Flying the Cessna Grand Caravan, My Most Dangerous Ferry Flight In 13 Years!
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- čas přidán 21. 04. 2024
- Icing conditions forced me to scud run in the Great Smoky Mountains while flying a Cessna Grand Caravan from Orange Virginia to my skydiving dropzone in Baldwin Wisconsin.
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Last year I made a ferry flight on this plane. From Houston, TX to your place with one stop in Missouri near Whiteman AFB (where the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit bombers are based). One year has already passed... time flies very quickly.
Oh awesome! I’ve flown over Whitman many times. Close to it on a training flight the other day actually. Where did you stop?
@@vitaly6312 Sedalia Regional Airport (KDMO). Very nice place, the airport manager gave me a Dodge Charger with a spotlight (former police car) as the airport crew car! 😂
Thank you for demonstrating how to listen to reason and common sense and make a smart choice.
"Sporty" Hehe. Not sure how I even found this YT channel but enjoying it, t/y.
Excellent decision.
If you’ve got time to panic, you’ve got time to do something more productive! Best line I’ve heard in a long time. I may use that! Great videos as usual.
Caravan ❤ Good job Kerry 🎉
Glad to see you ferrying again even thought it’s over land! 😂
Cheers Kerry 🥂 hope you have been well, I hope to meet you at Oshkosh this year!
Greetings from Cape Town. Been following your channel.
Nice video - it's rare to see this kind of thing on YT, where you are flying, sharing your decision-making process. This will help a lot of pilots that don't have anywhere near your experience, like me. At 10:15 and 11:05 it looks like you could have climbed over the layer. Was there more up there that was not visible in the video? I've done this in my RV-8 a few times, and almost got stuck once, but thankfully found a hole to drop down through "only" about 75 miles from my original destination. I keep oxygen ready in case I need to climb to avoid weather, but I can only go up reasonably to about 20k.
The conditions were far worse on the west side of the mountains. Solid IFR, high tops and lots of ice. So as tempting as it was to get on top I'd of had to climb pretty high and descend through a thick layer ice, at night.
@@KerryDMcCauley Got it - thanks for the clarification. Please keep the videos coming!
This is my weekly commute path to and from work! Literally the same flight path over W99 to 4G7 from 2W6. I am very familiar with this weather and avoid it all costs. I e been through a couple of these flights while VFR only where I diverted. Every time it seem that weather at my takeoff airport and my destination are good but those WV Appalachian’s are always their own weather pattern!
Personally, I'd have gotten the IFR clearance and requested an altitude above the clouds. This would have worked for most of the flight until the heavier stuff that you knew was ahead. However, knowing this in advance I'd have used ATC to steer me way clear of the weather. Even if that didn't work you could've 180'ed like you did. For VFR pilots/planes you 100% made the right decision. Good video 😉
I would have done that except that the tops were reported to be a little high with lots of ice. And with inop boots the Caravan doesn't carry ice very well.
I was wondering if the caravan was FIKI certified but inop boots yep you did exactly how I would’ve done it.
@@rn2811 If the boots had been working it would have been so much easier!
thanks mate another great vid
Glad you enjoyed it
It looked like clear skyies above the broken layer. Why not climb above and shoot an approach on the other end?
Tops were reported over 11,000 with lots of ice. I thought about it but the de-ice boots don't work on that plane.
Good ADM!
I wish more pilots had the good sense to park it up for the night
there are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots. Good call buddy. Live to fly another day.
Give it a rest with the cheesy cliches, guy. And Kerry actually is old and bold, so it doesn’t even make sense, ok?
Hey! Who you calling old? Oh, wait... Yep that checks.
Good ADM. wanted to get there however checking yourself for poor judgment and understanding that diverting/returning is always an option. 180 in the back pocket is a life coin. Great video.
I have often thought to myself, as an experienced commercial pilot versus when I was a low time private pilot, does the rating on my license change the weather or how the aircraft will perform? If I should not do it as a private pilot I should not do it as a commercial pilot too. Like Mike Patey said, 3 strikes - night is one - anything not working is one - ice is a big one. There is always tomorrow.
“Sure, it’s got an autopilot, it just don’t work.” 😂. Yeah, I’ve hand-flown quite a few long XC’s… it gets old.
Recently earned my commercial certificate. Would like to start doing ferry flights part time before I retire from my full time career. I’ve got time in single engine bonanzas, Cessnas and tail wheels from Staggerwings to cubs. What’s your advice on breaking into those journey in the continental US?
That's a tough one because everyone wants to do those flights and they're relatively easy. Lower insurance requirements and no oceans to cross means lots of new commercial pilots qualify. Best bet is to contact an established ferry company or aircraft dealership and hope you get lucky!
I had the same problem in the late 1980s with about 300 miles to go on a 1100nm trip in a SEL bug smasher crossing the Apps from Jamestown, NY to Wellsville, NY using paper sectional charts. Diverted to Bradford, PA which was,needless to say, on the other side of the friggen chart. Like you no auto pilot, low clouds cruising right at the MEFs, near sunset, NEVER did that again.😳
That's how we learn!
I prefer mountain obscurationlessness whenever possible.
I missed Hula Girl 😪Was she on board with you somewhere? 😁
No, Hula girl is in need of some TLC. Don't worry, she'll be back!
How do you like the TPE331 conversion?
Love it!
Ahah I think the entirety of primary training is specifically aimed at teaching a pilot not to conduct flights like this one. But commercial reality is commercial reality I guess :)
👍✅👏
Why do turboprop pilots not use fuel rather than gas? The fuel for a turboprop is not very volatile 🙂
9:10 😂
Are a DZO??
I am DZO at Skydive Twin Cities in Baldwin WI.
@@KerryDMcCauley that's awesome!! I had no clue! I work at a dz in Maine but I'm from Wisconsin. My mother still lives in White lake and last time I visited I almost came to your DZ. I will be very sure to come next time I visit.
Why did you say the aircraft is really expensive per hour? don't they pay you to ferry it?
Why could you not go VFR on top?
Because it wouldn't have been so dramatic? ;-)
I had the same question
Because it was solid IFR on the other side of the mountains and they were calling for moderate to severe icing and the Caravan's de-ice boots are inop. Otherwise I would've.
Did the weather clear up the following day? As a PPL student I really appreciate you showing this. 100% no go conditions for me but useful to see exactly why I need to stay well clear of stuff like this and not get lulled into “maybe it will get better a little further in.”
@@KerryDMcCauley so basically the (what looked to be) broken thin deck would have turned solid IFR once west of the mountains with icing thrown in? yeah, parkit time.