Critical Emergency On My First Solo Atlantic Ferry Flight!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- My boss had a vacuum pump failure on my first ferry flight over the North Atlantic and we flew in formation all night so I could lead him to safety.
To read more about my international ferry flying adventures check out my books "Ferry Pilot" and "Dangerous Flights"
Signed copies available at kerrymccauley....
Or on Amazon. www.amazon.com...
To go skydiving with Kerry McCauley visit www.skydivetwi...
"But he'd just had a pilot killed on a ferry flight..." And you thought, what a great opportunity!
Never said I was the sharpest tool in the shed!
@@KerryDMcCauleyLOL
@@KerryDMcCauley kind of presumed you found that out sometime afterwards....
Youth!
1990s....So it was before GPS but after LORAN. 🙂 My first GPS was a Garmin GPS-90 handheld. The database is 20 years out of date, but it still works.
Anyone interested in a working, slightly used, GPS-90? 🙂
Thanks for the ride-a-long. You have balls of steel. I've been a PPL since 1972. I still don't have the guts to do an 'over the ocean' ferry flight. I don't even like flying over the Rockies! 🤣
Brilliant, absolutely bonkers, for people who don’t fly light aircraft, this is just bonkers 🤪 most GA plane are quite old, and most just a good old piston engine!, and no GPS!, dead reckoning takes some doing and there quite a lot off error, you must have more life’s than a black cat
Great video.
I loved reading Ferry Pilot and Dangerous Flights.
Keep the videos coming please 🙏 😊
Thanks
Nick
Will do! I've got a lot of stories that didn't make it into the books!
That was a great book! Dangerous flights was just as good!
You are the best story-teller. I listened to them numerous times and find them as entertaining every time. And of course, the educational part is always a good reminder. Thanks for doing these for us,
When that map at 8:32 popped up my eyes lit up. This is the life I'm after, not the 9-5 behind a screen for the next 35 years or so. Thanks for sharing, you've inspired me.
Hey Kerry, great video again! I am happy you broke me in as a ferry pilot when we flew around the world, but you didn’t give me a cool certificate, I feel like you owe me one, we had dual gryo failure in a sand storm in Saudi Arabia, and I got nothing. Just kidding loved the video!
Next time buddy!
Thanks for sharing your amazing ferry flight . . . at 3:32 I saw the Icom 735 HF radio. I still have one to this day and enjoy ham radio. '73. Bob
Great stories, albeit pretty damn scary. Let’s me personally know what not to do north of 65.
I remember when I thought I was indestructible too , teenager to 30s 😊
Everyone is invincible, until they're not.
Good stuff.
Scary story Kerry, I clearly remember like it was yesterday going back to night school mid 1994 at Essendon Airport Melbourne to get endorsed on the Garmin GPS 100. This was newly fitted into the shrike commander 690B I was flying in the Australian Outback, but only as a supplemental enroute nav aid initially, followed by a year later primary means, including NPA overlay approaches etc, It was a game changer, and I'm still lugging stuff around the countryside at 61, 37 years later. Definitely more stories Kerry. Cheers.
Always better to be lucky than good.
Got that right!
Geez Kerry, amazing first story for your beginner ferry flight! Heck if you can do this on the first …what the hell!
You and I share a common career path in that I was a Cobra AH-1G & J model crew chief. But I was regular Army 💪😉
So you still do ferry flights?
Stay safe out there.
Although it was 50 years ago! 😉
What was the registration? My pilot school had two of those…maybe i flew that one :D
It was BE-76 N6718D. I delivered it to Lisbon on 1/1/91
Before GPS...when pilots were true pilots. Nowadays it's "just follow the magenta line"
And now we don’t have airliners crashing into mountains and short of the runway at the same rate that “true pilots” used to either.
@@manfredstrappen7491 modern aircraft can land themselves, for example the beechcraft denali. Soon there wont be a need for pilots at all, Technology is slowly phasing us out.
……. Of steel 😳😁👍👍
What an outstanding story! After all, all great aviation stories begin with "So there I was..." My son has enjoyed reading the book Ferry Pilot and I think on his way to becoming a pilot. There are so many aspects of these stories that ring true. Thank you for sharing & having the courage to share. I have read Dangrous Flights, I can not help but laughing at the risks assumed in these stories. Kerry is the real deal & one hell of an aviator!
Good work and thanks for the effort, Kevin. Keep them comming.
Love your stories! I think That exact Duchess was one of the twin engines I flew on my ATPL course . I took the course in Cascais, Lisbon and my school was the only one that had duchess twin engines on the fleet .
Maybe it was the same one!
You certainly have bigger bollocks than I do. I’d love to do a ferry crossing but via the northern route. And with a PT6 at the front.
Pretty cool Kerry. Thanks for sharing your experiences
Great video Kerry. I enjoyed reading your books recently. I was a cargo pilot in turboprops for most of the 90s throughout Europe and I have a few of my own war stories. Happy landings from the UK!
The young ones could learn a thing or two from us old dogs!
Is the plane insured for such a crossing?
Yes, but it's getting harder and harder to find pilots who the insurance companies will accept.
When are you comming trough greenland again ?
Soon I hope!
Great story. Subscribed.
Welcome aboard!
Great story! Both of your books were excellent!
This is not a Dutches !
I know, that's as close as I could get.
Really enjoyed Ferry Pilot👍 An excellent storyteller.
👍
Paradoxically, this story makes me want to change my career to be a ferry pilot
All men crave adventure.
woah baby thats wild. Lets go Pete haha
Sittin in his office drinking scotch .. now that’s a training program I could get my head around 😬👍
GEEEZ! That's an amazing story, you have nerves of titanium. I will be glad to hear more from you and thanks so much for sharing this. I am an NZ ppl with 200hrs and some of my experiences could not compete with that. cheers NZ
More to come!
I hope so, next time I will be watching and wearing a life jacket
Love it. Keep em coming. Just found your channel recently and can’t wait for more of your stories. I am changing careers into aviation and the modes of failures and recovery are very interesting to me.
Wow! Hope that gig paid well!
Nor really, back then we made $1000 for a trip to Europe, and $1500 for Africa or the Middle East.
👍✅ Tks
Had an uncle did that seen him take off loaded down with fuel trying too get over themtn in a little single engine beech
enjoyed this...Mahalo's Brah!
Glad you enjoyed it Brah!
that's a helluva story!
Thanks! I was on helluva a way to stray my ferry career!
Your stories are awesome im glad you started posting more videos in the last 2 months keep it up and we will continue to watch your subscribers go up and more safer pilots from your channel thank you for all the great content
Hi! Just found you. Great story and perfect story telling 😊. Subscribed. 👋🇳🇴
Welcome aboard!
Santa Maria is about as big as an aircraft carrier. Been there but a DC-7 is bigger than a Duches
I kept my plane at So. St. Paul (D97 before, SGS now) for many years. Pete had a few pilots take off to cross the pond and never get to the other side.
I remember his mechanic’s son died a mile off SGS rwy 16 when the ferry tank shifted aft.
One pilot survived a crash in NY the night before the planned ocean crossing, probably due to a broken fuel return line and an iced over tank vent. Would have been a bigger problem the next day!
John Powell did a few trips. I recall he bellied in a plane in South Africa after a long leg, possibly related to CO poisoning from a faulty exhaust?
And the story of Pete and Idi Amin’s jet!
Many “adventures”!
Soooo many stories from back then!
Want to hear more. Sounds like things have improved since my dads stories as a pilot in group 45 flying for the RAF in WW2. Loved the intro as you really did need to be a special kind to be ferrying plays around. I did read the max conrod book and what was (now) his extraordinary steps to get a plane ready for transport. Dad did get to finish a round the world with his friends 310 piper. You are looking at some exciting flight time. Will subscribe and bet there is some extraordinary times ahead
If you'd like to hear more of my stories check out my books "Ferry Pilot" and "Dangerous Flights" Both available on Amazon.
What I don't understand is why fly all the way to the Azores over max weight when you could go from the US to Canada to Greenland to Iceland and then down into Europe. That would seem a whole lot safer.
Safer isn't the goal in the ferry business. Cheaper and faster is. If you're going to Lisbon Portugal the fastest route is through the Azores.
Great storyteller!, but why did you say clear customs in Bangor when coming from St. Paul, Mn..?
Because that's the last stop in the US before entering Canada. We are also exporting the aircraft, so we need to clear customs.
Yup, Santa Maria was like seeing Jacob's Ladder for me on my first ferry flight. Sounds like our career's started about the same as far as trying to build time and the time frame you started. I was also heavy into the skydiving world back then to build time. Long time ago and almost everyone I was associated with in the ferry world back then died in airplane crashes. Just found your channel so I will subscribe and catch up with your adventures when I can. Thanks for the memories. BTW, Curious why you guys didn't go over to Lajes AFB during this flight? Had a friend who was taking a Bonanza across and ran into a similar situation so he declared an emergency and landed there.
Lajes wouldn't have really been any better. What we could have done is land at Flores before it got dark and IFR but they didn't have any kind of hotel and the boss didn't want to sleep in the plane. Personally, I would've landed.
Definitely will pick up your books, your comment “A great view of nothing” immediately made me think of the ex-wife, scary. Be safe sir.
Lol!
A Beech Duchess ! Same performance as a Seminole (PA-44-180)
Not much power, but I liked it!
Just remember how utterly pitch black it is over the open Ocean at night...
Most people have no idea.
Story gives me anxiety...
This channel is gold. You deserve to get more popular. Keep it up. If you run out of stories just retell them! Pro tip make your videos minimum 10 minutes for the algorithm and pop another advertisement in. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the tips!
Hi from the UK. I have learned so much from your channel. Great content. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
awesome!
Thanks!
I did that for years, both independently and with Southern Cross. I always say that ferry flying is a great thing to have done, rather than to do.
I remember Southern Cross! I used to run across you guys all the time back in the day.
I 1988/9 flew with Capt Mary from Southern Cross , Camerillo to Brisbane in a slightly over gross Shorts SD330 with some interesting adventures along the way also without GPS.
Greetings from TJIG
Ferry Pilot is a great book. A real "page turner".
What ever happened to the show you guys had?
I read both your books. I just gotta say, you’ve got a bigger pair than I do! 😂
Probably a smaller brain though!
lindberg did a solo flight across the Atlantic, all the way across
I've crossed from St. John's to both Ireland and France many times but never as far as Lindberg did!
"He just had a pilot get killed on a ferry flight..so he decided to give me a shot"...a young and inexperienced pilot...geezus christo, thats some next level dumbassery benny hill stuff...
What do you mean ‘denied’? In an emergency ATC cannot deny anything…
They denied letting us fly a formation approach with declaring an emergency, which Pete didn't want to do because of the paperwork it would involve.
Kerry, thanks for your video.
Great to hear your background.
Glad you enjoyed it
What an exciting story
I'm surprised they were not at least using LORAN for these flights.
I had a Loran on my 3rd or 4th crossing. It only worked for about 100 mile out to sea. Then nothing.
@@KerryDMcCauley I got my PPL in 2009. The only flying I've ever done is over land--as is so with most pilots. Flying via dead reckoning over the ocean is something I could not ever see myself doing, unless I had no choice. Hat's off to you and your fellow ferry pilots who used to do this regularly.
ATC refused what sounds like a reasonable request from a Mayday aircraft? What did the enquiry make of that?
They said they would only allow us to fly a formation approach if Pete declared an emergency which he was unwilling to do because of all the paperwork it would involve. Yes, it made things much more dangerous but that was his call.
Ah. The last thing on my mind if I felt like calling Mayday would be any consequential paperwork.
Gosh, what a story! Thanks for sharing! 👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
I think I would have considered declaring an emergency (due to the non-functioning attitude indicator and DG) then insisted on flying the approach into Santa Maria in formation.
Vac pump isn’t a declared emergency?
Pete didn't want to declare and emergency because of all the paperwork and delay the Portuguese would have put him through. His call.
Yipes.
Why anyone plans a flight like that to forecast IFR with no alternates??? Crazy. Hate to make a customer wait a week or two to get their plane.
You’re not going to sell many more books if you put all the stories on here….great stories though. Love the books..
Probably not!
This will help thae sales of your two excellent books, I think and I hope for you.@@KerryDMcCauley
Great content 💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎
Glad you like it!
Great story-telling!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love your stories!
Glad you like them!
Funny, I found 6 other airports in the Azores.
We could've landed at the first one but the boss didn't want to. The only other onee back then was Lajas which was military only.
Flores- 1972
Graciosa - 1981
Horta - 1971
Joao Paulo II - 1969
Lajes Field (Military) - 1939
Pico - 1982
Sao Jorge - 1983@@KerryDMcCauley
@@rickowens4397 Wouldn't have made much difference because they all had the same weather. Besides, I did what the boss told me.
I have only one question. Why your older comrade didn't decide to fly through Greenland and Iceland?
P.S. awesome story!
Much shorter and cheaper going through the Azores. That's a ferry pilot's job, getting the plane delivered as fast and cheaply as possible. Safety is third. Not kidding.
@@KerryDMcCauley thank you for the answer. But I prefer to be poor but alive pilot...
Why do people fly over water with one engine
Because it's there!
The engine doesn't know its flying over water
Wow, what a story! 👍😅
Thanks! But stand by, I've got better coming!
@@KerryDMcCauley Waiting! 👍😅
I’m a pilot (CFI ll) this guy had no multi ? (Rating) no experience in a Dutchess, and maby did not even hold an instrument rating????
C’mon get real 😂
Not sure where you got that. I did have a multi rating and an instrument rating. But you're correct, I didn't have any time in a Duchess, or half of the planes I've ferried over the last 34 years.
Sounds like bullshit to me
If you'd like the whole story read my book "Ferry Pilot". Every word is true.
Hard to believe. I don’t
If you want the whole story with more details read my book "Ferry Pilot" www.amazon.com/Ferry-Pilot-Lives-North-Atlantic/dp/1735339016/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3AU76X6QVOXMO&keywords=ferry+pilot&qid=1703020834&sprefix=ferry+pilot%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-1