Chapter 14 - No deregistration and still here

ICAO regulations are that an aircraft cannot be registered in two countries at the same time. Saratoga N6PL must be deregistered by FAA before it can be registered in Australia by CASA. After it is registered in Australia we need to get an Australian Ferry Permit. We were advise by our agent that deregistration would probably occur in the first week of January but we are still waiting and don't know why.

However, the weather has been terrible in Los Angeles and the headwinds have been impossible, so whether or not we have completed all the necessary documentation and received all the necessary permits, we aren't going anywhere. The earliest we could have the Ferry Permit would be Wednesday 27th but even that is optimistic.

Ray Clamback is in LA and has reported that the rain matches monsoonal downpours in the tropics. The winds have been averaging around 35 knots across to Hawaii.

Looking at the weather west of the US mainland there have been towering cumulus to 40,000', and Kiribati and Pago Pago having thunderstorms. All of which amounts to perfectly good reasons to go nowhere.


N6PL has been fitted with the fuel bladders and has also been fitted with HF radio to enable us to remain in contact with air traffic controllers.

When we are ready to go, the aircraft will be flown from Torrance Airport which is about 8 NM south of LAX to Santa Maria airport which is a further 116 NM north and close to Vandenberg Air Force Base. The runway is 6304 feet (1922 metres) long. It is long enough to get off 30% over maximum weight, the surrounding area is flat with minimum population under the take off path (obviously for safety reasons we won't talk about). Lyn, from past experience, reckons we will have the wheels off the ground by about 2/3 rd of the way down the runway and will then climb slowly down the valley.

Our initial clearance is likely to be 'runway 30 Obstacle Departure to Morro Bay then as filed, 3000' expect 8000', 10 minutes after departure'. Our initial track will take us roughly south west to DINTY intersection and then on the Santa Barbara to Hilo airway.


The first leg to Hilo, Hawaii is 2061 nm which we expect will take around 13 hours nil wind.