Airplane Ferried To SA By Elite Pilot Service

Arnold Pistorius recently completed construction of his Lancair Evolution in Redmond, Oregon. But getting his airplane home was more than a matter than just jumping in and heading to his local airport. Pistorius lives in Pretoria, South Africa.

Such a flight is not to be taken lightly, for obvious reasons. It's a long way across a big ocean in a new airplane. According to a news release, Pistorius chose Elite Pilot Services based in Bend, Oregon to fly his airplane home for him. Elite Pilot Services was formed to service the growing Evolution ownership with Test Flying, Phase 1 Flying, Training, and Ferry services.

But even for EPS pilots Bob Jeffrey and David Robinson, a flight from Redmond to Pretoria was an “epic” journey. Departing Redmond on Oct. 23, 2012 with Bob Jeffrey at the controls, Evolution N122AP headed East and South for over 13,000 miles for just under 60 flight hours. Their route took them from Canada across the North Atlantic to Switzerland where Bob picked up pilot David Robinson. They continued on to Spain and then south along the east coast of Africa.

In all, there were 25 landings in 18 countries. Outside temperatures ranged from -50c to hot, and they encountered weather conditions ranging from 140 knot tailwinds and icing  to low ceilings which had to be waited out and thunderstorms to be dodged along the way.

Arnold’s PT6-powered Lancair Evolution performed flawlessly, with zero maintenance issues for the entire trip, which ended in Pretoria, South Africa on Nov 16, 2012.

(Image provided by Elite Pilot Services)

FMI: www.elitepilotservices.com/blog/