Ferry flight from Duluth to Australia

N142CD left Duluth on 12th May, 2000 en-route to Brisbane, Australia.



The ferry pilot, New Zealander Robin Leach, was accompanied by Bill Marvel for the first leg of the journey. Bill wrote about the trip to Duluth, the factory tour, and the trip to Hayward CA.

After a couple of weeks delay in Hayward (see below) Rob Leach departed Oakland for Honolulu on the morning of Sunday, June 18. He arrived in Honolulu about 14 hours later. The flight was uneventful except for the rear (#2) alternator failing.

The compression was checked in Honolulu and found to be excellent. The alternator was checked and found to be OK - the fault is apparently some intermittent fault or adjustment required in the master control unit. This will be investigated later. For now, cycling the alternator seems to fix it.

Rob flew Honolulu to Christmas Island on Wednesday. The flight was long, 8 hours, but uneventful. Next leg is to Pago Pago.

On 25th June, 2000, N142CD landed at Archerfield airport, at around 4pm local time. A crowd of about 30 people were waiting, and champagne was broken out to celebrate.

The ferry route:


KDLHDuluth
KPIRPierre370 nm
KPUBPueblo412 nm
KCYSCheyenne173 nm
KOGDOgden325 nm
KLWLWells132 nm
KHWDHayward393 nm
KOAKOakland6 nm
PHNLHonolulu2089 nm
PLCHChristmas Island1161 nm
NSTUPago Pago1261 nm
YSNFNorfolk Island1477 nm
YBBNBrisbane789 nm
YBAFArcherfield13 nm

Problems

The aircraft was delayed in Hayward for several reasons; tanking (as first of type) took longer than expected, an FAA paperwork shuffle ensued (due to the plane being owned by an Australian corporation, flown by a New Zealand pilot but on an American registration).

The major delay was due to engine problems; a compression check revealed 4 cylinders with low compression (3 with very low). Three cylinders were removed and sent to Teledyne Continental Motors for inspection. They reported that the cylinders were undamaged, but had fuel deposits in the valve seats. They authorized fitting three new cylinders.

Unhappy with this result, we arranged for inspection of the other three cylinders by a third party. This showed that the cylinders had been overheated and the valves burnt. TCM then, with Cirrus Design's encouragement and assistance, provided a new engine. This was fitted, then inspected by a Cirrus Design technician, and test flown by a Cirrus factory pilot, with very satisfactory results (all cylinders show excellent compression).

The exact cause of the engine problems is not yet clear, except that at some point in its (short) history, it appears to have been operated at high power and lean mixture. No possible explanation has yet been identified.