Bermuda?

[Ernie Martin]

I agree about the briefing, and I've modified the Ditching page to include it.

Ernie

[tropical]

Flying to Bermuda takes very careful preflight planning. Recheck your distance, it is further than 3 hours in a Skymaster.

You also need to figure "point of no return", the point along the route you make the decision to continue to Bermuda or turn around and return to the mainland in the event of a problem. Depending upon winds it's not necessarily at the half way point.

[rhurt]

572 nm from Billy Mitchell, so it is more like 3:45. That leaves 2:15 reserve with standard tanks and puts the point of no return that much closer. It had been a while since I checked the numbers and my memory was optimistic.

That feels a little different than 3 out of 6.

[Ernie Martin]

If you have confidence in your aircraft and take the proper precautions, it's still a piece of cake. Go for it.

Ernie

[tropical]

Originally Posted by rhurt

572 nm from Billy Mitchell, so it is more like 3:45. That leaves 2:15 reserve with standard tanks and puts the point of no return that much closer. It had been a while since I checked the numbers and my memory was optimistic.

That feels a little different than 3 out of 6.

And that's no wind. Place the proper contingencies for wind change and now the equation get's tighter. The PNR can get dicey if not computed correctly. For extended overwater trips you must continually be monitoring your conditions and updating contingencies as needed.

Also remember you will be out of VHF range for communications.

The Bermuda trip is interesting because there is nothing between here and there, so no diversion points. Even when I was flying for the airline we had special considerations for flying out to Bermuda.

[Guy Paris]

Back in the 1970's I did a few Bermuda trips as co-pilot on the B727. Back then we used the ADF off of ACK then there was a dead area both nav and comm until we could pick up something at Bermuda. As I recall we carried enough fuel for the trip plus enough to return to the main land in the event that we could not land be it wx or runway closure. Gosh how did we do it without Loran or GPS!
Guy, the old 72 driver....

[Ernie Martin]

For those concerned about this Bermuda trip -- 4 hours on a twin, in sunny weather, with GPS and 2 hours of fuel margin -- ask yourself if you'd rather be flying at night on a single over mountainous terrain, something which people do all the time.

Given the twin engines over water, a ditching is hugely unlikely, but if I have to ditch I like the stats that ditching has ~ 95% survival rate. Maybe it's because I'm constantly flying over water, but I'd much rather do the Bermuda trip than fly a single at night over the Rockies.

Ernie

[tropical]

Originally Posted by Ernie Martin

For those concerned about this Bermuda trip -- 4 hours on a twin, in sunny weather, with GPS and 2 hours of fuel margin -- ask yourself if you'd rather be flying at night on a single over mountainous terrain, something which people do all the time.

Given the twin engines over water, a ditching is hugely unlikely, but if I have to ditch I like the stats that ditching has ~ 95% survival rate. Maybe it's because I'm constantly flying over water, but I'd much rather do the Bermuda trip than fly a single at night over the Rockies.

Ernie

You are use to flying throughout the Bahamas which has many landing points usually within 30 minutes or so of most routes and you're usually never out of site of land. What makes Bermuda "different" is it's almost 600 miles of open water with no diversion points, lack of VHF communications for a huge part of the trip. It takes due diligence to plan and execute a trip like this.