Hi all,

Not entirely sure if this is the right spot for this topic, but am gonna drop it here. I've taken a 6 month hiatus from airplanes/flying, was involved in a crash while getting my tailwheel endorsement earlier this year. Crazy enough, the instructor was the one who crashed it while trying to show off. The story itself I will save for another time, but luckily we made it out rather unscathed. I had put the tailwheel training on hold after that and honestly haven't flown since. I've been looking at aircraft and have found one that I'm really interested in buying but am running into a few logistical problems that I'd rather get figured out first.

The airplane is a Cessna 120, located in one of the southeastern states, but I'm all the way in Alaska. I do not have a tailwheel endorsement and AVEMCO requires "10 hours of instruction in this type and model of aircraft and a tailwheel endorsement" prior to solo. Therefore, it's seeming rather impossible for me to fly down to the lower 48 and fly this plane back up myself.

Assuming I did get my tailwheel endorsement in a different model aircraft prior to flying down there, I'd still need to get the 10 hours in this type aircraft to get the insurance checkout. However, I haven't been able to find any instructors up here who have C-120's.

Which basically just leaves me to thinking that I'd need to either:
1. Pay an enormous amount to get the plane ferried up here.
2. Fly down to where the plane currently is and get a nearby instructor to fly with me until I reach 10 hours.

I'm not too thrilled about either of these options, so I was hoping some of you may have a better idea of how to approach this.

Thanks

Seems like the ferry flight back to AK would be a real good time to knock out those insurance hours and the TW endorsement if you find an instructor willing to make the trip with you. It'd be a whole lot of fun, pack light!

I agree with kevbot, find a CFI that will go with you and fly the thing home while earning your TW and logging the 10hrs. Or have it ferried part way and fly the rest as described above.

I going to commit one of my pet-peeves here by expressing my opinion that doesn’t answer your question: There are 120/140s all over the place, why buy one so far away? It doesn’t make sense to buy a cheap airplane and spend a wad of cash to bring it home. Maybe spent that wad on buying a more expensive airplane closer to home.

I just helped my sister-in-law buy a plane and it sucked. I hated dealing remotely with people and trusting their opinions.

This isn't a great time of year to be flying an airplane up to AK from the 48 but it most certainly can be done. I wouldn't consider doing it in a 120 with two people right now though due to the weight and space constraints. With winter flying comes a lot of extra gear, personal survival gear as well as airplane gear such as wing covers, engine blanket and something to preheat with. Does this airplane have covers? It's not a great time of year to be mucking around figuring out what works and doesn't work on a new to you airplane crossing remote Canada/Alaska. Not trying to be a downer, just a couple thoughts that come to mind. I'd be looking for something here in Alaska or waiting till spring if I was buying something small and slow in the 48 to bring up. Good luck on the airplane hunt. If you decide to buy it and you're looking for a ferry pilot send me a message, I've got a buddy who has ferried a bunch of planes up and down from the 48 this year who is eminently trustworthy and qualified I would put you in touch with.

Sent you a pm with contact info of a budy with a few hundred hours in type who faried a couple birds back and forth this summer, mostly for gas money, no CFI but he is skinny guy which is important in the little spam cans

Best to get back on that horse.

Wee,
we ride our birds hard and put them away wet up here, or frozen. Lot of prestine birds down in America hence the long distance shopping.

It doesn't make it easy that's for sure and it heartbreaking how a pilot will sell a bird misrepresenting it to a fellow pilot. I always tell first time buyers, There is little honor in aircraft sales. I'll leave it at that.

Rocket

whee wrote:
I going to commit one of my pet-peeves here by expressing my opinion that doesn’t answer your question: There are 120/140s all over the place, why buy one so far away? It doesn’t make sense to buy a cheap airplane and spend a wad of cash to bring it home. Maybe spent that wad on buying a more expensive airplane closer to home.

.

I agree. I am trying to help a friend sell a Tripacer and I keep getting calls from new pilots on the other side of the US who want to buy it and fly it home. I figure that will cost another 50% of the purchase price. I try to suggest that they buy a nicer one closer to where they live. And maybe one that a local mechanic knows.

In all honesty at this point on the calendar I'd "invest" some time well wasted on Barnstormers over the next couple of months. Then if possible purchase as close to home base as possible when the birds are singing again in the Spring.

Not your question directly but a pertinent story. In1981 I sold a 170B to a fellow from Fairbanks, I am in northern Michigan. So on the Friday after Thanksgiving he and his girl friend flew into and met me at Grand Rapids Michigan to fly it home. They had all their gear including survival gear for the flight. They made it as far as Whitehorse before it got to cold to continue. Took an airliner home and finished the trip the following spring. Getting kind of late in the year is all I will say.

Tim

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I wouldn’t want to tackle that trip as a dual flight, for the reasons noted above....wing and engine covers take up a lot of space. Daylight become precious at this time of year as you go further north, so unless you’re comfortable night flying.....

And, there’s the cold. I’ve flown a lot at -40, and trust me, it’s not much fun, and not a good idea unless you get some knowledgeable help enroute. Which brings me back to point number one.

MTV

In warmer weather, if you still want that one, an experienced tw instructor who is also an IA for the pre-buy would be a good way to go. Richard Castle, [email protected], does all of that with customers on trips home, including Alaska, with the airplane. Others on this site have experience with him.

I'm not sure what your budget is, but this 140 in Alaska was just posted a couple days ago.

https://www.cessna120140.com/Forum2018/ ... f=8&t=1254

Thank you all for the replies! The airplane is located near family, so the plan was to store it down south at a nearby hangar until Spring. The appeal of buying something closer is definitely there though, so may be best to hold off until closer to Spring. Gives more time for something to pop up in Alaska, plus it seems like there's 120/140s popping up all the time in the lower 48. Not to mention, saving on the hangar costs while waiting for Winter to die.

What's the going rate for ferrying up airplanes these days? Any idea what to expect? Is that something usually dependent on days/hours it takes or miles flown for these small aircraft?

@Hammer I'm not sure what your budget is, but this 140 in Alaska was just posted a couple days ago.

Thank you, I'll look into this! Bit more costly, but am thinking it'd turn out about even with expenses.

hamer wrote:I'm not sure what your budget is, but this 140 in Alaska was just posted a couple days ago.

https://www.cessna120140.com/Forum2018/ ... f=8&t=1254

Actually, that airplane looks like it has a number of very desirable mods and additions. A C-85 Stroker engine is high on that list. Damage to gear box is noted (which is good as opposed to "failing to mention it), and repairs by a quality outfit: Atlee Dodge, and logged, so no worries.

Engine heater, wing and engine covers, 8.50 tires, field approved, etc, etc. You're going to have to do much of that stuff to most if not all airplanes in the lower 48 anyway. All those are pluses to the fact that the plane is already in Alaska.

Do the math. That all adds up....not to mention whatever it would cost to move the airplane from the lower 48 to Alaska, even if you did it yourself, you're going to burn some fuel, a few meals and hotels......etc.

So, IF this person holds fast at $40K, you'd probably have to get the plane in the lower 48 for $30K, NOT including that engine, which makes this airplane a hot rod.....

MTV

CompSciAndFly wrote:What's the going rate for ferrying up airplanes these days? Any idea what to expect? Is that something usually dependent on days/hours it takes or miles flown for these small aircraft?

$200/day plus expenses.

StuBob wrote:

CompSciAndFly wrote:What's the going rate for ferrying up airplanes these days? Any idea what to expect? Is that something usually dependent on days/hours it takes or miles flown for these small aircraft?

$200/day plus expenses.

Including any enroute delays for weather etc, it could become a big number very fast especially at this time of year

whee wrote:....I going to commit one of my pet-peeves here by expressing my opinion that doesn’t answer your question: There are 120/140s all over the place, why buy one so far away? It doesn’t make sense to buy a cheap airplane and spend a wad of cash to bring it home. Maybe spent that wad on buying a more expensive airplane closer to home. ....

x2.
Years ago,a guy I knew bought a Luscombe he found in TAP down in SoCal & had to get someone qualified to fly it home with him.
But he never even bothered checking out a Luscombe that I'd told him about that was for sale two towns away right here in western WA.
Turns out the one he bought had some warts when he saw it in person, but he bought it anyway--
"I came all this way, and it's not that bad....."

A friend of mine was laid off from his air taxi job in Alaska on December 1. He and his wife went to southern CA to visit family. He found a Taylorcraft BC 12 that was "priced right" and in good shape in LA. He bought it and convinced his wife that he could fly it to Alaska, flip it and make as much profit as he was losing from being laid off. In reality, he mostly wanted to get away from his in laws.....but.

It got to early January, and he showed up in Kodiak. I asked him how his holidays had gone......the story was both hilarious and telling.

He started the story by saying that three weeks into the trip from LA to Anchorage, he parked overnight in Whitehorse and in the morning it was -30 F. He said he looked at that little airplane on the ramp, and decided he needed more coffee, cause if he actually walked out there to the plane, he'd have burned it right there on the ramp.

Weather had driven him all the way east as far as South Dakota. Understand that this gent was as tough a weather pilot as almost anyone I've ever been around.....so the weather on this journey had to have been brutal.

Over Three weeks, up the west coast.....piece of cake, eh?

I also knew a guy who also was a very experienced air taxi pilot in Alaska and very experienced ferry pilot, who got a contract to deliver a new Cessna 185 from Wichita to Anchorage in mid winter for the outfit I worked for. Took him a month, and he'd bid a fixed fee....dumb.

Etc. If you are really ready to buy, look close at that one listed in Anchorage.....seriously,

MTV

I have a friend who is talking about selling one in Seattle. Hasn’t listed it. PM if interested.