Ercoupe Ferry Flight

     I have read several trip reports of general aviation pilots ferrying small airplanes all over the United States and dreamed of the day when I could do the same. Ferrying is a common job that commercial rated pilots do on the side to help get an aircraft to its new owner and make some extra cash. I wasn't being paid for my flying and I don't have the experience of many other pilots that have the chance to deliver airplanes. This would be the longest flight in my logbook and there were new things to learn on such a venture. When flying a trip that takes many hours, weather was my biggest concern and I watched the patterns following up to the day that I departed. This trip had me delivering a 1946 Ercoupe 415-C to a buyer in Lexington, SC. I arranged to deliver the airplane for only the cost of fuel and one night of lodging. I quickly found out that this is unheard of, but to get to fly was worth more than anyone's wallet could afford.

Ercoupe at Pauls Valley Airport

     My first planned fuel stop was Hot Springs, AR. About one hour into the flight I decided to press on to Pine Bluff, AR. A low pressure front and associated thunderstorms had passed through Oklahoma over the weekend and another was rapidly coming in. Parts of Oklahoma later received two to three days of near continuous rain and my return flight was delayed due to weather. Neither myself or the old gal were equipped to handle anything other than blue skies. My goal for the first day of flying was to get to the Mississippi River where I didn't expect the storm could catch up while I slept for the night.

Approaching Grider Field (KPBF)

     The 260nm leg to Grider Field (KPBF) in Pine Bluff, AR was un-evenful and I quickly topped off the airplane with fifteen gallons of 100LL. Another goal of the first leg was to get an accurate fuel consumption number that I could use to plan the rest of the trip. I calculated almost exactly five gallons per hour on the first fill-up. Up to this point I had no idea where I would be spending the night and it was now around 1830L. Using ForeFlight I searched for some FBOs in the Memphis area that would be able to accommodate me and the airplane after 2000L. The first call turned up an answering machine as the FBO was already closed for the day. It was somewhat expected as the airport was in a rural area further away from Memphis. The second call turned up a hotel and a shuttle service that would pick me up around 2045L. With plans in place for the night I departed to Olive Branch, MS (KOLV) to stay the night. The flight would put me arriving a bit after dark, but the airplane had been running great and all the lighting was in place for night flying. As the sunset over my shoulder I flipped the nav lights on and quickly found out that all of the instrument lights were operational too! It was a beautiful flight passing the mighty Mississippi River and over the Memphis area lights.

Sunset over Eastern Arkansas Enroute to Olive Branch, MS

     I got checked-in to the hotel and walked across the street to get something for dinner. The last time I had eaten was a few hours before I departed Oklahoma and I was no longer being fueled by the beautiful sights from above. Once back at the hotel I began looking over route options for the next day that would keep me clear of busy terminal areas. Avoiding the Huntsville class charlie airspace wasn't going to be possible with my plan to make one stop between Olive Branch and the Lexington, SC area. I would be able to fly just north of the Atlanta class bravo without any problems however. After a decent plan was in mind I quickly fell off to sleep while images of the day ran through my head.

Memphis Area Class Bravo

     I was up at 0430L and started looking over weather for the day. The rest of the trip would be under upper level scattered clouds and on to clearer skies as reported by the area forecasts. The shuttle picked me up at 0530L and I woke the girl up around 0545L. The little Continental wasn't quite done sleeping for the night and took a few squirts of her favorite juice and a pull on the starter to get up and going. On the entire trip I had been using the Garmin Aera 560 GPS that was installed in the airplane for navigation and using ForeFlight for planning and airport information. The equipment in the cockpit for this trip was far from what was common back in the early days. It was so nice to be able to download all the charts and A/FD information for every state the night before I left Oklahoma. For the departure out of the Memphis area I zoomed in on the Foreflight map so I could avoid the areas where a clearance is required. Departing Olive Branch airport at 0600L I immediately made the turn east and watched closely on the iPad so as to avoid the airspace. Once out of the area I decided to fly through the Huntsville airspace after stopping at Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (KMSL) in Muscle Shoals, AL for fuel. It was a short leg as I didn't take on any fuel on my overnight stay due to operating both after and before normal hours. Before departing Alabama I phoned the buyer to advise him I would be landing there in about four hours.

     Right off of KMSL I climbed to 3,500' for thirty minutes or so. I was only seeing around ninety knots ground speed and wanted a bit more. To get flight following through the Huntsville class charlie I was asked for my type designator by the approach controller and had to admit that I did not know it and told the approach controller what I thought it may be. A few minutes later he came back with the answer after having looked it up (ERCO). After passing the Huntsville area I climbed to 5,500' to see about winds there. It was the best thing I had done so far. I was getting anywhere from 130-140 knots groundspeed and turned the nearly four hour flight to a three hour one. The scenery kept rolling on hour after hour and soon it was time to come down.

     As I was nearing Whiteplains Airpark I was having a hard time finding the runway as it is nestled in the tall trees and isn't as large as most city airports. Once I spotted it I made a straight in approach and was welcomed by the new owners voice over the radio. I slowed the coupe down and dropped it in over some tall pine trees, taxied to his hangar, and let the carburetor bowl run dry. I had completed a wonderful journey that will be remembered forever and said goodbye to a wonderful airplane that will definitely be the delight of its new owner. Thanks "Ercoupe three niner zero" for the wonderful memories and teaching me so many things about the skies. I know how much you love to fly and I hope you don't rust away in a barn like so many others.