Special Flight Permit. What's your limit

[chperplt]

For all you 121 guys/gals out there..

There are many mechanical problems that are legal to ferry out with a permit, but are questionable from a safety aspect in my mind.

What types of things would you refuse to ferry? Would you fly with one PFD out in IMC? How about without engine fire detection on one side?

 

[avbug]

That's a difficult question to answer, because it's so subjective to specific circumstances. Not only the mechanical issues, but the safeties, the weather, the alternates, the choice of crew, etc.

I have ferried airplanes with an engine out or inoperative, with a variety of considerations, some significant, some not. One ferry involved an airplane with a cracked wing, under a ferry permit and an authorization from the manufacturer. I made the flight, but later learned that the failure was far greater than believed at the time. Had that information been available, we wouldn't have conducted the flight.

There are few circumstances in which I might be asked to move an airplane that I would refuse to do so. However, in so doing, I would be very particular about ensuring that conditions were such that the flight could be reasonably conducted. Under circumstances I find untennable, I don't feel any pressure to refuse, or issue a flat "no."

Is there a particular scenario you're thinking about?

 

[chperplt]

Is there a particular scenario you're thinking about?

Nothiing specific.. I know what my limits are and was curious what others had to say.

 

[Cardinal]

The Beech is a little short on electrical redundancy. I'm not the expert but ferrying with even one Generator inop would be pretty sketchy, even in VMC, much less in the clouds. After only one additional failure you're stuck doing non-precision approaches with the peanut gyro.

CAL dispatched with one Gen MEL'd on a 757. The APU runs for the whole flight, eventually runs out of oil and shuts down. The operative generator on the other engine also happens to quit. Everything gets dark, the RAT fails to deploy, and they have to land in Ketchikan, AK in the dark with only intermittent power as the APU alternately gets restarted and shuts down. If it can happen to an aircraft with 4 separate power sources, it can happen to anyone.

 

[EagleRJ]

It's all about your personal comfort level. Think about your experience level in the airplane, weather conditions, runway conditions, etc. Keep in mind that the company's primary goal is to get the plane back to a maintenance base, so now is the time to be nosy! Talk with the mechanic if one is there, and make sure that if any temporary repairs can be made, they have been made.

Remember that Murphy's Law has a nasty way of showing up on ferry flights, too.