Travel News - Cessna 310 pilot rescued 13 miles short of Hilo when plane runs out of fuel

A Cessna 310 on a ferry flight from California to Australia ran out of fuel and ditched 13 miles short of Hilo. The pilot was successfully rescued by the US Coast Guard. Initial reports suggested that stronger than expected head winds were to blame for the pilot running out of fuel.

http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Dramatic-video-of-pilot-who-ditched-plane-in/KuZEbnto_EiXMQ7wmDedtw.cspx

The flightaware tracking is here: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N23BT

Interestingly, several days before the incident, I heard the same pilot (or at least a pilot flying the same plane) communicating with Oakland Center just off the coast of California near San Francisco. (We were flying SFO-HNL on United, and we were listening on Channel 9.)

The pilot had difficulty communicating with ATC, and wanted to continue to relay communication via other aircraft. ATC advised him that the regulations required that he have VHF contact with ground to travel across the Pacific, and also "we can't stop you" if he wanted to continue without it. ATC also said that they'd deploy search rescue if he was a half hour overdue. He told ATC that he actually had to go back anyways due to some issues with his external fuel tanks. He wanted to go back first to Oakland then to Tracy because that's where he'd fueled up. ATC cleared him direct to Oakland.

At the time we were thinking this guy is nuts for wanting to cross the Pacific without radio contact. (And we were relieved when he turned back.) So, we were pretty shocked when we saw the article in the Honolulu Star Advertiser and found that it was the same plane (N23BT)!

I've always been fascinated by these ferry flights....

When the DZ I jumped at bought a Twin Otter sourced in the US I would have loved to have been on the flight it made to Oz!!! :D

Glad the pilot was rescued OK... Clear that such flights are not without risk!!!

Ferry flights are much more common than people think, we get atleast 2-3 a month coming through ITO and most make it with no problems. Great to hear that the pilot was rescued with no major injuries.

> ATC advised him that the regulations required that he have
> VHF contact with ground to travel across the Pacific

If ATC really said that, they are mistaken. VHF is limited to line-of-sight
comms. HF is morel likely. I'm guessing these guys also carry sat phones,
which would be a lot more reliable & useful than HF.

Ferry flights are much more common than people think, we get atleast 2-3 a month coming through ITO and most make it with no problems. Great to hear that the pilot was rescued with no major injuries.
This intrigued me in that, according to the manufacturer specs, the aircraft has a maximum range of 1000 miles. So how could he, or anyone else for that matter, flying a small plane, expect to make a 2500 mile trip without refueling? Last I checked, there are no stops between California's West Coast and the Hawaiian Islands. How do they do it and why is it described as "ferrying?"

They install extra fuel tanks and have to have multiple permits and certifications with the FAA to make these types of flights. There is a lot of planning that goes into it and even with the best planning sometimes something comes up.

Ferrying these planes is a very specialized skill and it takes a certain type of pilot. Some of these planes don't have an autopilot function and so they must handfly for a 12-14hr trip, not easy.

A ferry flight is just as it sounds, a way to move an airplane to a new location. Most of the airplanes that pass through ITO continue on to the south pacific islands or australia. Boeing ferries brand new 737's via HNL to their Asian and Australian customers.

Sounds like he had problems with the aux ferry tanks. The fuel wasn't there when it was time to start transferring it.

Is there a s.o.p. drill for testing aux fuel transfer before getting so many miles from land? E.g., could one fly a few hundred miles and then confirm that the transfer works?

I think a lot depends on the type of plane being ferried and the setup of the aux. fuel tanks.