I’m looking a transatlantic flight in 2007 to that end I’ve been looking for a ferry tank to use in my PA28-140.

After some serious research and help from everyone on this forum I found a great tank.

It's a 66 gallon Turtle Pack, heavy duty collapsible fabric.
Total weight empty is 11lbs and it collapses to the size of a shoe box when empty.

[www.turtlepac.com]

It would sit where the rear seats are and at an arm of 117.

With full fuel in the mains and ferry tank I’m well within the CofG at 93” as I burn fuel off from the main tanks my CofG actually gets better, it moves up to around 92” so CofG is good!

With the CofG being good this means that I can pump from the ferry tank directly into one of my mains thus requiring far less plumping then I originally thought.

Most mechanics are not familiar with installing ferry tanks so I’m going to try and get some advice before bringing my plane into a shop.

***Question 1, is anyone familiar enough with the PA28 fuel system to recommend the easiest way to pump fuel from the ferry tank into a main tank? Basically I’m just looking for an inlet into the tank.

Would something like adding a T-section into the existing line and back pumping into the main tank work? Is it a good idea or would there be issues? The other idea that comes to mind is taping a new inlet hole near the top of the tank but this would require removing the tank and having to clean out any metal filings afterwards.


With my current BEW of 1389.1 and pilot weight at 145 lbs I would be 91 lbs over gross if I took off with full fuel. This would mean I would have to get a ferry permit.

***Question 2. Can I avoid a ferry permit by keeping the fuel level below 200lbs. so as not to be over the max weight for the baggage compartment and be under BEW?

***Question 3. If I get a limited STC just for the plumbing, legally can I use the tank without any further engineering so long as I keep the weight below 200 lbs in the rear seats? I’m thinking this should be legal as the ferry tank is clearly an easily removable item and not a permanent fixture of the plane.

kevinsky18

Have you also taken into consideration the added weight of survival gear, etc? Just curious, why would you want to try a transatlantic crossing in a 140?

If I recall correctly, installing an extended range fuel tank can be done via a field approval using a 337. Your A&P and your FSDO are the place to start on something as critical as this.

The link I gave is to a .pdf copy of "North Atlantic International General Aviation Operations Manual". This outlines the requirments for crossing the North Atlantic at low altitude. You must pass an inspection in Canada prior to starting out and they check you over well. I pulled everything I could out, seats, radios, carpet... got down to an acceptable take-off weight with enough fuel to bypass Iceland. Often they will allow as much as a 30% overload on take-off for ferry flights and you just can't belive how nice a 4,000 lb Archer flies.

Kev - I wish you all the luck, I like way out ideas. Sounds like one heck of an adventure. I know that there have been a number of Archers that have been flown for delivery overseas (all the way to Egypt in fact). That said, there are still a lot of people on Mt. Everest that did not come back down.

Frank.