Can a Piston airplane go from Los Angeles to Hawaii?

olasek said:
Yes, you are right. I misspoke. It took me a while to locate Bill's exact words and you find his discussion on the topic on page 20 below. Winds are better when launching from the South hence Santa Barbara or Camarillo will improve your chances. BTW, someone determined the shortest distance to Hilo is from Half Moon Bay airport (2003 nm) but the airport may not have best facilities to launch on such a trip.

http://pilatusowners.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/POPA-Fall-20131.pdf
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HAF has relatively cheap avgas and a 5000 foot runway. What it doesn't have that MRY does is a 24/7 fire dept. on the field. IMC is a constant problem, but a transpacific pilot had better be able to deal with that.
 
FloridaPilot said:
Can any single or a dual engine piston go from Los Angeles to Hawaii? (Nautical Miles is 2562 nm)
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You should read ferry pilot Bill Cox's articles in Plane and Pilot. Flying from LA to Hawaii would be a walk in the park for him.

Way back when, when the Coast Guard operated weather ships in both oceans, Ocean Station November was at the midpoint between the mainland and Hawaii, and we talked to single engine airplanes quite frequently. The most excitement that occurred on my watch was a Bonanza that was having trouble switching tanks and had planned to ditch alongside of the ship if he couldn't solve the problem. We set out a landing lane of flares and had men in the boats ready for lowering when he reported the problem solved and continued his flight.

Obviously, ferry tanks would be needed.

Bob Gardner
 
I already have the fuel tank plans drawn up for getting the Comanche to Hawaii. Somewhere around 22.5cuft of space needed - about 40" x 30" x 35" - which there's plenty of room to fit that in the Comanche rear seat/baggage area. Plus with the fuel selector accessible between the seats, and the spider already in place, it would only take an afternoon to install.
 
I recommend the book Air Vagabonds for a very interesting look at ferrying single engine piston and other aircraft all over the world in the years before GPS. Also a somewhat saltier one by Spike Nasmyth So You Want to be a Ferry Pilot.

My understanding is that for ferry flights you can get permission to TO at up to 125% of max gross weight.

For a C182, that is 3875 lbs. Not sure how much the seats weigh, but with seats left in, minus a big boy pilot and food/water in my bird, that is as much as 267 gallons of fuel. According to my books, max range at 12k feet is 123 knots at 9.7 gph. You'd need 218 gallons + 7 gallons reserve = 225 gallons.

So yeah, take the rear seats out and you could carry.. maybe another 10 gal? 277 gallons with 225 required leaves 5+ hrs of excess fuel neglecting the weight of the ferry tanks and pumps. Still you should be good to go.

The only caveat is oil burn. Mine doesn't burn enough to worry about, but if you burned enough you'd have to consider rigging some kind of oil adding system. I've read about various ways of doing that but I have also slept since then.
 
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And don't forget about these guys ...

Few remember that a 1958 Cessna 172 (the one pictured below, now hanging over the baggage claim area at KLAS) with a stock Continental O-300 engine, set and still holds the world record for flight endurance by a heavier-than-air aircraft. With two men aboard it took off from Las Vegas on December 4, 1958. They landed on February 7, 1959 — 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and five seconds later! That’s 1,558.3 hours of continuous flight — one logbook entry!


It wasn't transoceanic, and they refueled frequently (by hose from a truck on a highway below) -- but if you stretched that out in a straight line it's a long, long way.



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This achievement boggles the mind, yet so few people are even aware of it.
 
Pilawt said:
And don't forget about these guys ...

Few remember that a 1958 Cessna 172 (the one pictured below, now hanging over the baggage claim area at KLAS) with a stock Continental O-300 engine, set and still holds the world record for flight endurance by a heavier-than-air aircraft. With two men aboard it took off from Las Vegas on December 4, 1958. They landed on February 7, 1959 — 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and five seconds later! That’s 1,558.3 hours of continuous flight — one logbook entry!


It wasn't transoceanic, and they refueled frequently (by hose from a truck on a highway below) -- but if you stretched that out in a straight line it's a long, long way.



​




This achievement boggles the mind, yet so few people are even aware of it.
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Basically 6 times around the world.
 
Yes, very easily. Here's how you do it:

Fly your plane to our facility in Stockton, CA (KSCK), then pick it up in Honolulu three weeks later after we disassemble it and ship it in a container. :goofy:

www.ShipAPlane.com
 
Anything smaller than a light twin will be cheaper and easier to ship. I loaded an Aztec once, that would have been better to fly to Sri Lanka, but they were also opening an A&P school so all the planes were serving double duty and the labor was paying the bill.
 
I met two guys the flew their Kitfox from Florida to Spain.
In a Boeing 747:)

Brian
 
There was a guy a few years ago that flew a 182 around the world, and his first leg was from KAPC (Napa) to Hawaii. He made it all the way around and back to KAPC.
 
Henning said:
$5k + assembly.:dunno:
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So it would actually cost more to ship your plane in a box then fly it?

Say you needed 300 Gallons of fuel? (10 bucks a gallon) = $3000 (Not including equipment)
 
FloridaPilot said:
So it would actually cost more to ship your plane in a box then fly it?

Say you needed 300 Gallons of fuel? (10 bucks a gallon) = $3000 (Not including equipment)
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Yeah, look at another $3k in stuff as well, then the insurance for the trip, price that out.
 
FloridaPilot said:
So it would actually cost more to ship your plane in a box then fly it?

Say you needed 300 Gallons of fuel? (10 bucks a gallon) = $3000 (Not including equipment)
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Flying a 182 for 15-20 hours straight would be miserable. At least to me. Having a 182 in HI would be fun as heck.
 
Henning said:
Yeah, look at another $3k in stuff as well, then the insurance for the trip, price that out.
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True... But ferrying it would be much more fun!

I would think disassembly and reassembly might risk something being "not quite right" once it is reassembled. (Ie rigging, etc..?)
 
dans2992 said:
True... But ferrying it would be much more fun!

I would think disassembly and reassembly might risk something being "not quite right" once it is reassembled. (Ie rigging, etc..?)
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Both those arguments have merit.
 
dans2992 said:
True... But ferrying it would be much more fun!

I would think disassembly and reassembly might risk something being "not quite right" once it is reassembled. (Ie rigging, etc..?)
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Agreed!!
 
ClimbnSink said:
Flying a 182 for 15-20 hours straight would be miserable. At least to me. Having a 182 in HI would be fun as heck.
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I guess everyone is different.

For me I would actually enjoy a 20 Hour flight it would be scary and an adventure at the same time. Flying a 182 around the Hawaiian islands would be an amazing experience.
 
I would need an autopilot and an alarm clock.
 
dans2992 said:
True... But ferrying it would be much more fun!

I would think disassembly and reassembly might risk something being "not quite right" once it is reassembled. (Ie rigging, etc..?)
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Some aircraft could benefit substantially from a disassembly/reassembly and rigging by a good mechanic.
 
ClimbnSink said:
Flying a 182 for 15-20 hours straight would be miserable. At least to me. Having a 182 in HI would be fun as heck.
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Sometimes epic is indistinguishable from miserable. You can tell the difference because the epic one involves a GoPro.
 
petrolero said:
Sometimes epic is indistinguishable from miserable. You can tell the difference because the epic one involves a GoPro.
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I am 8745% sure I would not want to watch a GoPro ferry flight from CA to HI. Snoozer.
 
petrolero said:
Sometimes epic is indistinguishable from miserable. You can tell the difference because the epic one involves a GoPro.
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My idea of hell would be editing a 20 hour over water flight...
 
Jim Logajan said:
I believe this woman flew between California and Hawaii both east and west directions. East direction was in the C-180 pictured. Not sure what she flew in the other direction.

WEB10660-2007_640.jpg
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Jerry mock. She flew this aircraft a taildragger 180 cessna around the world.
 
FloridaPilot said:
I guess everyone is different.

For me I would actually enjoy a 20 Hour flight it would be scary and an adventure at the same time. Flying a 182 around the Hawaiian islands would be an amazing experience.
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If you enjoy sitting in a soiled diaper for hours with nothing to look at.

There is N O T H I N G between California and Hawaii. The eastern Pacific is astoundingly empty.
 
MAKG1 said:
If you enjoy sitting in a soiled diaper for hours with nothing to look at.

There is N O T H I N G between California and Hawaii. The eastern Pacific is astoundingly empty.
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Unless you catch Westpac underway, they can provide some entertainment. We used to get air shows on the tug lol.
 
The Rutan Voyager, a piston twin, flew around the world non-stop. So yes!

-Skip
 
N801BH said:
Yup.... And ALOT further too.....

Read it and weep.....


From EAA:
“It’s been quite a long week for Bill Harrelson, EAA 257277, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Long-distance, that is. On February 24, he flew nonstop in his modified Lancair IV (N-6ZQ) from Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana, to Honolulu, Hawaii, a 22.5-hour flight of about 4,000 nautical miles. On February 26, he flew from Honolulu to Guam – 17.6 hours, 3,000 nm. Then on March 1 (February 28 on this side of the international date line) he set an unofficial record for a nonstop flight – from Guam to Jacksonville, Florida – totaling 38 hours, 29 minutes aloft over a distance of 7,051 nm!”
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Man. Must have some good FAA a approved drugs to stay awake 38 hours straight. Good lord.
 
My dad ferried his B-18 (C45S I think, actually) from SFO to PHNL back in the 70's... was a freight dog on the inter island route..
 
EdFred said:
I would need an autopilot and an alarm clock.
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There is no way I can sleep in a 182 over the Pacific Ocean. Fears of crash landing in the deepest ocean in the world would get the best of me!
 
FloridaPilot said:
There is no way I can sleep in a 182 over the Pacific Ocean. Fears of crash landing in the deepest ocean in the world would get the best of me!
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Deep is relative. Anything over 8 feet gives you the same result, doesn't really matter.

Having said that, I agree with you, I don't think I could ever sleep in the front seat (either one) of a running airplane. I have flown tired a lot of hours, I've never been tempted.
 
airguy said:
Deep is relative. Anything over 8 feet gives you the same result, doesn't really matter.

Having said that, I agree with you, I don't think I could ever sleep in the front seat (either one) of a running airplane. I have flown tired a lot of hours, I've never been tempted.
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Not napping may be the bigger error.
 
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