Hawaii Wing questions

[Private Investigator]

Anyone coming to PR in the near future? Contact the PR-Wing and we'll fix something. CAP's a big family, we are your cousins from abroad.

Maj. Ed Barreto

I work in E-commerce and I dislike that line VERY much.

Puerto Rico is not a country, at least not according to the USPS.

Often I'll see orders come in shipping to the Country of Puerto Rico, and a customer wondering why they get charged an international rate! 

I usually tell them to try and plug in PR for state, and a miracle happens! They get charged US rates.

You are more than welcome to dislike that line. Nobody is arguing that Puerto Rico is a country. I used the word "abroad" as in far; away from one's home; beyond the boundaries of the continent; out of CONUSA. Many CAP members visit Puerto Rico year round, I was just inviting them to call us and we can meet and have some pizza and locally brewed beer. If you stop by, pizza and beers are on me. Have a good one bud! 

I am looking forward to going to Puerto Rico in August, that's my wife call, I like Hawaii.

[AirDX]

I work in E-commerce and I dislike that line VERY much.

Puerto Rico is not a country, at least not according to the USPS.

Often I'll see orders come in shipping to the Country of Puerto Rico, and a customer wondering why they get charged an international rate! 

I usually tell them to try and plug in PR for state, and a miracle happens! They get charged US rates.

Then tell your buddies in e-commerce that: 1. the post office is usually the best bargain to ship small packages to Hawaii, and 2. if you don't like the USPS, you can ship UPS Ground to Hawaii.

I don't know how many web sites I've gone to that only offer UPS or FedEx 2nd day air at exorbitant rates to ship me stuff.  I just don't purchase from them, when that's the case.

It ain't always us on the consumer side of your web sites that are stupid.

[a2capt]

Another option for dealing with stubborn merchants/eBay sellers:

http://www.alohaforwarding.com/

[AlphaSigOU]

Another option for dealing with stubborn merchants/eBay sellers:

http://www.alohaforwarding.com/

I use www.shipitapo.com . Never had a problem with them. Occasionally the sorters at the military post office will ship stuff to the wrong APO - and it sometimes takes a month or more to get it back!

[AirDX]

Another option for dealing with stubborn merchants/eBay sellers:

http://www.alohaforwarding.com/

Too much work on my part.  Much easier to just click the "cancel" button.

[Woodsy]

Our airplanes were ferried out here.  We got a new 182 a couple of years ago.  IIRC, we sent a guy (or two) to the factory to accept it, then fly it to California where it was fitted with ferry gear and a contract pilot flew it over the water to here.

Just curious, why did they use a contract pilot rather than a CAP pilot?

[a2capt]

There are companies that are setup to do that kind of thing ..

OTOH, if Joe CAP Member is also a ferry pilot..

[Woodsy]

There are companies that are setup to do that kind of thing ..

OTOH, if Joe CAP Member is also a ferry pilot..

Is a ferry pilot a special rating or something?  Whats the difference in that and regular cross country (except that its over water?)

[SarDragon]

There are companies that are setup to do that kind of thing ..

OTOH, if Joe CAP Member is also a ferry pilot..

Is a ferry pilot a special rating or something?  Whats the difference in that and regular cross country (except that its over water?)

It's over water. These guys do this all the time, and have the skills and experience necessary for flights out of the ordinary realm for most pilots.

[a2capt]

You're flying a modified aircraft typically, for one. For a flight like this it becomes a flying gas tank.  The seats are stripped out, a custom, single use gas tank is installed. You're launching over gross. There is no dump valve.

Interesting point on the Cessna design, the weakness is more the firewall/nose gear, rather than the lift at max gross. That's not to say a loaded up C172 won't take off like a do-do bird.

Then it's the matter of endurance. KOAK to PHNL is 2090 nm. If the aircraft does 125 kts, thats 16 hours. But it probably will be more like 100, pushing that towards 20. Or more.

You need an over-weight permit, a special air-worthiness certificate, all that installation, signing off, and such. Those are logbook entries, and stuff that CAP does not do. The flying isn't the hardest part.  Might as well just let someone else handle it. Here's an airplane, we need this over there. See you next week" ..

PHNL to KSAN is 2266 nm
PHNL to KCRQ is 2265 nm
PHNL to KRNO is 2232 nm
PHNL to KLAX is 2216 nm
PHNL to KOAK is 2090 nm
PHNL to KSEA is 2324 nm

Gotta love the Great Circle .. shorter to launch from Oakland.

[Woodsy]

Wow, with all those modifications, I'm surprised they don't just drop it on a boat and ship it.  Sounds like that would be cheaper. 

[SarDragon]

Wow, with all those modifications, I'm surprised they don't just drop it on a boat and ship it.  Sounds like that would be cheaper.

Where you gonna put it on the cargo ship? It won't fit down below unless you remove the wings, and now you've negated any cost savings. Traveling up on deck is the kiss of death. Exposure to all that salt air will cause corrosion very quickly. Cocooning it will once again negate any cost savings.

[Eclipse]

You're flying a modified aircraft typically, for one. For a flight like this it becomes a flying gas tank.  The seats are stripped out, a custom, single use gas tank is installed. You're launching over gross. There is no dump valve.

So are the seats shipped by other carrier, then?

[PHall]

You're flying a modified aircraft typically, for one. For a flight like this it becomes a flying gas tank.  The seats are stripped out, a custom, single use gas tank is installed. You're launching over gross. There is no dump valve.

So are the seats shipped by other carrier, then?

Yeah, UPS. (or FedEx, your call.)

[Private Investigator]

So basically all GA aircraft is flown over to Hawaii.

What about helicopters?

Thanks in advance   

[a2capt]

Basically, yes. It's a lot simpler to fly the aircraft, both paperwork wise, construction, and valuation wise, without a major disassembly. With a Cirrus SR20/22, the way the horizontal stabilizer is bonded to the fuselage, it can't be removed. So if you buy a new Cirrus for delivery to HI, AU,  for Pacific delivery, you have two choices. Pre-arrange the sale to include it be transported to a completion center and finished in the new domicile. They do this in Australia .. not sure about much elsewhere. It's cheaper to ferry it, in the long run. Costs about $23K to get a Cirrus from the west coast to Australia.

Helicopters OTOH, can fit in containers, be strapped to a deck plate, and transported like a car, truck, etc. with removal of the tail boom and rotors it's really not much more of a hassle, and that's how those are usually done.

Many are designed with the container width in mind and fit right in.

http://www.r44sales.com/1999ClipperIRunoutforsaleListing183H.html

Judging by the amount of ELTs we have chased down over the years that have been on aircraft in a shipping container, I'd say 8:1 rotary vs. fixed wing.  When an ELT has been located down to a shipping container it's usually just noted and allowed to go as getting in isn't as easy as the photo makes it look, above. When it's actually being shipped, it's usually full of bracing similar to how the tail boom is shown sitting on the floor in that container, and whatever else is in there since that's all dead space, the shipper usually takes advantage of whatever space and uses it. Plus the container is sealed which requires the shipper or agent to be present to open it, as the carrier doesn't want to take on the liability of "they stole this", "broke that", stepped on .. " etc.  and to get an agent on site would take more time than it's worth.

We all know the batteries are "supposed to last 48 hours" or so, and be good for "two years". But we also know that we've found 20-30 year old batteries/ELTs that have been deposited in bins .. happily chirping away, sometimes for as long as 2-3 days before they're finally located.

It's figured it will die in a few days, come back to life at some point for a little more, and .. hopefully that container is buried amidst others and nulled off in the meantime.

[bosshawk]

The unit that I was in when we deployed to VN had eight Dehaviland Beavers(boy, am I old) and we shipped them from Charleston, SC to Saigon.  They were deck-loaded on a ship, after the wings and tail were removed and all items placed in wooden shipping boxes, after being carefully(?)wrapped in watertight wrappings.  Took over a week to disassemble eight aircraft, two months on the high seas and than at least a week or two to reassemble. 

I also saw OV-1 Mohawks cocooned and deck loaded and that wasn't either cheap nor quick.

Not a simple process by any stretch of the imagination and not cheap.  Very likely quicker and cheaper to modify and ferry them to Hawaii.

[Private Investigator]

Gentlemen, thanks for sharing.