Thanks EGGW:
It will be a reliefe when they get it to Shannon, and I hope they get a good tailwind on the day of departure from St Johns so they are guaranteed a tail wind direct to Shannon.
For those of you who wonder what is involved in flying one of these rocket ships across the Atlantic here are a couple of numbers.
Best cruise speed you can plan zero wind is 115 Knots above eight thousand feet, below that altitude I use 110 Knots.
Distance St Johns direct Shannon: 1680 NM.
Distance St Johns to Santa Maria : 1370 NM
Distance Santa Maria to Shannon: 1160 NM
Note:
With full fuel it holds 1458 Imperial Gallons and burns 72 gallons per hour in cruise.
It also will hold 55 Imperial gallons of oil in each engine oil tank for a total of 110 imp. gal of oil. Norman oil burn is one to two imp. gallons per hour per engine.
So you can see their options would be best served with clear warm weather and a tail wind to Shannon.
I know the airplane very, very well having flown it for about 30 hours and worked on it here in Nanaimo and it is a good machine.
I also know the crew very well as they have almost lived here in Nanaimo for the past couple of years.
Having spent decades ferrying these things all over the planet and knowing what it costs I will sleep better when they are safely home in their own beds and the machine is parked at Duxford.
Chuck Ellsworth