true or just hollwood hype ,the cessina and NZ B757 scenario

[purple haze]

dear all

i was watching a film based on a true event where a cessina was carrying out a transatlantic solo flight from USA to new zealand.

during the flight there were problems and the a/c had no instruments to fly on and was rescued or navigated by a B757.

the captain of the B757 broke SOP and descended to 5000ft to try and gain contact with the stricken pilot.

Anyway the story ended happily and the cessina just made it but, to what extent is this story true and the cessina was airborne for over 16hrs or 6hrs, but im not sure.
is this actually possible and can the cessina carry that much fuel?

If so, is it just me or would anyone else feel a little apprehensive about flying from the USA to NZ in a cessina.

Any details would be great.

cheers

[Propellerhead]

True story - read the REAL version in 'Crisis-Emergency on the flight deck' by stanley stewart.

A bit of artistic licence on the program! The other cessna didn't crash, it had technical problems and never took off - what WAS 'carl from neighbours' doing with that aeroplane on takeoff - STOP if your MAP starts fluctuating half way down a 10000 foot runway!

The 767 did dump fuel, but didn't descend to 5000' in a storm - the cessna eventually found an oil rig that was being towed and the 767 was able to find out where it was, so the ANZ never actually found them, but did stop him from ditching.

Also, didn't know ANZ had a flight engineers station on a 767! - notice how the 767 tured into a 737-200 on takeoff as well - quality!

[purple haze]

thanx for that,

i was a little surprised too to see that FE on FD and the fact that the Cessina was airborne for so long.

was the pilot crazy to cross transatlantic in a cessina?

I thought i was going mad when i saw carl as well but thax for confirming the facts.

[BIK_116.80]

I thought that it was an ANZ DC10 on its way back from Japan which happened to be tankering quite a lot of excess fuel, allowing the crew plenty of time to go and help out.

The pax in the back were kept fully informed that they would be late arriving at their NZ destination, but that the Cessna pilot would almost certainly die if they didnt go and help. When the crew asked the pax if anyone minded, the pax unanimously voted to go find the Cessna!

All sorts of clever navigation techniques were employed by the crew on the DC10, including asking the pax to look out the windows. Apparently every window in the plane had a face pushed up against it, straining to spot the tiny plane, the pax taking turns at look out duties

When the Cessna finally landed and this happy event was reported to the DC10 pax everyone in the back applauded and many cried with joy and relief. Rather than passenger complaints for their delayed arrival, ANZ received dozens of complimentary letters thanking the crew of the DC10 for a job well done.

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As for trans-Pacific ferry flights, Cessnas, Pipers, Beechcraft and others are regularly ferried to and fro across the pacific. This is the quickest way to deliver new American made aircraft to Australia or New Zealand.

The critical leg is Santa Barbara to Hilo, which is 2064 nautical miles. The route from Oakland to Honolulu is slightly shorter, but the winds are less favourable. 2064 nm in a fixed gear, single engine Cessna takes around 17 hours, and in this case you would want at least 20 hours fuel in the tanks. Most lighties are 30% over max weight with this amount of fuel.

Please let me assure you that 17 hours in one seat surrounded by avgas is not a great deal of fun.

[Cuban_8]

Propellerhead,

Have to agree with BIK on this one - I have the Stanley Stewart book and as i remember it, the airliner involved was a DC-10. Seen the film too - bit of a p!ss take!

Brilliant effort by the crew though - what good airmanship! The Capt. was also a qualifies nav as I remember - I wonder if there are many aircrew today who could reproduce the efforts of the "old school" fliers?

Cheers,

Cuban

[This message has been edited by Cuban_8 (edited 14 January 2001).]

[Squawk 8888]

Dumb question from a PPL here- how do you get 16 hours' fuel into a 172? The wing tanks are only good for about 6 1/2 hours, and putting tanks into the baggage hold would only be good for another 3 1/2 (120lb limit). Wouldn't putting a tank in the back seat make it tail-heavy?

[con-pilot]

It was a Cessna crop-duster. They fill the hopper tank with fuel with a special adapter to feed the fuel to the engine. You would be shocked how many small airplanes are ferried across the oceans.

[puff]

The story in full as I believe is the ANZ a/c was a DC-10-30 flying from Nadi to Auckland. The Cessna Agwagon was being ferried from the US to Australia and was flying between Pago Pago and Norfolk Island when he became lost. The Captain of the ANZ a/c was Gordon Vette who was the writer of the book on the ANZ Mt Erebus accident. They became aware that the a/c was lost, were tankering excess fuel and went to search for them, for the film the Cessna landed in Auckland, in real life the aircraft continued onto Norfolk Island after it's position was fixed. Amazing story which was butchered a little by the film, but still quite interesting. Imagine flying across that much water back then without the wonders of GPS!

[Luftwaffle]

Squawk 8888, you can put fuel tanks everywhere you would normally put passengers and cargo, and be overweight, without necessarily being out of CofG. You need a special permit for the ferry flight to do this. Remember that an aft CofG, so long as it isn't outside limits, is beneficial to cruise speed and fuel economy.

There was a good thread on this recently, with a title similar to "big balled ferry pilot".

[G SXTY]

It was indeed a DC-10, ZK-NZS, and they were fortunate in having an FO riding as passenger who was also a qualified navigator (in addition to the Captain).

FYI the Cessna 188 pilot (one Jay E Prochnow)had estimated 15 hours for the trip, and carried enough fuel for 22 hours endurance. In the event this was stretched to 23 hours and 5 minutes. (All shamelessly plagerised from Stanley Stewart's excellent account).

Superb airmanship all round, and it certainly reminds me why I should lean off the mixture when trundling around in a 152 . . .

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Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit pruning.