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Comment by shagie | Hacker News Reader

An autobiographical story of ferrying a Cessna C150 from Oshkosh, WI to Gaborone, Botswana: http://www.cessna150-152.com/transatlantic.htm

It has information about swapping out seats for a fuel tanks, a broken antenna, bribes / extra fees.

> Although Leon could talk to air traffic controllers in Gander, New York and Santa Maria, the biggest problem was the disbelief from the airliners when they continually asked for his aircraft type.

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What a fascinating story. Thanks for sharing. I was surprised that the route went from Canada straight to the Azores. I'm imagining this is much risker route than Greenland -> Iceland -> UK -> Europe? Do you know why he selected the direct route with 14 hours over the ocean instead?

Note: I'm not an aviator, so this is to be taken with a "I'm reading things". The great circle route is rather direct - http://www.gcmap.com/map?P=YQM-YYT-SMA-DKR&MS=wls&MR=600&MX=... (from http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=YQM-YYT-SMA-DKR&MS=wls&DU=mi ) with legs of 1581 and 1602 miles.

I'm guessing weather is a key question there. This is based on https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/hangar-talk/34838-help-ne... which is taking a C172 from Maine to India and has the same question: St. Johns to Azores or Greenland and Iceland. The general suggestion there appears to be the Greenland and Iceland route.

There's also http://220kts.com/ferry-flights/atlantic-ferry-routes.html which looks at some of the options too. That seems to be a popular route: https://www.k-aircraft.de/en/news-neuigkeit/north-atlantic-f.... Note that first link mentions "good alternative during wintertime". The ferry was done in October.

Consider things like: GPS was new. The pilot was flying the "same" route as the airlines (this was important when the radio broke - if he was flying a different route he wouldn't be able to transmit until close range with VHF)

All that said, this appears to be his preferred route: http://www.aerocompinc.com/airplanes/CA6/africa.htm .

As a not an aviator, I'll guess fuel costs (Greenland is a ways north if you're trying to go to Africa) and icing concerns?

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Tangent to this... The 717s that Hawaiian Airlines flies has a range of 2,371 miles. The distance from SFO to Hawaii is 2,339 miles. To get the proper range - the inside of the plane: http://www.airliners.net/photo/Hawaiian-Air/Boeing-717-22A/1...

This link really puts the choice of Azores in perspective in terms of efficiency:

http://www.gcmap.com/map?P=YQM-YYT-SMA-DKR&MS=wls&MR=600&MX=...

The northerly route is much less efficient although probably a lot safer.

Buy the way these are some wonderful links. Thanks.

great story. I used to train on a C152 and knew a few guys at the local aerodrome who had done ferry flights from the US to the UK. Which is something I (as a shitty weekend VFR pilot) have the uttermost respect for. But that story about getting it from Oskosh to Gaborone, wow.

Textron still deliver some single-engined 172s and 182s eastbound like that. They've recently started staging through Belfast Aldergrove airport, which is what brought it to my attention. I had assumed they'd go as deck cargo.

Daher send TBM turboprops westbound by the same route but at least they're pressurised. Pilatus stage PC-12s through Prestwick in Scotland.

Occasionally at Belfast we see unusual types being ferried by Southern Cross, who specialise in such work:

http://southernx.com

I used to train in C152 that had been fitted with extended fuel tanks; before used as a trainer, it had been used to patrol pipelines in remote parts of Texas. With full tanks, it could fly a long time.

It was a tiny plane. And I was a shitty pilot. Ferrying one across open seas would be amazing and terrifying.

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