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Not Sure If This Was Posted? Chicago Tribune!



 
 
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Old September 7th 08, 10:20 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Default Not Sure If This Was Posted? Chicago Tribune!

Full article in the Chicago Tribune http://tinyurl.com/6rzgde

Pilots with a sense of adventure go full throttle into ferrying
missions

By Luann Grosscup | Special to the Chicago Tribune
7:41 PM CDT, August 14, 2008

The life of a ferry pilot could probably inspire an action/adventure
television series, yet outside aviation circles, they're a bit of an
unknown.

"Ferry pilots are sort of the loners of the air," writes Spike
Nasmyth, author of "So You Want to Be a Ferry Pilot," (Trafford,
2003). "Most of them wouldn't fit in with the airline crowd and their
tight schedules, and constant inter-relationships with co-pilots,
chief pilots, passengers and flight attendants."

The job, as Nasmyth describes it, is to move a really cool old plane
from one exotic place to another. The type of aircraft can be
anything, from a Grumman Mallard flying boat to a classic DC-3 to an
old rust bucket Let410.

"Aircraft ferrying has been going on ever since there were planes to
be moved," said Michael Magnell, Pilot and owner of Transoceanic
Ferry, Laguna Hills, Calif., adding that the U.S. planes were ferried
to England and Russia during World War II. "Nothing special is
required by the FAA to be a ferry pilot, so accurate counts of the
number of pilots doing this type of work and the number of flights is
not available.

"Most pilots get into this line of work because of the adventure of
flying," he said, adding that pilots don't get rich. "Pay scales range
anywhere from $150-350 per day, plus expenses."

Russ Sherwood, a pilot and worldwide coordinator for Global Air Ferry,
based in China, explained how the ferry network works.

"We have several experienced aviators from various backgrounds, from
bush pilots and flight instructors to airline captains and test
pilots," said Sherwood. "We deal with various aircraft types and areas
of operations, from small general aviation aircraft to large
commercial jets. Each one of us is linked to this operation via a
central coordination unit located in China, which allocates different
ferry flight requests from our customers to the pilots with
appropriate aircraft ratings or cross-country flight experience."

Magnell specializes in light single- and twin-engine aircraft over
large expanses of water. As such, the planes need to be modified to
include a fuel system that will ensure enough fuel for a trans-oceanic
crossing and a HF radio.

Magnell flies mostly U.S. registered aircraft because he has a U.S.
airline transport pilot certificate; ferry pilots must be licensed to
fly in the country the plane is registered in.

"The airline transport license is the highest you can get, and it is
recognized in almost any other country in the world," said Magnell. "I
can show that license in most countries and they will usually issue me
a temporary license to fly planes registered in their country."

Steven Rhine, pilot and owner of Worlwide Ferry Pilot Service based in
Portland, Ore., stressed the importance of proper planning, including
aircraft performance and weather and getting proper overflight and
landing clearances.

"If you don't, you could end up with the total loss of an aircraft,
either in some government seizure/grounding or end up in the ocean,"
said Rhine. "You need to plan your arrival so you land during airport
hours or be faced with hefty opening fees."

A large fee could be the least of a pilot's worries as he could wind
up spending time in a foreign jail. "In some countries," Rhine said,
"we need to know how to deal with government and police corruption,
along with bribes that are associated with departing the airport."
Additionally, there are logistics, including availability of aviation
fuel, taxis and hotel rooms.

Then there's the paperwork nightmare. "Not only filing for multiple
over-fly clearances," said Sherwood, "but also local aviation
authorities might take months to certify an aircraft modified for long-
distance ferry flights."

And don't forget the insurance, supplied by the aircraft owner.
"Insurance companies will not insure just anyone for a flight of
complexity, for example a twin Piper Navajo from the U.S. to India,"
Sherwood said. "Insurance companies want to see a lot of over-the-
water experience, previous international operations, a lot of multi-
engine time in your log book."

Clients looking to hire a pilot would be well-advised to adapt a
"caveat emptor" mentality, said George Sigler, a fomer ferry pilot and
now owner of Speed Aviation, Vero Beach, Fla., and aviation
consultant. "Anyone can pay for an ad in Trade-a-Plane," said Sigler,
making it necessary to do your research, "so you know you're hiring
someone reliable. I'd look for proof of flight time, but you need to
get references, what companies they've flown for, and these need to be
thoroughly checked out."

"One day one of my ferry clients called, an aircraft dealer, and said
he was looking for a B737 captain to ferry a former Western/Delta
B737-200 that had been mothballed in the desert at Victorville, CA for
a year. He needed it ferried to Kabul, Afghanistan and for the ferry
pilot to stay there and fly captain on it a few months for the new
owner, a Russian company."

– Michael Magnell, owner/pilot Transoceanic Ferry

The high adventure also can carry deadly risks. "You are always
getting into planes that are totally unfamiliar to you," said Magnell.
"You will often times be flying into places that you have never been
to. Like the first time I went into Vagar in the Faeroe Islands. The
weather report gave winds at 500 feet above sea level, which I have
never seen before anywhere."

The turbulence at the level of the surrounding terrain often determine
whether or not landing is possible at the sea level airport that lies
at the end of a fjord.

"Over water flights are risky because of the obvious – there is no
place to land," said Magnell. "I will not do a single engine piston
aircraft over the North Atlantic because it is too risky. I know
several good ferry pilots who are no longer with us because of the
dangers of overwater ferry flying."

"Ferrying small aircraft in most cases involves bare pilotage bringing
the original non-computerized aviation experiences to your cockpit,
which is incomparable with other flights," said Sherwood. "Flying over
multiple countries, seeing rare nature above the Arctic, or the
exotics of the African tropics, meeting interesting people -- all of
these are extremely intriguing adventures you can easily grow addicted
to."
 




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