Ferry flying or a positioning flight is the flying of aircraft for the purpose of returning the aircraft to base, delivering it to a customer, moving it from one base of operations to another, or moving it to or from a maintenance facility that includes maintenance, repair, and operations.
A commercial airliner may need to be moved from one airport to another to satisfy the next day's timetable or facilitate routine maintenance. This is commonly known as a positioning flight or repositioning flight, and may carry revenue freight or passengers as local aviation regulations and airline policies allow. Such flights may be necessary following a major weather event or other similar disruption which causes multiple cancellations across an airline's network, resulting in many aircraft and crew being out of position for normal operations; the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull or the mass evacuation of US airspace following the 9/11 attacks were significant examples of this.
Ferry permit A ferry permit is a written authorization issued by a National Airworthiness Authority to move a non-airworthy civil aircraft from its present location to a maintenance facility to be inspected, repaired and returned to an airworthy state.
Ferry pilots Louise Sacchi flew single- and multi-engine planes 340 times across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, breaking several records in the process.
Other notable ferry pilots include: Helen Marcelle Harrison Bristol Lettice Curtis Maureen Dunlop de Popp Mary Ellis, WWII pilot in the United Kingdom Nathan Fielder, comedian who featured himself ferry flying on season 2 of The Rehearsal (TV series) Luis Fontés Joan Hughes Amy Johnson Jim Mollison Robert Neale Robert Olds Jarvis Offutt Jadwiga Piłsudska C. W. A. Scott Diana Barnato Walker Margrit Waltz
See also Air Transport Auxiliary, UK civil aviation organization that ferried military aircraft during World War II (WWII) Air Transport Command, US Army Air Forces (USAAF) command charged with ferrying aircraft during WWII Dead mileage, a similar concept in ground transportation Ferry range RAF Ferry Command, UK military command charged with ferrying US aircraft to the UK during WWII United Kingdom aircraft test serials Women Airforce Service Pilots, US civil aviation organization that trained women pilots to ferry USAAF aircraft during WWII
References
Further reading
External links Cockpit Casual (speedtapefilms), YouTube video series by ferry pilot Steve Giordano