Kerry In 1975 I flew a used Air Force blue canoe 1961 Cessna 310 from San Jose to Honolulu. I was 25 years old, no autopilot poor HF and a fisherman’s LORAN plus dead reckoning nav. I actually prepared quite diligently. As a piston powered commuter airline pilot I had the weather flying skills. As an aeronautical engineer I considered performance carefully. Then I came across John Lear’s ferry flight story in some magazine. In a 310 partway to HNL he lost one engine and turned back for the San Francisco Bay Area. But he was so heavy that it required full power on the remaining engine just to remain in ground effect! And without cowl flaps the remaining engine was overheating badly. The coast guard intercepted and suggested he ditch. He was afraid the barrels he had secured behind him would break loose and pin him in. He flew underneath the Golden Gate skimmed the bay and landed at Hamilton AFB. Continental report: “ failure imminent “. After reading that story I insisted on a dump valve!The mechanics laughed and called me names. But after flying with poor maintenance in the commuters I knew their guarantees were worthless in flight. I never used the dump, but had other excitement crop up and landed in the islands 14 hours later. That was 50 years ago and is still fresh in my mind. Thanks for your very valuable stories I enjoy them🤙🏼🙏🏼🌈
John Lear and I worked at the same airline at one time. I had him on the J/S once and heard the 310 story straight from him. Interesting character including his UFO stories.
@@bobwilson758 I don't see what I wrote as implying he was full of sh!t. I've actually been around John quite a bit, he had a lot of knowledge to share. I haven't seen him in 26 years, not even sure if he is still with us. I know when people seek out information on UFO's John is considered an expert.
Fascinating video! Pilot communicating with ATC was so good he a sounded like a well trained test pilot. ATC did a great job as well. Don’t seem to hear pilots communicating this clearly anymore. Many seem to slur, talk to fast or just try to sound cool rather than have this level of professionalism.
Thanks for the story. In the early '90's I used to fly a cargo 727 out of PHNL to all the nearby islands with a weekly trip on Wednesday to Christmas Island (YPXM) I know the area well. Occasionally I would assist ferry pilots relaying position reports and other messages etc.
@@KerryDMcCauley It doesn't have to be perfect to fly. Call me superstitious but if one engine didn't run up right just before a flight like that, I would certinally insist that a mechanic thoroughly check the engine, before I bet my life on it. For an airplane that hasn't been flown much lately why not insist on an annual, new set of plugs, mag check, and cylinder borescope before attempting an ocean crossing. If that is too expensive for the new owner let him fly it himself.
@@nearlynormal2293 That's the problem we as ferry pilots have to deal with all the time. Often it has a fresh "annual" but the work is second rate or forged. These guys didn't have mag problems until the second day.
Did you hear of the woman passenger who almost crashed a Cheyenne on the way to Australia? A VIP came to Lock Haven to pick up his new plane, a Cheyenne I in the late 1970s. He brought along his wife and a pilot, but wanted a bit of time to go to New York on business and have us work on the plane to do some mods in the cabin. On the last leg of their trip the owner sat up front with the pilot while the wife held down one of the seats in the back. She noticed a piece of rope on the floor, and picked it up, not knowing it was the lanyard for the four person life raft. She pulled on that innocent looking little piece of rope. It started to inflate in the confined space, and as it neared half full it was pressing forward on the wooden dividers behind the pilots seats. It easily broke them loose and was then shoving the pilot forward along with the yoke. It was getting desperate and the airspeed was increasing toward red line as they were heading for the waves below. One of them came up with a knife, which they used to deflate the raft. Once that was accomplished they only had to recover from the, now above red line, dive. That was done but it damaged the tail, which required extensive repair once safely (sort of) on the ground.
Holy CRAP! that was a close one. I'm always/most of the time very careful when moving my raft around inside the airplane for that very reason. "Held down one of the seats" Lol. Going to steal that one.
I've had a complete engine failure in a PA31-350. Flew very well on one engine, landed safely at kewr. Also had an engine failure on a PA23-180. Landed safely at kcdw. If you keep current and have the training, yoh should be able to fly any twin on one engine.
Hi Kerry. You have another great story. This i a excellent lesson for all GA pilots, if you see something wrong with aircraft, think twice before you airborne.
Thanks for posting. Used to fly back and forth to the Bahamas, mainly in well maintained twin Cessnas with low time engines. Had a friend who flew ferrys. He had quite some stories but nothing to compare to this one.
with the dude bleeding, the fear of sharks was real, amazing that he was able to keep the arm inside the raft and bleed out there instead of in the shark-infested waters of the Pacific.
Gotta tell ya, I thoroughly enjoyed that. ironically, I'll be commanding the ditch crossing (Tasman Sea) AKL - YMML in 7 hours from now. Cheers and thanks for a great vid.
Now nearing retirement from a career in the airlines I take my hat off to ferry pilots. I’ve spent the last 30 years flying jet transports and any courage I may once have had has evaporated in the cloistered world of airline flying.
I'm not a pilot and I'm sure as shit not a ferry pilot, but I'll take twice the money along with the extra fuel/range and/or engine out performance that the extra 250 pounds to work with gives me, thank you very much. Now that I think about it, flying east over the pacific I'd probably let the UPS guy take my luggage as well.
@@KerryDMcCauleysame here. I did a C206 USA-Namibia last month (against my principles) and did not feel comfortable. Let alone the Avgas situation in Africa is very complicated. 1,300NM stretches without any Avgas, not even for a lot of money. Had to install a 160USG bladder. Happy Landings, Capt. Guido
I remember hearing about C124 Globe Master flying about 200 nm in ground effect and, I think, they ditched NE of Hawaii or maybe they didn’t ditch. Does anyone remember that?😮
Portable GPS was used, a Trimble unit with internal antenna. USCG crew was surprised to find the survivors exactly where they said they were…1993, very few people had heard of GPS. Nevertheless FAA busted the capt for using unapproved means of navigation over the high seas!
good point. ground effect will kick in at about half a wingspan. On a flat rigid surface, that’s something you can count on. Swells and wave at half a wing span will prohibit that
It’s stupid to assume, having your airplane modified mains testing. Why not rig it to ferry conditions and test fly it to see if you can easily fly on one engine. I have flow slightly bigger twins over the ocean and always test the plane before the transit. Also it’s nice to learn form accidents that occur on similar types, include the ferry accidents. We learn that some single engines crashed due to a frozen engine breather tube. Basically the ice plugged the tube and the engine blew all oil out . Some one didn’t execute a SB / AD about that tube . How prepared can you be ?
The problem with that is that most twins won't be able to hold altitude on one engine when fully loaded with ferry tanks and 25% over max gross. It's just the nature of the beast. That's one of the big reasons I don't like taking anyone with me on ferry trips. I don't like the extra weight.
hey i am moving to italy after the 1st of the year i want to hire you to flymy plane there, it should make it. it is a single engine 1937 piper j3 cub, think if you landit on a ship somewhere you should make it lol no i have a 1972 cessna 182. new engine new glass panel new paint etc it is a 300hp peterson conversion. i know to take out the rear seats and the front co pilot seat and have them fed xed over to italy. let me know
One thing I forgot to mention was that the oil temps on the running engine were getting so hot that the propeller couldn't hold pitch. They were going down either way.
Something I don’t understand about the story. The second raft that they had aboard the Navajo was smaller? So, only one could be in it at a time, right? 24 hrs later, a C-130 dropped them two rafts and a radio. Then another 24 hrs until a cargo ship could pick them up. Why were they still in the water after two rafts were dropped to them?? They must have gotten to at least one of those rafts because they used the radio. Why couldn’t the cargo ship that diverted to pick them up a few hundred miles south of Hawaii, on its way to Japan, simply divert a little farther to take them to the calm waters south of Oahu and transfer them to a Coast Guard vessel or hoist them aboard a CG helicopter?
Another thing: So, they lost that Navajo…and almost lost two pilots! Why don’t they seal these planes up and/or build a crate or pallet for them and put them on a cargo ship for a month-long journey? It seems a lesser risk than trying to ferry a plane that’s been sitting so long, in need of a major overhaul. It doesn’t seem like a cargo ship would charge that much if they’re hauling a bunch of containers anyway. Why not just tie a palleted airplane down securely to the tops of a couple containers.
Kerry
In 1975 I flew a used Air Force blue canoe 1961 Cessna 310 from San Jose to Honolulu. I was 25 years old, no autopilot poor HF and a fisherman’s LORAN plus dead reckoning nav. I actually prepared quite diligently. As a piston powered commuter airline pilot I had the weather flying skills. As an aeronautical engineer I considered performance carefully. Then I came across John Lear’s ferry flight story in some magazine. In a 310 partway to HNL he lost one engine and turned back for the San Francisco Bay Area. But he was so heavy that it required full power on the remaining engine just to remain in ground effect! And without cowl flaps the remaining engine was overheating badly. The coast guard intercepted and suggested he ditch. He was afraid the barrels he had secured behind him would break loose and pin him in. He flew underneath the Golden Gate skimmed the bay and landed at Hamilton AFB. Continental report: “ failure imminent “. After reading that story I insisted on a dump valve!The mechanics laughed and called me names. But after flying with poor maintenance in the commuters I knew their guarantees were worthless in flight. I never used the dump, but had other excitement crop up and landed in the islands 14 hours later. That was 50 years ago and is still fresh in my mind. Thanks for your very valuable stories I enjoy them🤙🏼🙏🏼🌈
I had thought about having a dump valve installed in ferry tanks before but never got around to doing it.
John Lear and I worked at the same airline at one time. I had him on the J/S once and heard the 310 story straight from him. Interesting character including his UFO stories.
@@Kevin_747 Nothing like flying with a guy who has good stories!
@@Kevin_747I would not call his “ ufo stories “ … that man saw some stuff !
@@bobwilson758 I don't see what I wrote as implying he was full of sh!t. I've actually been around John quite a bit, he had a lot of knowledge to share. I haven't seen him in 26 years, not even sure if he is still with us. I know when people seek out information on UFO's John is considered an expert.
Fascinating video! Pilot communicating with ATC was so good he a sounded like a well trained test pilot. ATC did a great job as well. Don’t seem to hear pilots communicating this clearly anymore. Many seem to slur, talk to fast or just try to sound cool rather than have this level of professionalism.
Couldn't agree more!
Amazing video and audio and a great story. Thank you Kerry
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks for the story. In the early '90's I used to fly a cargo 727 out of PHNL to all the nearby islands with a weekly trip on Wednesday to Christmas Island (YPXM) I know the area well. Occasionally I would assist ferry pilots relaying position reports and other messages etc.
It's a beautiful area. I'm planning a sailboat trip to that area in a few years.
That’s a cool story, and very well presented.
Thanks, Glad you enjoyed it!
👍✅ that a great story because of the ending, thanks for bringing it to us Kerry 👏
Glad you enjoyed it. It's always better when there's a happy ending!
Two iffy engines and they tried an ocean crossing anyway. Those two must love to swim.
I wish I could say that I've never crossed in anything that wasn't perfect.
@@KerryDMcCauley It doesn't have to be perfect to fly. Call me superstitious but if one engine didn't run up right just before a flight like that, I would certinally insist that a mechanic thoroughly check the engine, before I bet my life on it. For an airplane that hasn't been flown much lately why not insist on an annual, new set of plugs, mag check, and cylinder borescope before attempting an ocean crossing. If that is too expensive for the new owner let him fly it himself.
@@nearlynormal2293 That's the problem we as ferry pilots have to deal with all the time. Often it has a fresh "annual" but the work is second rate or forged. These guys didn't have mag problems until the second day.
@@KerryDMcCauley You ferry pilots are a brave bunch.
@@nearlynormal2293 We're brave, with a touch of stupid!
Did you hear of the woman passenger who almost crashed a Cheyenne on the way to Australia? A VIP came to Lock Haven to pick up his new plane, a Cheyenne I in the late 1970s. He brought along his wife and a pilot, but wanted a bit of time to go to New York on business and have us work on the plane to do some mods in the cabin. On the last leg of their trip the owner sat up front with the pilot while the wife held down one of the seats in the back. She noticed a piece of rope on the floor, and picked it up, not knowing it was the lanyard for the four person life raft. She pulled on that innocent looking little piece of rope. It started to inflate in the confined space, and as it neared half full it was pressing forward on the wooden dividers behind the pilots seats. It easily broke them loose and was then shoving the pilot forward along with the yoke. It was getting desperate and the airspeed was increasing toward red line as they were heading for the waves below. One of them came up with a knife, which they used to deflate the raft. Once that was accomplished they only had to recover from the, now above red line, dive. That was done but it damaged the tail, which required extensive repair once safely (sort of) on the ground.
Holy CRAP! that was a close one. I'm always/most of the time very careful when moving my raft around inside the airplane for that very reason.
"Held down one of the seats" Lol. Going to steal that one.
Being married I'm not sure what impresses me more, the wife's willingness to go or the husband's willingness to take her.
@@Milkmans_Son🎉😂❤bingo
@@Milkmans_Son I had a chance to take my wife on a trip around the world in a single engine EPIC. Got the big NOPE!
Also a twin which cannot remain airborne on one engine is twice as likely to have an engine failure because there’s two of them!
I've had a complete engine failure in a PA31-350. Flew very well on one engine, landed safely at kewr. Also had an engine failure on a PA23-180. Landed safely at kcdw. If you keep current and have the training, yoh should be able to fly any twin on one engine.
@@bruceabrahamsen221i guess the world needs more real people like you.
Hi Kerry. You have another great story. This i a excellent lesson for all GA pilots, if you see something wrong with aircraft, think twice before you airborne.
These guys learned that lesson the hard way.
@KerryDMcCauley
Yes, they did learn hard way. They are very lucky they survived. Just wondering, are they ever use PAVE in this case?
@@transporterdispatch231 PAVE? Like a PAVE HAWK helicopter?
@@KerryDMcCauley
I've never flown a helicopter like this. but I'm sure there's a bigger checklist for him.
Thanks for posting. Used to fly back and forth to the Bahamas, mainly in well maintained twin Cessnas with low time engines. Had a friend who flew ferrys. He had quite some stories but nothing to compare to this one.
The Bahamas are some of the most beautiful islands in the world to fly over!
Great video kerry! Big fan from PA
Amazing story. I bet it is always in the front of your mind 😮
It's best to be prepared but not to dwell on it too much.
Love your videos, Kerry. Recently completed my first ferry job. VFR only c172 from KORS to KGYI and had an absolute blast
Congratulations! You're a ferry pilot now!
Amazing story and amazing video
So lucky to be able to hear the radio calls leading up to the ditching.
with the dude bleeding, the fear of sharks was real, amazing that he was able to keep the arm inside the raft and bleed out there instead of in the shark-infested waters of the Pacific.
The thought of being eaten by a shark while hanging onto the raft all night must have been terrifying.
Gotta tell ya, I thoroughly enjoyed that. ironically, I'll be commanding the ditch crossing (Tasman Sea) AKL - YMML in 7 hours from now. Cheers and thanks for a great vid.
Good luck! Let me know how it goes.
Now nearing retirement from a career in the airlines I take my hat off to ferry pilots. I’ve spent the last 30 years flying jet transports and any courage I may once have had has evaporated in the cloistered world of airline flying.
I'm not a pilot and I'm sure as shit not a ferry pilot, but I'll take twice the money along with the extra fuel/range and/or engine out performance that the extra 250 pounds to work with gives me, thank you very much. Now that I think about it, flying east over the pacific I'd probably let the UPS guy take my luggage as well.
Pacific - and a day with warm and waters. forget about this on the North Atlantic route.
No piston engine aircraft for me anymore.
Hey Guido! I'm thinking I'm done with pistons over the North Atlantic as well. Too much can go wrong that you have no control over.
@@KerryDMcCauleysame here. I did a C206 USA-Namibia last month (against my principles) and did not feel comfortable. Let alone the Avgas situation in Africa is very complicated. 1,300NM stretches without any Avgas, not even for a lot of money. Had to install a 160USG bladder.
Happy Landings,
Capt. Guido
I remember hearing about C124 Globe Master flying about 200 nm in ground effect and, I think, they ditched NE of Hawaii or maybe they didn’t ditch. Does anyone remember that?😮
I’m surprised you didn’t think of that.
Kerry - do you always have HF when crossing the big ponds?
Most of the time. It's required when crossing the Atlantic unless you take the northernmost route from Canada to Greenland.
Just curious, what kind of overwater navigation was used? LORAN?
Portable GPS was used, a Trimble unit with internal antenna.
USCG crew was surprised to find the survivors exactly where
they said they were…1993, very few people had heard of GPS.
Nevertheless FAA busted the capt for using unapproved means
of navigation over the high seas!
Wouldn't it be possible to get low over the water in ground affect and fly at a reduced power setting in ground affect?
good point.
ground effect will kick in at
about half a wingspan.
On a flat rigid surface, that’s
something you can count on.
Swells and wave at half a wing span
will prohibit that
No
@@alexanderdavidson7837 stay out of men's conversations SIC boy
@@BlackCoffee-m5c stick to flight sim guy
It’s stupid to assume, having your airplane modified mains testing.
Why not rig it to ferry conditions and test fly it to see if you can easily fly on one engine.
I have flow slightly bigger twins over the ocean and always test the plane before the transit.
Also it’s nice to learn form accidents that occur on similar types, include the ferry accidents.
We learn that some single engines crashed due to a frozen engine breather tube.
Basically the ice plugged the tube and the engine blew all oil out . Some one didn’t execute a SB / AD about that tube .
How prepared can you be ?
The problem with that is that most twins won't be able to hold altitude on one engine when fully loaded with ferry tanks and 25% over max gross. It's just the nature of the beast. That's one of the big reasons I don't like taking anyone with me on ferry trips. I don't like the extra weight.
hey i am moving to italy after the 1st of the year i want to hire you to flymy plane there, it should make it. it is a single engine 1937 piper j3 cub, think if you landit on a ship somewhere you should make it lol no i have a 1972 cessna 182. new engine new glass panel new paint etc it is a 300hp peterson conversion. i know to take out the rear seats and the front co pilot seat and have them fed xed over to italy. let me know
At 0:46 you refer to the aircraft as a Piper Malibu (single engine). Subsequent references correctly refer to Navajo.
Oops, The last video was on a Malibu that ditched.
Wonder if they bothered to do a leakdown test? Worn out engines, worn out mags, worn out airplane...
Probably not, but it still sounds like they looked it over pretty good.
They made by the grace of God.
The warm water of the South Pacific helped.
They might have lasted flying in ground effect.
One thing I forgot to mention was that the oil temps on the running engine were getting so hot that the propeller couldn't hold pitch. They were going down either way.
@@KerryDMcCauley OK Thanks.
Something I don’t understand about the story. The second raft that they had aboard the Navajo was smaller? So, only one could be in it at a time, right? 24 hrs later, a C-130 dropped them two rafts and a radio. Then another 24 hrs until a cargo ship could pick them up. Why were they still in the water after two rafts were dropped to them?? They must have gotten to at least one of those rafts because they used the radio.
Why couldn’t the cargo ship that diverted to pick them up a few hundred miles south of Hawaii, on its way to Japan, simply divert a little farther to take them to the calm waters south of Oahu and transfer them to a Coast Guard vessel or hoist them aboard a CG helicopter?
Another thing: So, they lost that Navajo…and almost lost two pilots! Why don’t they seal these planes up and/or build a crate or pallet for them and put them on a cargo ship for a month-long journey? It seems a lesser risk than trying to ferry a plane that’s been sitting so long, in need of a major overhaul. It doesn’t seem like a cargo ship would charge that much if they’re hauling a bunch of containers anyway. Why not just tie a palleted airplane down securely to the tops of a couple containers.
Remember to keep your money dry!
Should have had the money up front with them. Then they could've said the "lost" it!
Old footage could do with subtitles...
You can turn on the subtitles using the CC button at the bottom of the screen.
THEN WHAT ??
Great story! If I heard right, they had a handheld comm in the raft? Too bad they didn’t or couldn’t ask the C-130 to drop a raft.
He clearly said that the C-130 dropped them rafts, the radio, and a survival kit.
@@MADmoschemissed it, thanks.