(this is a re-write of a previous post that didn’t seem to get submitted properly)
Hello one and all,
I would like to purchase an American aircraft, a light twin fixed wing, and ferry it back to Australia.
I contacted a company in Bankstown that specializes in ferrying aircraft (no prizes for guessing which) and enquired about doing some flight training there as well as paying for their advice so that I could ferry my own aircraft from the US.
Their response was: “Why would we want to give you our secrets? We need to make a buck too!” I replied with: “So I don’t end up in the drink!”
Even though their comment was said with some jocularity, I couldn’t help but detect a modicum of seriousness. Whilst I don’t begrudge their wish to ‘make a buck’, I think a bit of friendly advice from one aviator to another wouldn’t have gone astray.
Anyway, like a James Bond martini, I was shaken but not stirred… and so I decided to turn to my fellow aviators in the hope that some of you may have undertaken this same venture and would be more willing to offer advice.
I am not unfamiliar with long over water legs, I fly a single-engined EMS chopper in the Torres Strait and some of the over water legs are greater than an hour long and often dodging tropical storms, but I also know that there are many lessons to be learnt in aviation and so I seek your help/advice/tips/encouragement/gotchas/comments/etc.
I have found the ‘IFIM’ website by FAA and the ‘roundtheworlders’ website (dedicated to all those that have circumnavigated the globe in singles and multis) and I also have the CASA CAAP on importing aircraft. They’ve got great info… but I’m looking for more.
Any help is appreciated.
Cheers and safe flying,
Conway
www.ipas.com.au