Ferry pilot tells tales from dangerous flying career

ALEXANDRIA Minn When Kerry McCauley learned about ferry pilots from a friend of his he thought it sounded like the coolest job in the world I vowed right then that I had to become a ferry pilot because that is what I required to be McCauley announced McCauley then spent years of his life as an international ferry pilot flying more than different airplanes and logging around hours If you ve got an airplane that s in one part of the world or country and it demands to go to the other part that s where you would get a ferry pilot McCauley announced My particular specialty is international ferry flying Basically if somebody has an airplane that s in Alexandria and somebody in Singapore buys it and the new owner isn t stupid enough to fly a small single-engine airplane over the ocean you need to find somebody stupid enough Kerry McCauley left spoke at an event hosted by Alexandria Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter on Nov at the Alexandria Technical and Neighborhood College Next to him is Josh Schafer president of the organization Celeste Edenloff Alexandria Echo Press And McCauley stated he was stupid enough Minnesota native McCauley spoke on Nov to a full auditorium at the Alexandria Technical and Neighborhood College in Alexandria Minnesota He shared several stories about his time as a ferry pilot particular of which can be uncovered in the two books he authored Fairy Pilot Nine Lives Over the North Atlantic and Dangerous Flights What Could Possibly Go Wrong At a young age he announced he sort of started seeking out dangerous things Just like learning a new language or learning how to ski or something else McCauley revealed the earlier you start it the better you become I started really early and I started having a lot of crazy stuff happen to me so I kind of fed into that sort of stuff McCauley reported I learned to take the fear and the panic in a situation and just set it aside I m going to deal with that later Right now I ve got a challenge to solve and then I just kind of get going on the trouble because you never know you just might get lucky McCauley announced his friend s dad owned an international aircraft delivery company that was based out of St Paul He ended up talking to the man and a bunch of other ferry pilots at a wedding McCauley reported he convinced his friend s dad to hire him and he got the job The process to become a ferry pilot took him about three years he declared A great way to start his career For his first flight he was petitioned to go to Portugal His response Like over the ocean He was described yes that is what the job of being a ferry pilot is His response Oh you re going to have me ride with somebody and learn the ropes He was described that he would be flying alone However his boss would be with him but he would be flying in another plane Kerry McCauley left an international ferry pilot and a friend of his next to a Thai Regional Airlines airplane Courtesy of Kerry McCauley I hadn t even flown over Lake Michigan at this point in my career announced McCauley adding I was pretty intimidated right off the bat He explained it wasn t as dangerous as it sounded because they were to start in St Paul and first fly to Bangor Maine Next they would fly to St John s Newfoundland which he commented is at the easternmost point of Canada The next morning they would take a long -mile flight to the Azores a small cluster of islands out in the middle of the North Atlantic When I was sitting on the end of the runway and getting ready to go for the -mile trek the nerves started going declared McCauley adding that he totally understood what his boss had communicated him His boss noted that a lot of ferry pilots when they get to that point of their first trip they lose their nerves and taxi back shut the plane down leave the keys in it and jump on the next flight out of there I was saying No not me But I was too stupid to do something smart like that so I took off he explained As soon as I took off I realized I made the best move of my life It was awesome Inevitably have your survival kit McCauley shared several stories of things that went wrong especially in the beginning before GPS was invented He disclosed he was just like Charles Lindbergh with nothing but a map and a compass He did eight trips before eventually having GPS capabilities As a self-described survival nut McCauley disclosed he would customize his survival kits for each flight If he was going to be overcoming a large forest he would have a forest survival kit If was going to be overcoming large bodies of cold water he would have his ocean survival kit And then if he was going to be passing a vast desert he would need desert survival gear or when traveling over a jungle he would have his jungle survival kit If you crash on land these days eventually someone is going to find you and you apparently won t starve to death he commented But if you go down in water that s a whole different story because you might die instantly When navigating water McCauley noted he would wear a survival suit which is a thick neoprene suit that zipped up all the way and the only thing showing was your face Inside the suit he would make sure to have his handheld radio GPS signal flares or laser pointer strobe light extra water maybe a little bit of food and possibly a flask for morale purposes How dangerous is it really He gets a lot of questions about if ferry flying is really that dangerous When he first started in the s he explained they would lose about three airplanes and three pilots a year He got his job because there was an opening and not in a good way So yes it s pretty dangerous he announced There ve been a lot of planes that I have flown that were pieces of junk that I apparently shouldn t have been flying But that s what leads to adventure And it s one of the things I love about being a ferry pilot It s awesome McCauley announced being a ferry pilot has provided him so multiple opportunities flying low over the African savanna over Greenland ice caps and so multiple more places He reported the best way to see the world is in a small airplane There s nothing like flying in a small airplane he announced You just get to do certain of the bulk amazing things that you don t really get a chance to do in any other circumstances And maybe one of the the majority amazing times he has ever had was when he got to buzz the pyramids in Egypt not once not twice but three times Perfect for a ferry pilot Besides being an author and pilot McCauley is also a skydiver and has done more than jumps He was on a Discovery Channel TV show called Dangerous Flights Those videos and more can be detected on his YouTube channel youtube com KerryDMcCauley videos Both of his books are available on Amazon Related Articles Falling tree kills northeastern Minnesota man clearing snow after storm Minneapolis man gets years for fatal shooting while on the run Gov Tim Walz presents Gru Minnesota s Thanksgiving turkey 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