Long Chopper Ferry

[Cyclone7]

I have had an interesting situation presented by a friend who is buying a B 206 Jetranger in the US. I am comm rated, and he is PPL rated and at a stage in life where he is financially comfortable and wanting to enjoy life to the fullest. Who can fault that ?
He has asked - " Why not fly the chopper back to South Africa ? "
I pointed out a few obvious problems, such as all that cold water up north and African bureaucracy, but he has asked me to do a feasibility study anyway.
So, why not indeed ?
I know the range of the machine, and I guess we could look at a ferry tank/jerry cans if need be. He is in no great hurry and wants to savour the sites ( and nightstops ) en route, which is OK by me.
I will now how have to flight plan from Texas to about Newfoundland, and then look at putting the machine onto a boat to Europe - I guess by flying it on and mooring it down for the voyage. Insurance, flight clearances, fuel availability, shipping and accommodation are just a few of the angles that will have to be evaluated. I reckon about April onwards ( northern hemisphere spring ) would be about the best time, which also gives me the time to finetune the planning.
A big help would be to tap the knowledge out there, so any useful input would be greatly appreciated.
Over and out.

[biggles99]

You can fly from the USA to Europe with ferry tanks, which you will need anyway.

an IR would also be helpful, but not essential.

lots of people have done it, and several pilots have also flown to South Africa.

Ignore the nay-sayers -- if you got the money, the dedication that you need to get the planning perfect, and the time, go for it. I bet you'd find a third person to share the costs. But try and keep all crew as light as possible - you'll need a lot of fuel.

I flew a R44 from the UK to Australia 10 years ago, and I loved every minute of it. Well, almost every minute.

Big Ls

[birrddog]

A friend ferried a AW139 from the factory in Italy to Jo'burg.

They crossed the med and headed down the east coast via Egypt - detour via Saudi (Jeddah) to avoid Sudan, then Dijibouti (can't remember if they stopped in Adan), then on to Kenya and continued east until SA.

[parabellum]

Make sure your ferry tank fit is approved by your insurer, it amounts to a major modification and if you don't tell them then your policy could be voided, either all or in part, through non disclosure of essential information.

[BoeingMEL]

..from the UK ..mainland Europe, Cyprus, Egypt then more or less follow the Nile. A few long legs this way but clearances were much easier to negotiate. With Avtur supplies sorted and planning 100% perfect you could have a ball. (Note "could" not "should"!!) PS with a satellite mobile-phone and GPS they should find you in 2-3 days at worst if the old Alison 250 takes early retirement. Enjoy.. but take an additional 100 lites of A1 instead of the additional pax.... his ££ will be no use to you if you have to auto-rotate into the dunes!:ok:

[Bravo73]

Cyclone7,

Try sending a PM to Sam Rutherford (http://www.pprune.org/members/199124-sam-rutherford). IIRC, he has organised several trips across Africa in FW aircraft. Here's one of his threads about one of his trips:

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/354739-flying-maule-brussels-cape-town-live.html

I think that he used a separate company to help sort out fuel stops and transit permits. If cost really isn't a factor, this is certainly a route that I would be investigating. (Edited to add (again!): here's an overflight agent who is recommended in the thread above: Overflight flight clearance Home (http://www.whiteroseaviation.co.uk/))


HTH


Edited to add: I've just had a quick look at Sam's website and he's also flown from Florida to Europe. Sounds like he's your man!

[wiisp]

Hi Cyclone 7,

If you are planning a trip, installing ferrytanks and doing all the work around it, why not come by Nunavut, Greenland, Iceland, Faeroes and Scotland, and visit us poor bastards ;) stuck in the ice up here! It is a good challenge but very "doable". There has been several R 44's ferried to Europe by Greenland this year.

Keep up the spirit! ; )
wiisp

[Flyting]

Sounds like an opertunity for you, especially since someone else is paying for it... Like others have suggested, avoid the west coast. It will cost you $$$$$ in bribery and lots of "we don"t have change for $100" I have found the Eastern side to be much more friendly and honest, and prettier.
You will have to take ferry tanks for a lot of the legs where we normally do an illegal landing and hand pump it in. On one flight we were able to do inflight fueling which was great. No worries about landing in the wrong place, or not being able to find a spot to land, or not being able to restart. A lot of guys never shut down for these refuel stops. Make sure you have a good sat phone and inflight charger and fit a sat tracking device so someone can watch your flights from home.
This trip will take a lot of planning and in reality, costs a #$% load. Even for the experience. I would typically take, for a ferry from SA to Nigeria, around $7000 for fuel, airport and customs taxes, food, accomdation and bribery. One trip I blew nearly $1000 on "fines".
It is a long way and even if you do a lot of stops can be quite boring and menotenous at times. I hate doing these long legs alone. Lots of music and snacks help...
Like said before, an IR would be a good idea (flew for 2 days into the Hamatan - sand blowing from Sahara down south, and lots of bad weather), and an instructors would be good so you could log the hrs as well.

A good idea, is to get a hold of SA operators that do contract work in Africa and speak to their ops guys. You"ll get a hell of lot of tips and ideas, and most importantly - CONTACTS from them. Often we would land in places and a "handler" would have us refueled and walked through customs without even seeing anyone... all for a few $'s of course.

I've had lots of scarey moments but also lots of enjoyable experiences and tons of great pics...

just remember...
...Where ever you go in Africa, $ is King...

[Flyting]

I remember flying through Tanzania, landing and refueling, giving the guy some $'s with out expecting anything back, especially not $1 and then going to do the paperwork, to come back to the chap waiting for me with a $1 note that he rode to town for on his bicycle for... I was so impressed I gave him an extra 20... Try find that on the west coast.

[Cyclone7]

Thanks for all the input guys, our data base is growing nicely.
It seems the US deal is off, now looking at a machine in Ireland.
A ferry tank ( about 160 litres ) now being seriously looked at as well.
Routing over the least bit of water, so it will be Turkey- Syria/Lebanon/Jordan somehow ( guess it will be a good idea to skip Israel then ), down Saudi and crossing from Yemen to Djibouti.
Then Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and down the east coast to SA.
April or June next year, so we have time to finetune.
Keep that good info coming!

[parabellum]

Just bare in mind that it will only be summer in the Northern Hemishpere so by the time you get down towards SA it will be approaching mid winter.

[stubert1000]

I was wondering if you managed to get your trip done. If you have completed it are you able to post and let us all know how it went? Some piccies would be good also. :ok: