Los Angeles - Anchorage - Los Angeles in 1999/2000 in an R44.

What a great, great time I had........

No really long ones like some of the contributors here, though always enjoyed ferry flights - even those where I got arrested, aircraft impounded, ran out of money etc.
The shortest was an S58ET from Aberdeen to Portugal. I've done many others. Bell 212s UK to Egypt and UK to Teheran, but I love taking helicopters to Africa the best. I've been across the Sahara and down the west coast and I love the west coast routes best. It's always great going through the mountains in Morocco and then either the long sea crossing to the Canaries, or nowadays the route through Western Sahara is also open. It always amazes me seeing where the Sahara meets the Atlantic and sand just becomes sea in an abrupt vertical stop, with the wind whipping the sand from the top. I love then encountering the lushness of the forests and swamps as one arrives in Senegal and the vastness of Mali with that maazing lake with the vertical sided islands in it. The people of Burkina Fasso always make it worth while stopping there, and I'd love to revisit on holiday one day. It's also great if the weather's good, after hundreds of miles of mangrove swamps in the Niger Delta, to suddenly see the bulk of Mont Cameroun on one side and Malabo on the other. I hope I'll have the opportunity to do some more, though as I get older it will probanly be more difficult, b ut I'd dearly love to have the opportunity to finish off the west coast with a ferry from Nigeria to South Africa

See a couple of posts from the Okanagan boys, Peter M probably had the longest one [ flying hours anyway ] but there are lots of other ferry flights out there from Vancouver to Inda,and Thailand, some going the Greenland, Iceland, UK route, and the latter ones through Russia, must be some interesting stories amongst them, lets hear them.

Did a medivac a few years ago. Was just over 1300nm, departed base at 1700hrs back the next day at 1600hrs.

Single pilot and the A/P went U/S en route.

Mr 212

I said 8 days flying, not 8 days total time!

We did have a couple of days off along the way ;) The Hyatt in Muscat would have been perfect but for the fact that ramadan restricted our beer consumption to between 6pm and midnight!!

Probably just as well, on reflection.

Vertalop,
glad to hear it; my confidence is restored :ok:

Sydney to New York via London in an S76A in 1994.

Twenty minute flight in a Chinook on June 14,1970,from Vietnam to Cambodia and return.....sat in a hydraulic fed cockpit fire for what seemed a lifetime...then did a GCA to a SpecForces base. Maintain a special feeling for BurgerKing burgers till this day as a result.:uhoh:

Longest Flight
 

Personally, this isnt so far. Only Shoreham - Pamplona and back, for the Running of the bulls festival, back in 2003

On behalf of a good mate Decimal who can't post at the mo (Connection problems). He and a friend flew an R-22 (Beta) from Carp Airport (Just outside Ottawa) to the Florida Keys, down the eastern seaboard. Then flew back via the Heli Expo in Dallas to Ottawa. Took him 5 weeks. This was by the way in the middle of winter. I believe the temp range was -30 to +30

Regards

MD :ok:

Aldergrove, Northern Ireland to Rouen, France for the World Helicopter Championships. Stopped in Blackpool, Gloucester, Middle Wallop and Lydd for fuel. Flew the Journey back in formation with the team manaager and a colleague, probabaly the longest formation I have flown and lead!

Longest ferry flight for me; a Super Puma from Trelew, Argentina (43S) to St John's, Nfld, Canada (47N). 65 hours flying time.

Great trip. Lots of great sight seeing and interesting problems enroute. Everyone is used to fast and large movers ferrying around the world but not helicopters. Lots of extortion enroute, inflated fuel prices and airport fees, etc.

Riverside California to Galway Ireland in a Bell 222. Nearly 6000nm in Feb 2005.

Only a short one compared to make posts on here.But I loved it!!
Completed 2 trips Lake Charles LA to Anchorage AK
Took 4 days- AS350 Great fun :ok:

Longest single leg on a ferry flight was with a Super Puma from Porto Velho to Foz do Iguacu, Brazil. 756 nm.

Sorry, error. It was Porto Velho to Corumba, same distance. Foz do Iguacu was the next leg.

several long ones
 

Fort Worth to Caracas in a 222,
Paris to Cairo and return in a 412SAR,
Quito to SaoPaulo by way of Santiago Chile in a 206L-1,
Singapore to Dhaka in a 206L-4,
Singapore to Manila in a 430 and a 222U (2 different trips),
and a ton of shorter ones

That's enough, I'm tired just remembering them

Salinas, CA to Nome, Alaska in a R44. (1st)- 5 days flying
Durban, South Africa to Nampula, Mozanbique in a SA330 (Puma)(2nd) 2 days

Longest 'day trip' was Townsville-Georgetown-Burketown-Boroloola-Tindal In a Kiowa (10hrs stick and 3 drum refuels).
A couple of round Aus and PNG also, courtesy of the taxpayer. Great fun.
Now in a Boeing, the distances seem rather surreal- but the bum and lower back are A LOT happier!:)

Short ones
 

Someone asked for shortest trips.

I crewed on frost protection one night and spent 6½ hours over one kiwi fruit plantation. Never moved more than a few hundred yards.

Cheers
ET

Davao to Palau Island B412

Longest Flight
 

Point Barrow Alaska to Dallas Ft Worth via Los Angeles (4300 miles)

Dallas Fort Worth to Martinque (2500 miles)

From Kuantan 300 NM due East. Miles not as many as some but trust me here......that was the longest flight I ever did!!!!!

R22
 

I had to ferry a 22 from Portland Oregon to West Palm Beach, I had my good freind help me fly the thing back. Took 6 days and 46 hours. 2 Irish lads on mission to get back on St Paddys day. I-5 South to I-10 east-ish

So you could say that it took 7 days and 22 hours, or a week and 22 hours!:ok:

It was an R22 and it took 6 days and 46 hrs flight time, great flight but tricky at high DA in Texas and New Mexico.

I once ferried an AS350 from Mackay in QLD through outback Australia to Adelaide SA and back again in a B3 via Gladstone, took just over ten hours flying each way, not much to look at except red dirt, the odd track, maybe a homested, oh and more red dirt. Still a good trip and nav was a challenge ( I did'nt feel comfortable sitting like a numpty and relying solely on the GPS)

S61 Dacca-Aberdeen
 

Bangladesh-Scotland
Dacca-Calcutta-Bupeneshwar-Nagpur-Ahmadebad-Karrachi-Pasni-Muscat-Dubai-Dharan-Rhiyad-Medina-Luxor-Alexandria-Heraklion-Corfu-Ancona Falconara-Nice-Lyon-North Denes- Aberdeen.
Great took about six months at 100Kts:ok::)

My longest journey started on the afternoon in early April 1966 in a Hiller 12B at Middle Wallop as a fledgling Army pilot. The journey has taken me to much of Europe with the AAC, corporate flying, instructing and police and power line work. This has been done at night, in blisteringly hot sunshine, bloody freezing artic conditions, the usual rain, cloud and wind and some bumpy turbulence. Worst place I remember was Sennybridge ranges. I have covered most of Europe, dawdling in places like Northern Ireland and Germany. On the way I have met some awful people who I have pittied and forgotten. However, there are, thank goodness the vast majority of people associated with helicopters, the engineers and the ground support people who I shall sorely miss when finally touching down in an EC135 in Cumbria on 28th June 2007. This mamoth flight has taken me just a few hours short of 15,000. This is my longest journey. Full of memories and well recorded in several log books, photographs and retained memos.
Thanks to you all.

Head Turner, great post. Congrats on a great career and best wishes on whatever is next. It's all one long flight, with the occasional ground stops in between.

Good Luck with the future HT.... if I have 10% of your flying experience's I will be content !

E. :D

Thanks Tango and Cash and Efirmovich for your kind words. I have now completed my final flight and believe it or not, the weather was wonderfully awful, blowing a gale, low cloud and drizzle.
Bye to you all,
regards
Head Turner

600 NM non stop, all over water, between LPPS and LPLA (from Porto Santo, close to Madeira Island, to Lajes AB, Azores), in a EH101 Merlin. All on autopilot :)

Actually not a very long flight as such compared to others but it was the longest flight with a sling load (longline) in my career 620 miles. There was 4 of them and all by hand no AP. One per day, 310 to go, 310 back.

JD

A little over 11,000 Km. It took 14 days, stopping in 13 countries over 3 continents.... one hell of a good time :ok:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2273388_n.jpg

Possibly not the smartest thing to admit to here-abouts, over country that most would regard as very easy to map read. Like there's one little creek that goes pretty much all the way.

Redhill- Singapore in a Bell 212 circa 1980
 

I was engineer on a ferry flight from Redhill to Singapore at a time when we where moving aircraft out there. Also doing the same flights were Wolfgang Swann and Geoff Dentith.

Interesting if not an arse numbing two weeks (due to an AOG) and about 76 flying hours. Average leg was 5 hours with the ferry tanks - most unusual bit ...

Pasni in Pakistan - Fly once round the town for fuel or twice round the town if you required customs as well. All the fuel came in flimsies! Made the refuelling a long exercise.

Spent xmas day in Damascus and new years eve in Calcutta.

Worst moment following the road between Kasuma and Badana in Saudia Arabia - waking up and realising both the pilot and I had been asleep for 5 minutes - good old 212 still just chugging along at 90 knots at 3000' still following the road !!

Have no idea of the distance flown, but I took off at approximately 0215 in 1967 (I believe it was in March) and except for refueling I did not get out of the aircraft untlil midnight of that same day. I went through 3 co-pilots and probably fired about 500 rockets and who knows how many 7.62's. Everytime we hit the rearm point someone was waiting with coffee/sodas and sandwiches.

Aberdeen - Brasil
 

EC225 from Aberdeen via Scatsta - Vagar - Reykjavik - Kulusuk - Kangerlussuaq - Qikiqtarjuaq - Iqaluit - Kuujjuaq - Wabush - Halifax - Bangor - Bridgeport - Norfolk News - Charleston - W Palm Beach - Nassau - Turks and Caicos - Tortola, BVI - Tobago - Georgetown - Cayenne - Macapa - Sao Luis - Fortaleza - Natal - Salvador - Porto Seguro - Cabo Frio. Around about 9500nm! (17600km or 10935 statute miles). 18 days total, 14 flying days, 1 lost to weather in Reykjavik, 1 off in Halifax and 2 off in Tobago (FTL!!) :cool:

A bit over 1900nm -

Madang - Goroka - Daru - Horn Island - Coen - Cairns - Townsville - Emerald - Roma - Tamworth - Bankstown.

Not that far, but pretty good going in Bell 206 single pilot and all done in daylight over 2 days! Pre GPS as well with a wet compass only!

I think the only options fitted to the aircraft were a cargo hook, high gear, VHF and HF.

YBCS got a little concerned that our TXPDR wasn't working. Went through all the rigmarole of recycling and blah blah, by then we were on the ground. They told us to get it fixed before departing. It didn't work the next day when we left either and by the time we gave up going through the recycle etc blah blah we had left the control zone with the instruction to get it fixed.

I suppose you would have to fit one first to fix it! :O

is this Doug doing the Barrow to Dallas run?

In my early times I was working as a pipeline jockey on an R44. I was paid a low basic salary plus a bonus for every flight hour. Instead of getting the job done in 4 days (average required flight time for that specific pipeline was 25 hours) I decided that it can be done in only 3 days.
Somewhere around 20:00 pm and some fuel stops later we (the observer and I) called it the day after realising that we had left the pipeline track for approx. 5 minutes without realising it and without knowing where we were. Upon landing at the nearest airfield we had a total of roughly 11 hours of flight time. Can't say how many miles we covered that day but that is the most flight time in a row I have ever flown in a single day.
As mentioned earlier: I was young and in need of that money ;-):=