Ferry and delivery flights
Aircraft Ferry Flights
UK and Europe
Moving an aircraft without passengers: to a maintenance organisation and back, home after a purchase, out of a hangar that is closing, or into position for a trip. The flying is the short part. Most of the work is making sure the aircraft and its paperwork are fit to make the trip, so it does not end up stuck at a foreign airport.
For owners, buyers, brokers, maintenance organisations and operators
What a ferry flight usually is
A maintenance run to an approved organisation and back. A delivery after a sale, often across a border. Repositioning to a new base, or to where the owner needs the aircraft next. Each one is planned the same way: route, fuel, weather minima for the aircraft and crew, permits, handling, customs and the return of the pilot afterwards.
The paperwork that decides whether it can fly
Before quoting I want to see the certificate of airworthiness or Permit to Fly, the airworthiness review or annual, the maintenance status and any deferred defects, insurance that names the route and the pilot, and the registration documents. If an aircraft's certificate is not valid, a special flight permit may be needed for the trip to maintenance, and that is arranged with the authority of the State of Registry before anything moves. Better to find that out on day one than on the apron.
Which aircraft I can fly myself
I hold an FAA Commercial Pilot licence, multi-engine and instrument, with a Cessna Citation X (CE-750) type rating, so N-registered aircraft within those privileges are the natural fit. Other registers require the licence that register accepts. Where I am not the right pilot for an aircraft, I will say so plainly at the start rather than after the planning is done.
Light aircraft and Permit aircraft
For Permit and microlight aircraft the useful part is often on the ground. As an LAA and BMAA inspector and a Rotax iRMT, I can look over the aircraft and its records before a ferry, so a buyer is not flying home something with an expired Permit or an overdue engine inspection. That is covered on the inspection page.
If the trip is part of a purchase
Agree the delivery terms in the sale before the money moves: who pays for the ferry, where risk passes, what condition the aircraft arrives in, and what happens if a defect grounds it on the way. A short pre-ferry check at the seller's base costs far less than a diversion with a sick engine.
Common questions
Do you hold an AOC?
No. I am a pilot, not an air carrier. Ferry flights carry no passengers; where an operator is involved the flight is planned under its arrangements.
Can you fly an aircraft to maintenance and back?
Yes, where the licence and type fit. I can also be on hand when the work is scoped, which helps owners understand what the maintenance organisation is proposing.
Do I need a special permit for a ferry flight?
Only if the aircraft's certificate of airworthiness or Permit to Fly is not valid for the trip. It is then arranged with the authority of the State of Registry before the flight.
How is a ferry flight priced?
By the days involved, not just the flying: planning, travel to the aircraft, the flight itself, and the return. Fuel, landing and handling are the owner's costs. You get a written quote before anything is booked.
Book direct with a pilot