – CHECK and SET
19. Parking Brake – OFF

The Maule M7 “before takeoff” checklist is half a page long and includes the most important item on any “before takeoff” checklist: the takeoff briefing. Maule also does a better job than Cessna by moving the run-up checklist to a separate checklist. Many times you won’t be doing the run-up just before takeoff but in a designated run-up area somewhere, a run-up is a different activity than a “before takeoff” check. The “before takeoff” checklist should simply have an item “runup – complete”.

The “before takeoff” phase of flight is one of the more critical phases of flight. Things like runway incursions, airspace violations, stall-spin accidents, can all be partly attributed to pilot error or distractions. Therefor the “before takeoff” checklist needs to be short and sweet and cover only the things that are important at that point in the flight, no extraneous stuff, no distractions. Same holds true for the approach checklist and landing checklists. By-the-way, the C172 checklist also omits the “approach briefing” just like they omit the “takeoff briefing”.

If General Aviation safety is to improve – especially considering the complexity and capability of current aircraft – pilots need to operate more by standard operating procedures, short and sweet, just like the airlines. Wordy and complex manuals do not accomplish that.

Now you might say that the complex manuals are a product of trial lawyers but if that’s true somebody needs to put all the trial lawyers in a room together and explain to them that complex and wordy manuals don’t help safety, they hurt it.

The most important reason why complex manuals hurt General Aviation safety is because the manuals are so complex nobody uses them. At the end of my first day of flying on my last trip I bought a much better aftermarket C172 checklist because the factory manual is so bad, but how many pilots do you think simply put the manual in the back of the seat pocket and never look at a checklist again? If you want pilots to use checklists, they must be written for the real world. Think pilots will sit at the departure end of a busy runway and read 3 pages of manual? And if they did, that much heads-down time at such a critical juncture would be more detrimental to safety than anything.

Another problem with complex manuals is that they increase the potential to overlook something important amids all the frivolous stuff (“throttle friction lock – adjust” seriously?).

One of my recent customers almost died in a Piper Mirage many years ago after having a complete electrical failure in actual IMC in Denmark. When the pilot told me his story he made no excuses – he had overlooked one step on the “starting engines with external power” checklist. What happened is that this pilot left a master switch on after a flight and drained the battery in an earlier model Piper Mirage. After starting the engine with external power on his next flight he missed the step on the checklist where you are supposed to check if the battery is charging. He had checked alternator output on both alternators but not if the battery was charging. Due to a battery-powered relay in the system the battery would not come online if it was completely dead, even with 2 operating alternators. In case you’re not familiar with small aircraft electrical systems, the battery is supposed to act like a “cushion” so that the alternators don’t have to respond immediately to each and every variation in electrical system demand. Because the battery never came online and didn’t provide this “cushion” to the alternators, shortly after takeoff on this fateful flight both alternators simultaneously quit and the pilot found himself in actual IMC with no electrical power at all. Only because he is an excellent pilot, had a handheld emergency radio, and perhaps because somebody up above decided it wasn’t his time, did he (and his passengers) live to tell me this story. But if the “starting engine with external power” checklist had been short and simple, maybe the entire episode wouldn’t have happened, maybe he would have noticed the battery wasn’t charging, shut down and put a battery charger on the airplane for a few hours. A simpler checklist might have saved the day.

Just my humble opinion, when it comes to aircraft POH’s and checklists, simple is better.

Delivering the first airplane for USMP Ciencias Aeronáuticas

Alternate title: flying to South America by Cessna 172.

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I delivered the first airplane for Universidad San Martin de Porres (USMP) last week. Universidad San Martin de Porres is a major university in Lima (Peru) and they are starting Peru’s first university accredited pilot training program. Here is some info about USMP Ciencias Aeronáuticas on the web and on Facebook.

Personally I think this is a great idea, I didn’t go to college until later in my career and in hindsight I wish I had done so when I was younger. To have a good career as a professional pilot the 2 things that matter most in terms of checkboxes on your resume – at least in my opinion – are 1) military experience and 2) a university degree.

The first airplane for USMP Ciencias Aeronáuticas is a brand spanking new Cessna 172SP. The friendly folks at the international Cessna dealership for Peru had arranged for us to pick up the airplane at Eagle Aviation in Columbia, SC, where it had been painted in a custom paint scheme for USMP.

New C172SP with custom paint for USMP Ciencias Aeronauticas

We arrived in Columbia (KCAE) on a lousy rainy day and decided to postpone our departure by 1 day to allow some finishing touches at the paint shop and wait for better weather. The next day weather was more reasonable and we took off for our first leg of the ferry flight: Columbia, SC (KCAE) to Tamiami, FL (KTMB).

The weather was generally good VFR for our flight to Tamiami but we had to stay around 3,000 feet most of the time to avoid strong headwinds. At Savannah (GA) ATC asked us if we wanted to go around or over the top of their class C airspace and I decided to climb to 6,500 feet for 40 miles or so. You can tell by the headwinds on the Garmin 1000 MFD that I may have made the wrong decision at that point. A diversion around their airspace might have been quicker.

You know it's going to be a long day when you have a 50kt headwind in a Cessna 172

We had an uneventful trip to Tamiami which was our first overnight stop. The next day we completed the mandatory 25-hour oil change for a new aircraft as well as US Customs export paperwork in Tamiami. All that took up most of the day but in the afternoon we continued our trip with a short flight from Tamiami to Nassau, Bahamas (MYNN), our second overnight stop.

The view from our hotel in Nassau, Bahamas.

In a late model Cessna 172 you could theoretically cross the Gulf of Mexico with just 1 stop in Jamaica, but I wanted to go from Florida to the Bahamas and then on to Jamaica because flying direct from Florida to Jamaica in a C172 is a bit of a stretch range-wise. We refueled in Kingston and after a quick turnaround continued on to Cartagena, Columbia (SKCG).

Jamaica to Cartagena is about 4:15 hours in a Cessna 172, well within range but obviously you want to be very careful with winds and weather.

Our handling agent in Cartagena, Colombia (SKCG). They always take good care of us.

I work with an excellent handling agent in Cartagena, they take care of our Customs notification, make our hotel reservations and have our flight plans ready to file the next morning. From Cartagena we headed over to Cali (SKCL) in mostly good VFR weather until the last 70 miles or so, when we ran into some cloud buildups over the mountains just west of Cali.

From Cartagena there are various direct routes to Cali but we flew a bit west so as to avoid having to fly at higher altitudes over the Andes mountains. In Cali we shot the ILS but had the runway easily in sight from 4 or 5 miles out. When approaching Cali from the west in any airplane without speedbrakes you will usually need 1 turn in the holding to lose altitude for the instrument approach after crossing the mountains.

The ILS at Cali programmed in the Garmin 1000 MFD

Weather between Cali and Guayaquil was a bit marginal and we decided to overnight in Cali. The airport hotel in Cali had sold out all of its 12 rooms, so we took a taxi to Palmira and found us a nice hotel there for only 80,000 pesos per night (~$50).

The next day we had good weather for our flight to Guayaquil (SEGU) where we refueled and did another quick turnaround. Guayaquil is an interesting airport, the preferred runway is RY21 but the General Aviation facility is all the way at the end of the runway. While we were strapping in and doing our before start checklist a C152 taxied out just before us. When requesting my startup clearance I asked ATC for RY03 if available. With light winds Guayaquil tower will usually approve General Aviation aircraft to land RY21 and takeoff RY03 to minimize taxi time and minimize traffic/delays on the ground. If taking off on RY03 when RY21 is technically in use the tower simply requests a quick right turnout.

The Guayaquil control tower approved RY03 for us and as we rolled out of our 180 degree right turn after takeoff I looked down and saw the C152 which had taxied out just before us, the airplane was still on the ground taxiing, almost reaching the departure end of RY21

Taking off out of Guayaquil, Ecuador (SEGU).

From Guayaquil we flew to Trujillo, Peru, where we overnighted for the last time on this trip. The next morning we had a delay taking off out of Trujillo because our international flight permit for Peru specified Pisco (SPSO) as our final airport but the university had requested that we change our destination to Lima (SPIM). Once that was cleared up we took off and headed down the Pacific coast to Lima.

The beach / resort town of Huanchaco, near Trujillo, Peru.

As usual Lima was landing runway 15. We were lucky to arrive at a fairly quiet moment (Lima can be very busy at times) and shot the ILS to RY15.

On final for landing at Lima's Jorge Chavez Intl Airport (SPIM)

Here’s the first airplane for USMP Ciencias Aeronáuticas in Lima, Peru.

The first airplane for USMP Ciencias Aeronauticas, at the completion of the delivery from US to Lima.

Ferry pilot ditches just short of Hawaii

Video from the US Coast Guard:

Ferry pilot flying a Cessna 310 from mainland US to Hawaii was forced to ditch just short of his destination due to fuel exhaustion. Luckily the pilot is ok.

It’s going to be another long day at the office

Next month I’m scheduled to deliver a couple of airplanes from the US to Peru. I’ll be picking up a Cessna 172 and a Cessna 182 for the ferry flight to Peru.

Here’s my planned route of flight to Peru in the Cessna 172SP:

Cessna 172 ferry flight route from US to Peru

Image courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.

Notice after South Florida how I worked in stops in the Bahamas, Jamaica and Cartagena. Another long day in the office of a ferry pilot

Realistically this is the best route to fly down to Peru in a Cessna 172 and there won’t be any time for touristy stuff at each fuel stop – but they are still beautiful places to visit.

In a Cessna 172 you could probably go direct Florida to Jamaica, but I’m a wuss when it comes to fuel reserves so I’ll make an extra stop in the Bahamas. When flying a light airplane from the US to South America I usually stop in Montego Bay (Jamaica), but in a Cessna 172 I prefer Kingston so the leg to Cartagena is a bit shorter. Baranquilla is also available as a first point of landing in Colombia, but I just happen to be familiar with Cartagena and know the handling agent there. After Cartagena I’ll stop in Cali and Guayaquil before heading to Trujillo, Peru, where I’ll clear Peru Customs.

For this route I’m required to have Cuba overflight permit, Jamaica landing permit as well as permits for each of the South American countries. I work with a good handling agent who coordinates all my overflight and landing permits for me.

A few more pictures of ferry flights to South America:

Approaching Cuba

Landing at Cali, Colombia (SKCL)

The Pacific coast just south of Lima, Peru. Visual approach to SPLX, Libmandi, Peru

Tough job but somebody’s got to do it

Low cost ferry pilot

I’m not the lowest cost ferry pilot. I think this guy here is:

Seneca V crash in Greenland during ferry flght to Europe

Please let me be perfectly clear: over the years I’ve come to understand bad things happen in our industry, and they happen to good people. I’m not above making a mistake and you can even read about my mishap here.

I’m not the most expensive nor the cheapest ferry pilot, I charge about the same as other professional and reputable ferry pilots. I’m not saying that a person who charges $300 per day is a better or safer pilot than the one who charges $200 per day, or that the pilot who charges $4,000 for an Atlantic ferry flight is a safer pilot than the pilot who charges $2,000 for the same ferry flight, only that I charge what is fair and allows me to reasonably provide for my family.

Having said that, I’ve turned down quite a few flights over money-issues lately. Not so much over what I charge for my time as a ferry pilot, but typically the conflict is over flight expenses.

Accidents – often fatal – do happen in our business, such as this one or this one. I didn’t know either of these pilots but as far as I’ve heard they were both good people and conscientious pilots. There should be no reason they lost their lives and their families lost a loved one over doing a job.

Speaking in general terms, not to be specific about the cause of any particular accident, BUT in my opinion you cannot rule out the pressures of delivering an aircraft in less time and for less money as contributing factors in many ferry flight accidents.

I won’t have any part of it. Again, I’m not above making a mistake, but if someone wants me to do a flight and will not afford me the flexibility or budget to do the flight as safe, comfortable and correctly as possible – I simply won’t take the flight.

Here are some typical things ferry pilots are asked to do to keep costs down:

• Charts and databases: I’m asked sometimes: “you just did a ferry flight last month, why don’t you use those charts?”.
• Survival gear: it’s expensive and cumbersome and we never plan to use it. But it’s required and if you ever did need it…
• Fuel: buy less fuel or carry fuel in the baggage compartment to avoid paying more at higher priced airports.
• Route of flight: the accident databases are filled with ferry flight accidents due to fuel starvation (such as the picture above). I’m often asked to take a more direct route of flight that might save 3 hours of flight time but doesn’t afford me a comfortable fuel reserve.
• Winds and weather: this is probably the biggest one. In the Artic you’ll easily pay $250 per person per day for hotels and meals, so nobody wants to get delayed, but you really can’t rush into winds or weather over the ocean in a light airplane.

I have a lot of stories. A while back I saw a ferry pilot take off out of Bangor in a Cessna 206 direct to the Azores, literally overflying a perfectly good fuel stop 700 miles enroute at St. Johns. He may have saved $500 in handling fees and less expensive avgas, but to me it wouldn’t be worth the extra risk of extreme overweight takeoff and less fuel reserves. Maybe if I had no choice, if someone was shooting at me, but nobody was shooting, the pilot was just trying to save $500 for the owner of a $500,000+ airplane.

Most of the things we’re asked may not pose an immediate safety risk but do reduce the margin of safety a bit for no reason other than money. Think about it, flying a light aircraft over oceans, into the Artic or halfway across the globe is a challenging task. To take away any margin of safety at all for the sake of flight expenses is nonsense.

As for the accident aircraft pictured above, you can read the story here. The pilots are very lucky to be alive (no one should ever fly an untanked Seneca from Goose Bay direct to Narsarsuaq) but as far as I understand the pilot is still up to the same stuff.

How much is my fee as a ferry pilot?

For most trips I charge a daily rate for my time plus expenses. For most Atlantic ferry flights, the fee for my time is a flat-rate fee, so you don’t have to worry about paying extra in case of weather or other minor operational delays.

For aircraft expenses, on most trips I will charge the actual expenses as incurred during the ferry flight. I provide an estimated budget prior to the trip and at the end of the trip I provide an accounting of the actual expenses.

I prefer not to charge a flat (fixed) rate for the expenses but charge actual expenses as incurred. The reason for this is so that in the case of weather delays I don’t feel pressured due to lack of funds (if you provide a cut-rate quote) but at the same time I don’t charge my customer any more than what the actual expenses are.

Some of my ferry pilot pictures:

Cessna 182 delivered to Germany

Mooney Acclaim ferry flight to Europe - fuel stop in Sondre Stromfjord (BGSF)

Piper Archer delivered to Switzerland

Cessna 182 ferry flight to Lima, Peru

Maule M7-260 delivered to England

Piper Seneca delivered to Biggin Hill

Atlantic ferry flight checklist

On my most recent Atlantic ferry flight, halfway between Egilsstadir and Wick, my copilot Phil (and owner of the airplane) asked for a bottle of camelsweat, aka Gatorade. I reached around to the back seat of the pretty Maule M7 and grabbed a bottle of camelsweat.

“Last bottle”, I said.

Phil nodded and then shook his head in disbelief. When we got ready for the trip about 10 days earlier we had gone shopping for supplies at Walmart (where else). I grabbed an 8-pack or 12-pack of camelsweat and as I put it in the shopping cart I turned back and grabbed an additional big bottle of the stuff. Phil looked at me at the time and shook his head.

I get that reaction a lot when I go shopping before a ferry flight. I am often accompanied by the owner of the plane I’m flying, and they are generally astounded at how much drinks and snacks I buy. That combined with an email suggestion of a faithful reader inspired me to write an informal checklist of what to buy and get before an Atlantic ferry flight in a general aviation airplane.

Of course this is not the end-all be-all checklist of flying over the North Atlantic, just a reasonable checklist of what to get and what to do before a ferry flight over the North Atlantic in a typical single-engine airplane. Preparation is key to an easy and uneventful flight:

1) Walmart:

I don’t like Wally World any more than any other big box store, but you get the idea. Here’s the stuff I stock up on:

• Drinks: get at least one drink per person per leg of the flight. You don’t really want to spend a lot of time at each stop trying to find a store/cafetaria or correct local change for the vending machine. Forget the carbonated sugary stuff. Water or Gatorade works best for me. The big Gatorade bottles also double as emergency bathroom
• Chocolate and Snickers bars or the like. Sufficient for snacks and emergency supplies. If you’re going someplace warm (like Latin America) change chocolate for something that doesn’t melt
• Peanuts or any other flavor nuts that spins your proverbial propeller.
• Cereal bars.
• Paper towels.

2) Airplane:

Now that we have the important stuff covered, let’s look at the airplane…

In all seriousness, it’s very important to make sure the airplane is ready for an Atlantic ferry flight. Too often people just assume they can take any airplane from the US or Canada and it will be ready for export and ferry flight. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although the US and Canada may be the biggest General Aviation markets, most airplanes that are simply flown and maintained to US standards are not ready for export or Atlantic ferry flight. That does not mean the airplanes/standards are not as good, simply that there are different regulatory requirements based on ground infrastructure and the like in various parts of the world.

Again, not the end-all be-all list but here are some common things to check on your airplane before an Atlantic ferry flight or export:

• Export Certificate of Airworthiness – unless you plan to continue flying under FAA registration.
• US Customs aircraft export documents. This is often overlooked but legally required.
• Valid registration for the ferry flight – I will do a post on this subject later, unfortunately many people assume they can fly an airplane with the previous owner’s registration certificate, that is simply not true.
• Valid insurance, which is a legal requirement in Europe and many other areas, as well as a sensible thing to have. Ferry flight insurance is best bought as part of the annual policy that will cover the airplane in it’s new home country. Many insurance companies nowadays require a minimum of 5 previous Atlantic ferry flights for the ferry pilot.
• Aircraft equipment: depending on requirements of your home country, you may need to install traditional ADF and DME. You may also need to install a 406Mhz ELT and mode-S transponder. This is true even if you intend to keep flying under FAA registration: you must comply with the operating requirements of the countries you fly in.
• A good recent inspection. You don’t want to incur maintenance costs somewhere far away from home, plus it’s safe to assume if you’re exporting a US-made aircraft that any maintenance you need will be less expensive in the US than in your home country.
• Ferry tank: most airplanes don’t need a ferry tank to cross the Atlantic, but if you do have a ferry tank, make sure you have it installed by a reputable shop who will give you correct FAA paperwork with validations for Canada or other countries that may require it.
• HF radio: with few exceptions Atlantic ferry flight routes require HF radio. In most general aviation aircraft it makes more sense to fly the routes that DO NOT require HF radio (CYFB-BGSF-BIKF).

3) Survival equipment:

You must have the required survival equipment for the type airplane and route. Canada and Greenland both have specific requirements. Generally speaking you will need a raft, immersion suits and a survival kit. It’s also a good idea to carry a personal satelite ELT (EPIRB) and a satelite phone.

In addition to the minimum requirements, I usually carry some sleeping bags, extra flashlights, lighters, etc. I also carry a Walmart first-aid kit so that I don’t have to open my $350 sealed survival kit when someone bumpes their head on the wing of a Cessna.

It’s also important to bring some warm clothes, gloves, scarf, etc. Even in summertime you will see very cold temperatures over the North Atlantic. If the aircraft heater should fail, you must have some means to stay reasonably warm.

4) Pilot supplies / operational requirements:

Some really important items:

• Paper charts: like it or not, you must have paper charts applicable to your route. Transport Canada can and will violate you if you don’t have appropriate charts.
• Current avionics database: No ifs, ands or buts. If your avionics require a database, you must have the current dbase applicable to the route you are flying.
• Valid licenses: make sure your ferry pilot meets all applicable recent experience requirements. Even if flying VFR, Transport Canada requires that the ferry pilot has a valid instrument rating, that also means meating the recent experience requirements.
• Fuel pump: this is important if you plan to stop at some remote airports that may have fuel in drums and no pump. In Kuujjuaq (CYVP) you MUST bring your own pump if you plan to buy avgas 100LL.
• Hat, sunglasses: flying over the Greenland icecap or a uniform cloud layer with sun on top…

Last but not least: Souvenirs for mamacita: don’t forget to pick up some souvenirs at each stop

Finally, make sure to pack light and leave out anything not needed for the flight. If you have spare parts or other airplane supplies that you don’t plan on using during the flight, send it home instead of packing it in the airplane baggage compartment. With few exceptions, most light airplanes will be near gross weight during an Atlantic ferry flight just with the weight of the fuel, pilots, supplies, survival gear, etc. You don’t want to load the airplane down with any unnecessary stuff, because you will often want to maximize altitude performance to avoid weather or take advantage of favorable winds during the flight.

If you have any suggestions or I have overlooked any items, please leave a comment or send me an email.

Putting on my immersion suit before the overwater legs

Pumping avgas from a drum in Kuujjuaq (CYVP)

New link

I’ve added a new link Trip reports & flying in Europe under “Blogroll” on the RH side of the blog. This site was kindly suggested to me after my earlier post about UK ATC.

The site has much information about flying in Europe as well as detailed and illustrated trip reports, some to places I’ve been to such as Newcastle and Locarno, but many more I have not yet been to.

Flying in Europe - trip reports

Any suggestions of relevant content to link to or publish here on the blog are always appreciated!

Cessna 210

Take a look at the sweetest flying plane I’ve flown in quite some time. Here she is:

Cessna 210J

She’s old and has a peculiar – some might say ugly – paint scheme due to being used as a fire spotter aircraft. She doesn’t have a glass cockpit, TKS or forward looking infrared. Heck, she doesn’t even have a working GPS.

But she’s a Cessna 210!!!!

That’s right people, a Cessna 210! The airplane your father always wanted. In it’s day it was the ultimate single-engine airplane.

Those shiny new Cirrus and Corvalis airplanes go to bed at night dreaming of waking up as a Cessna 210, a real airplane with retractable landing gear and a big cabin made out of real aluminum. An airplane with sweet handling characteristics, stable yet responsive. An airplane with a laminar flow wing yet docile and forgiving enough for the average private pilot.

Sure a Cessna 210 doesn’t have the capabilities of the newer pressurized single engine aircraft like the Malibu, Meridian, TBM or PC12. But none of those aircraft will ever be built in the sheer numbers of Cessna 210s. The 210 was in reach of the average private pilot / aircraft owner, in terms of budget as well as pilot skill. The 210 didn’t have the big cabin door and club seating of the Piper Lance/Saratoga, but it was faster and generally seen as a better flying airplane, more of a pilot’s plane than the Piper. The Bonanza 36 was competitive, but I don’t think it ever had the production numbers of the Cessna 210.

You can still get a good used Cessna 210, even though the newest models are a quarter century old. If you so desire you can retrofit a glass cockpit and still come in at a budget less than a late model Cirrus or Corvalis. You can even retrofit the much improved IO-550 engine to replace the 210′s IO-520 engine.

I think Cessna made a mistake not resuming production of the 210 in the late 1990s. Until the acquisition of the Corvalis line, Cessna had ceded the high-end single engine market for faster airplanes entirely to Cirrus.

Don’t get me wrong, the newer airplanes with glass cockpit and integrated autopilots are nice, especially for someone like myself who flies them halfway across the world on delivery flights. But the newer airplanes are also more complicated. I personally also don’t think the newer airplanes are as safe or fun to fly for the average private pilot. All the avionics and automation are really not required for the type of flying most private pilots do, and it leads to a lot of head-down time and a possible false sense of security. Unless you fly a lot of actual IFR, all the automation and avionics has little practical benefit.

A Cessna 210 didn’t need all that automation. It had great handling characteristics. I only flew the airplane pictured above for about 3 hours, but other than takeoff and landing I rarely touched the yoke. No autopilot – I only looked outside following my roads and rivers and other landmarks on the chart. I occasionally made my course corrections with just a touch of the rudder. Even though I hadn’t flown a 210 in years I easily landed using no more than 1,500 feet or so of a 3,000 ft runway.

Oh the nostalgia

A beautiful summer day flying over Quebec in a Cessna 210

Update:

Interesting Cessna 210 history from Cessna Pilots Association.