Ferry tank

If your airplane doesn’t have at least 800nm. range, you need a ferry tank to safely cross the Atlantic. For a recent Atlantic ferry flight to Switzerland I had a 100 gal. ferry tank installed at Telford in Bangor.

With 100 gals extra in a Piper Archer or Cessna 172 you can make Goose Bay – Keflavik or St. Johns – Santa Maria direct, but I decided to go Goose Bay – Narsarsuaq – Keflavik, so my longest leg was only 680nm.

Ferry tank installation in Bangor, ME (KBGR)

Aircraft ferry tank

Vent for ferry tank

The ferry tank is installed on a temporary platform where the back seats normally are. Since it is only a temporary installation, a ferry permit (special airworthiness certificate) is required. Most aircraft will be overweight with a ferry tank installed, so a special overweight permit with certain operating restrictions is issued as well. I calculated my max weight in the Archer at 3,091lbs, nearly 600lbs over normal max weight but still well below the limit of the overweight permit.

If you look around the internet you might believe that airplane ferry tanking is hard to come by nowadays, but that’s not really true. I was in and out of the shop in Bangor in less than 2 days, including all the legal paperwork for the FAA and Transport Canada validation.