Longest flight in a piston single

jrh

jrh

Well-Known Member
Uffff...just got home from this ferry flight:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N2163M

6.7 hours on the hobbs meter.

Hands down the longest single leg I've ever done. I planned to stop in Arkansas to pick up fuel, but when thunderstorms started building I decided to reduce the power to 40% and truck all the way home. Kept me from getting stuck since I couldn't tell where the storms would build.

I'm shot.
 
Dude, that airplane was owned by one of my former students. Well, he and his wife...they divorced and she got the plane.

Didn't realize she had sold it already...
 
That's a long, long flight.

I think my record today is 5.2 hours straight, that was NO fun.
 
I flew three legs in 1 day on my way back from Florida in January took 11.4 total with one leg pushing 4.5hrs (and only went from MCN to LEX!).

Today I flew my long commercial XC... only 256nm but put a total of 5.8 on the hobbs roundtrip. I'm tired!
 
I have a couple 6.x flights in my logbook, but as they're all photo work no nifty cross-country is associated.
 
SurferLucas said:
Dude, that airplane was owned by one of my former students. Well, he and his wife...they divorced and she got the plane.

Didn't realize she had sold it already...
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Small world!

It's not sold yet though. I just work for the broker who is going to sell it. The ferry flight was to bring it up to our office in Nebraska.
 
jrh said:
Small world!

It's not sold yet though. I just work for the broker who is going to sell it. The ferry flight was to bring it up to our office in Nebraska.
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Seriously! Did you meet Rita at all?

I know Dave kept the airplane it top shape, hopefully she still did.
 
SurferLucas said:
Seriously! Did you meet Rita at all?
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No, I've spoken to Rita on the phone a few times, but the only face to face contact I had was with Stan, the pilot Rita hired when she got the plane.

I was only in Florida for a few hours. Airlined in last night, Stan met me at the PNS airline terminal to hand over the keys and maintenance logs, then I went to bed and flew out first thing this morning.

SurferLucas said:
I know Dave kept the airplane it top shape, hopefully she still did.
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It seemed like it. Everything worked fine and it flew nice. I wouldn't have guessed it has 900 hours on it just by looking at it.
 
jrh said:
Uffff...just got home from this ferry flight:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N2163M

6.7 hours on the hobbs meter.

Hands down the longest single leg I've ever done. I planned to stop in Arkansas to pick up fuel, but when thunderstorms started building I decided to reduce the power to 40% and truck all the way home. Kept me from getting stuck since I couldn't tell where the storms would build.

I'm shot.
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Thats pretty darn impressive!
 
My longest nonstop flight, distance-wise, in a piston single (Cessna 182) would be this one:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N2467A

2450nm nonstop, though 'only' 14.5 hours due to a tailwind pushing 100 knots at some points. That made for a long week, since it was only four days after making this flight:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N225JV

My longest nonstop flight, time-wise, was 21.2 hours in a Cessna 172 between Honolulu and the Marshall Islands. My legs are aching just thinking about it (though the 11.8 hours on Saturday followed by the 12.5 hours yesterday might have something to do with that!).
 
periksmoen said:
My longest nonstop flight, distance-wise, in a piston single (Cessna 182) would be this one:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N2467A

2450nm nonstop, though 'only' 14.5 hours due to a tailwind pushing 100 knots at some points. That made for a long week, since it was only four days after making this flight:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N225JV

My longest nonstop flight, time-wise, was 21.2 hours in a Cessna 172 between Honolulu and the Marshall Islands. My legs are aching just thinking about it (though the 11.8 hours on Saturday followed by the 12.5 hours yesterday might have something to do with that!).
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Now THAT'S cool. I assume you do international ferrying full time?

I've always been interested in international ferrying, but never had the right contacts/experience/timing to get in to it.

You should write a "Perspectives" article for the JC front page.
 
periksmoen said:
My longest nonstop flight, distance-wise, in a piston single (Cessna 182) would be this one:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N2467A

2450nm nonstop, though 'only' 14.5 hours due to a tailwind pushing 100 knots at some points. That made for a long week, since it was only four days after making this flight:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N225JV

My longest nonstop flight, time-wise, was 21.2 hours in a Cessna 172 between Honolulu and the Marshall Islands. My legs are aching just thinking about it (though the 11.8 hours on Saturday followed by the 12.5 hours yesterday might have something to do with that!).
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You got fuel on the way, right?:eek:
 
Ayork62493 said:
You got fuel on the way, right?:eek:
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It's possible to do flights of that length/distance after installing auxiliary "ferry tanks" in the fuselage. You can double or triple the fuel capacity of a lot of planes this way, specifically for trans-oceanic ferry flights.
 
periksmoen said:
My longest nonstop flight, distance-wise, in a piston single (Cessna 182) would be this one:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N2467A

2450nm nonstop, though 'only' 14.5 hours due to a tailwind pushing 100 knots at some points. That made for a long week, since it was only four days after making this flight:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N225JV

My longest nonstop flight, time-wise, was 21.2 hours in a Cessna 172 between Honolulu and the Marshall Islands. My legs are aching just thinking about it (though the 11.8 hours on Saturday followed by the 12.5 hours yesterday might have something to do with that!).
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I would love to get into ferry flying. Did you do these flights solo?
 
Pilot5510 said:
I can't get very far without any fuel stops in a PA28! Tell me numb a#$ that it didn't count! :cool:
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I bet you could. Seriously. Try running at 30% or 40% power. You'll be amazed what it will do to your fuel burn. What does a PA28 hold? 48 gallons or so? I bet you could get the fuel burn down to 6 gph. That's 8 hours until you run dry.

I was only burning 10.6 gph in the 206 today. Considering it carries 87 gallons...you do the math. That's 7+ hours of flying, plus IFR reserves.

The only reason I picked on you is to prevent a ton of pilots (myself included) from dragging down the thread with their stories of flying 12 or 14 hours in a day, but taking fuel stops. Anybody can fly a bunch of hours if they're able to take breaks and refuel.
 
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