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Comment by bogomipz | Hacker News Reader

The article states:

>"This delivery will cost the owner about $20,000 (£13,000)."

I am curious why not put the light craft on a cargo ship to cross the Atlantic? How much more could it be? Or is the ferry piloting of light aircraft really steeped in tradition?

I would think that anyone buying a plane is maybe not on such a tight budget.

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Just guessing here, but while you could probably fit something the size of a Cessna 152 into a container, and the shipping would probably be cheap, you'd have to remove the wings and put them lengthwise. My guess is that the cost of doing that, and reattaching them and verifying airworthiness isn't worth it compared to just flying it over.

Sea spray does wonders to aluminium. Add dissimilar metals, air full of electrolyte solution and you’re going to have gremlins. Now you could get around that by disassembling it and packing it in a container. But now you’re paying for the added expense of an aircraft mechanic to reassemble and recertify the aircraft.

Depending on the plane, you might not be able to. Cirruses for example are composite planes whose structure AND wings from from a single piece of composite, therefore you can't remove the wings like you'd do on a Cessna, so you can't ship them on cargo ships (wouldn't fit on containers).

I imagine it’s purely supply and demand when it comes to willing pilots versus the number of planes that need delivery.

And practically speaking as a buyer having the plane flown to me is the equivalent of two day shipping instead of ground freight when it comes to the “I want it now” mentality.

I also figured it would cost far more. $20k is nothing compared to the cost of the plane.

Light aircraft are pretty cheap. A Cessna 150 can be acquired for just ~$15k.

But how much to overhaul?

can you please show me where you could find a deal like that? not doubting you just curious

You’ll find plenty on https://www.trade-a-plane.com/ for example. Although I would be extremely wary of actually flying one that was selling for that price. You’re probably buying a project, not an airplane.

You can get a 'flyable' Learjet for $100K: https://www.trade-a-plane.com/search?category_level1=Jets&ma...

Planes don't fit in a shipping container, which probably makes that an expensive one-off.

There are ship shipping ships. Used to haul mega yachts from North America to Europe. https://www.yacht-transport.com/schedules.html . I would imagine with proper cribbing an airplane could be safely shipped.

Ships are explicitly designed for a corrosive, harsh, salt-water environment. Aeroplanes, not so much...

And does that $20k include insurance? Fuel? Or is it just the pilotage fee?

Taking apart an aircraft (to make it fit in a container) and being able to put it together is very hard

This is more commonly done with helicopters, but it is a potential reliability issue.

It would seem easier to do with helicopters. Whilst looking it up I discovered that it done via the ‘Jesus nut’. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_nut

Edit: Seems they done necessarily need any disassembly and can sometimes just be wrapped. This shipping firm do it, picture near bottom of link. https://www.cratexgroup.com

Depending on construction, disassembling and reconstructing the aircraft might be problematic.

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