Pilots who risk their lives flying tiny planes over the Atlantic

My dad was a career U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. After returning from combat duty in the Korean War, he did a tour of duty as a ferry pilot. He made the North Atlantic crossing many times in single-engine jet fighters, often in winter. The planes usually crossed in flights of two or more aircraft. My dad said that he and his squadron mates had an informal agreement: If one of them had an engine failure, another one would get behind the troubled aircraft and try to <i>push it</i> to maintain air speed. Fortunately they never had to try it.

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hazel_Ying_Lee" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hazel_Ying_Lee</a><p>For some reason, the link sites recently carried a bunch of articles about the Chinese-American aviator Hazel Lee, who is buried in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. Her job was to deliver planes during WWII, which is notable because she flew lots of different aircraft.

I still find it hard to believe that it&#x27;s cheaper to pay someone (per the article, for transport from UK to US) $20k to <i>fly</i> your plane, than it is to dismantle and put it in a shipping container, and reassemble it on the other end.<p>Maybe I have a naive understanding of the complexity of taking a light aircraft apart? I do know though, that shipping a container from Europe to Australia (!) runs a bill of around $5k, and I can&#x27;t imagine the plane referred to in the article taking more than two containers.

If you liked this article you&#x27;d probably also enjoy the book &quot;Wind, Sand, and Stars&quot; by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It&#x27;s all about his time flying as an airmail pilot through the Alps, over the Sahara, and crossing the South Atlantic in the early 20th century.

Reminded me of Worst Place to be a Pilot <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=6jFsVRQyhlg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=6jFsVRQyhlg</a>

Very cool. Surely there are other ways to transport light aircraft though...

Reminds me of this account of ditching during a ferry flight to Hawaii:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.equipped.org&#x2F;1199ditch.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.equipped.org&#x2F;1199ditch.htm</a>

And I thought this article was going to be about ETOPS ...

This seems like an amazing job and I am a bit jealous. I often wish I&#x27;d chosen a different path in life.

I would have thought that there existed some local or international entity regulating private airplanes and their itineraries. I would assume the same way you can&#x27;t get on the highway with a bicycle or a scooter, these airplanes shouldn&#x27;t be allowed to fly over the Atlantic.