How are planes delivered?

[jamiebae]

Generally most planes are made in a single factory, so if someone on the other side of the world wants one? Obviously a 737 or an A380 can just be flown there, but did someone actually fly the wretched Dash 8 I've just been in all the way over from Canada?! How about little 20-40 seater prop driven stuff, surely they can't fly trans Atlantic?

[Munter]

I've also wondered that a few times.

I suspect either:
A)It comes over in bits in a transport plane
B)They fit a large fuel bladder where the seats go, and ship the seats over later/before
C)Stop in greenland?

[IforB]

They are flown. You can fit ferry tanks to pretty much anything. People regularily fly things like Cessna 150's across the Atlantic, so a pressurised turboprop across the pond is no problem at all.

[RizzoTheRat]

They might be assembled in a single factory, but some pretty big components get shipped about the place, for example Airbus wings are made in England and attached to the fuselage in Toulouse or Hamburg. This means they either have to ship bits by sea or load them in one of these



There are company's out there like Heavy Lift Volga-Depner that specialise in outsize loads so I guess they might get used, but if you're dismantling it enough to get inside an aircraft it's probably a lot cheaper to send it by sea.

In WW2 they used to go for the extra fuel tanks and send them via Greenland, and I know the RAF flew Chinook's to Sierra Leone by fitting extra tanks, so I'd imagine that's how most get moved.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Saturday 19th September 19:31

[Eric Mc]

Even single engined light aircraft are delivered directly by air. When I was a keen spotter in the 1970s, I used to travel down to Shannon AIrport in the west of Ireland to watch the "deliveries" stage through on their way to British or European customers.

[mrmr96]

Presume they could also be taken by boat if required?

[mybrainhurts]

[Moose.]

Eric Mc said:

Even single engined light aircraft are delivered directly by air.

Something I quite fancy doing one day!

If anyone's got an aircraft they want moving, feel free to PM me

[cs02rm0]

You get some pretty large pieces of planes on the back of lorries occasionally down the east end of the M62 (BAE @Brough?)

[sherman]

mybrainhurts said:

What you need is something this size.

[R1_NUR]

This is G-KLAW being delivered from Florida. We hope to have her in the air again by April 2010.

Edited by R1_NUR on Sunday 20th September 18:38

[RDE]

We very occasionally get a shiny new 777 from Seattle arriving to be fitted with seats etc at BAMC ready for use. Once in a while an empty heavy aircraft will do a fairly sporting departure thanks to the tiny fuel payload they're carrying to get back to Heathrow or Gatwick (and the absence of passengers).

I visited Airbus at Blagnac once and saw a freshly painted A320 in Air New Zealand livery that was about to be flown down under, i'm assuming in more than one hop.

[john_p]

Do they still fly Cessnas over from the USA? Takes a brave person to fill a 152(etc) up with fuel tanks then fly it over the Atlantic/Arctic to Europe

[Eric Mc]

john_p said:

Do they still fly Cessnas over from the USA? Takes a brave person to fill a 152(etc) up with fuel tanks then fly it over the Atlantic/Arctic to Europe

I'm sure they do.

[anonymous-user]

R1_NUR said:

This is G-KLAW being delivered from Florida. We hope to have her in the air again by April 2010.

Edited by R1_NUR on Sunday 20th September 18:38

Is that a Mustang?

[IforB]

john_p said:

Do they still fly Cessnas over from the USA? Takes a brave person to fill a 152(etc) up with fuel tanks then fly it over the Atlantic/Arctic to Europe

They do. I don't think brave is quite the word, crazy, crackers, or nutjob are far better fits in that sentence.

[Eric Mc]

The pictures certainly don't show a P-51 Mustang.

G-KLAW is a Christen Eagle bi-plane.

Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 21st September 11:38

[john_p]

IforB said:

john_p said:

Do they still fly Cessnas over from the USA? Takes a brave person to fill a 152(etc) up with fuel tanks then fly it over the Atlantic/Arctic to Europe

They do. I don't think brave is quite the word, crazy, crackers, or nutjob are far better fits in that sentence.

I just did a bit of Googling and they deliver them over the Pacific too..!

[davidjpowell]

RDE said:

We very occasionally get a shiny new 777 from Seattle arriving to be fitted with seats etc at BAMC ready for use. Once in a while an empty heavy aircraft will do a fairly sporting departure thanks to the tiny fuel payload they're carrying to get back to Heathrow or Gatwick (and the absence of passengers).

I visited Airbus at Blagnac once and saw a freshly painted A320 in Air New Zealand livery that was about to be flown down under, i'm assuming in more than one hop.

Amazing buiding. I had a look around for work a few years ago. Never really apreciated just how big a 747 was until I was stood next to it's wheel.

john_p said:

IforB said:

john_p said:

Do they still fly Cessnas over from the USA? Takes a brave person to fill a 152(etc) up with fuel tanks then fly it over the Atlantic/Arctic to Europe

They do. I don't think brave is quite the word, crazy, crackers, or nutjob are far better fits in that sentence.

I just did a bit of Googling and they deliver them over the Pacific too..!

I recall a movie about one of these which developed a faulty nav instrument while over the Pacific and very nearly got his feet wet.

[Eric Mc]

Many deliveries have come a cropper over the years. I remember a Beech Bonanza putting down in a field a mile or so short of the runway's end at Shannon. I also remember a single engine Cessna going missing in the mid 1970s.