Plane down near half moon bay. KHAF

I was at the airport that morning and watched that particular airplane take off into the clouds. Such a terrible feeling when I saw the news article later. :(
 
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Over on BT it seems they did call a May Day for fuel transfer issues.

You cannot easily that the wings off all aircraft. Plus, the cost of shipping the container.
 
The aircraft has been seen in Australia and Tahiti. It's obviously been fitted with ferry tanks before.

I have no experience with auxiliary fuel tanks, but it seems like drawing fuel from each tank for 20 minutes or so to confirm proper function would be prudent.
 
luvflyin said:
He got pretty far before turning back. I wonder how far. The Flightradar 24 track didn’t show all the way out. Wonder if it was a fuel transfer problem with the ferry tanks.
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That was my thought as well, wouldn't be the first time there was an issue with transfer. There was a PC-12 sometime back as well plus the famous SR-22
 
Not all are set up to draw fuel directly. Some only can pump fuel into the main tanks. And you pump too much, it overflows and is lost.
 
Apparently this was an amphib, which makes the ending all-the-more tragic.
Also, it appears that the flight was of less than an hour duration.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
Apparently this was an amphib, which makes the ending all-the-more tragic.
Also, it appears that the flight was of less than an hour duration.
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With amphibs landing on the ocean, I've heard that a lot depend on the height of the swells.
 
3393RP said:
but it seems like drawing fuel from each tank for 20 minutes or so to confirm proper function would be prudent.
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In several different discussions they mentioned this was mainly a gravity fed aux system as the main fuel tanks are under the floor. It was also noted a blockage in the aux vent system can manifest a supply issue after a period of time which if unable to clear may have been the reason for the turn back. They also mentioned any landing in this configuration would have been overweight with the aux fuel on board and possibly exceeded the float limits given the pilots were still strapped in when found.
 
Pinecone said:
How else are you getting the plane to HI???

https://www.theautopian.com/heres-h...r-18-hours-nonstop-from-california-to-hawaii/
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luvflyin said:
How else? Pull the wings off, put it in boxes and……

View attachment 117470
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Just saying

DSC08823.jpg
 
Disassembling a Twotter and shipping it would be crazy expensive. Having confidence the work could be done properly would be a huge concern.

Judging from its history, the final destination was far past Hawaii. It had previously been used for interisland transportation in the South Pacific.
 
I looked a buying an airplane that would have had to be shipped. $13000 to disassemble, build a cradle, and pack in a container.

Another $11,000 to ship. Then maybe $8000 - $10000 to reassemble.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
Apparently this was an amphib, which makes the ending all-the-more tragic.
Also, it appears that the flight was of less than an hour duration.
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Nope, about 5 hours total. The crash site was only 54 nm (IIRC) from takeoff, but they flew outbound about 2.5 hours, then back
 
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