SR22 runs out of fuel 253 miles NE of Maui

[Ajax]

Is there any way to design and fit these tanks without major single points of failure - eg hand pump, manually accessible valves, or is it just the space and engineering/financial compromises required to make it work that leave you with little option?

Ferry flying requires massive cohones - the biggest I've seen were on a lady friend of mine who now flies the bus and worries about crew meals.

crew meals?!

I have only heard of such things!

 

[Finny]

I'm glad that he was able to coordinate the emergency so well and have all those assets standing by to help him out. Would have been a shame to pull the chute, land safely, only to be lost at sea just north of Hawaii. Hats off to the Coast Guardsmen that helped him out.

 

[drunkenbeagle]

It probably is. How would you suggest a temporary addition to an airframe be made? Should we start drilling holes and adding hardware? We want to have this stuff for a limited time and then have the aircraft return to service without any real mods made to it.

I was kidding, sorry I left out the smiley faces.

 

[drunkenbeagle]

Is there any way to design and fit these tanks without major single points of failure - eg hand pump, manually accessible valves, or is it just the space and engineering/financial compromises required to make it work that leave you with little option?

For permanent aux tanks, manually accessible is going to be a problem. You don't want to increase load factor, so wing tips are the most logical place to put them, which aren't great for access. They are good for increasing gross wt, however.

 

[wbauman1217]

In all fairness, the reporter should have said mismanagement at best, rather than exhaustion. There is usable fuel onboard, just can't deliver it to the engine.

News media getting something wrong... Imagine that.

I instructed on Maui for a while. It wasn't uncommon for guys to come in and refuel before going out for the crossing.. They load those GA planes with a couple hundred extra pounds of gas, the right seat and both back seats full of aux tanks. It takes 14+ hours to get to California, and that's with favorable wind. I think they would usually do most of the mods on Oahu and use the short flight to Maui to test everything out, plus its about 70 miles closer to Cali.

 

[Deleted member 21509]

 

[CFI A&P]

Glad he's OK.

Sad he's being judged so quickly, even by pilots for having made a mistake in fuel planning when all evidence points to mechanical issues.

While everyone is Monday morning QBing the guy, remember that as we speak he is on a cruise ship stuffing his face at the buffet, getting drunk and gambling.

 

[Ajax]

While everyone is Monday morning QBing the guy, remember that as we speak he is on a cruise ship stuffing his face at the buffet, getting drunk and gambling.

I'm starting to think this "ferry flight" was just a facade

WELL PLAYED SIR, WELL PLAYED

 

[fholbert]

CNN has video! From before chute deployment all the way to the water.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/0...coast-guard/video/playlists/caught-on-camera/

 

[fholbert]

Turn down the sound. Some yoyo felt it needed music.

That thing became quite the wind surfer after splashdown.

Poor guy is sitting in his raft saying; What the frick just happened?

 

[n77j]

Glad he made it alive. Not uncommon to see little dudes running around the eastern Pacific. I admire those ferry pilots! They are gutsy to say the least. l would assume he would have made a decision to return back to his origin at his PNR, if he knew fuel was tight.

 

[jafra98]

Gotta get to and from Hawaii somehow.

The chemtrail theory is true, here is the proof...............

 

[Apophis]

Assumptions and jumping to conclusions, especially before facts are at hand? Nah, never happens around here.............

Goes to show, there's a little bit of AOPA in nearly every website.

Fixed that one for you.

But seriously, the AOPA board is worse than just about anything else with respect to speculation. Bunch of old codgers pointing fingers and each one thinks he's an NTSB investigator.

 

[avia]

Are there any alternatives/competitors for this Cirrus system?

 

[ComplexHiAv8r]

Are there any alternatives/competitors for this Cirrus system?

They make for multiple planes. Cirrus just does it from the factory. http://www.brsaerospace.com/brs_aviation_home.aspx

And

http://www.magnumparachutes.com

 

[Cptnchia]

Gotta get to and from Hawaii somehow.

How else are they gonna get those 717s back to the mainland for Delta?

 

[mightynimbus]

The system was simple gravity feed according to the installer, Skyview Aviation.
Media quotes suck, but Skyview made no mention of a manual pump, just gravity, and were quoted as saying "it's pretty simple"
http://nebula.wsimg.com/5f525c421a6...FDD227B2D737ACB39&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
From their website, not claimed to be the plane in question.
But simple ball valves don't really fail, especially new ones.

looked pretty windy based on parachute drag after splashdown, direction unknown.

that has to be a 200 ish' gallon trip. do the newer ones SR22's have fancy engine monitoring for leaning? just 1.5 gph leaner would be another 250 ish' miles on a 14 hour trip. Of course the right mixture is the right mixture, but getting it wrong would be a bummer.

Oh well, cool ride for him, it turned out OK.
A lot of cars end up in the ditch swerving to miss THAT deer.

 

[hook_dupin]

I'm glad the pilot survived splash-down uninjured. I'd read that deploying the chute over water would lead to spinal/back injury on splash-down.

 

[MikeD]

I'm glad the pilot survived splash-down uninjured. I'd read that deploying the chute over water would lead to spinal/back injury on splash-down.

Especially if they don't pull their four-line release.

 

[killbilly]

Doesn't the SR-22 have FADEC?