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 being 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