May 7th from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Northeast Philadelphia, PA

Monday, May 25th, 2009 by jeffrey | 0 Comments

Now this leg of the journey proved to be a quite challenging flight. It began early in the morning on a fog laden KOKC airport. I could see less than the full runway through the fog. I knew that I would break out of the ground layer at around 1200 feet. It was eerie to take off and in the first 10 feet of the take off to be surrounded by IMC fog.


This leg of the journey took 6 hours and and 52 minutes. Five hours and 45 minutes were dodging storm clouds and lightening…it was fun…that means I flew 5 hours 45 minutes of IMC. The distance was 1105 NM or 1271 miles.


It was fun as I dodged the storm cells looking at my Stormscope and Nexrad weather instruments. The air controllers caught on and said what are you flying? I told them it was a T182T and they came back with you have to have something more in that plane. I then informed them I had long range tanks, weather gear, oxygen, etc. They couldn’t understand what a Cessna 182 was doing up at 19,000′ flight level 190. They wanted to know if I was a pressurized aircraft.


NO, I said, I’m just sucking up a lot of oxygen…then I told them I was off to fly the North Atlantic. They asked for my website to follow me…again, that put a smile on my face. I knew I was off to do something special.


As I approached KPNE Northeast Philadelphia airport, it was surrounded by thunderstorms and they asked if I would like a visual onto the runway, as they thought they could radar vector me between the storms…NOT!


They dropped me to 2000′ where they thought I could see the runway for a visual approach…not to be…I saw the runway for a mere 3 seconds and then I was back in the clouds bouncing all over the place. The approach controllers said they would vector me over Willow Grove, PA for sequencing. I informed them that fuel was getting low so they vectored me to the ILS approach. I popped out of the clouds at around 500 feet of the runway and made a nice landing in the rain.


My cousin Mark was waiting for me and we spent a lovely afternoon in Philly eating cheese steaks and pork sandwiches. Then I met up with my friend Mark Karpo and his lovely wife Angel for authentic Chinese dinner.


In the morning I was off to pick up Don Ratliff in Charleston, South Carolina for the beginning of the North Atlantic journey.


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May 6th take off from Van Nuys, CA to Oaklahoma City, OKlahoma

Monday, May 25th, 2009 by jeffrey | 0 Comments

This day started with friends and employees seeing me off as I got ready in my hangar and then took off for Oklahoma City.  Two videos were done of this departure. One was the actual take off as it occurred filmed my Michelle on her little camera, the second video was taken by Kenny who added some footage from a previous flight to add a touch of drama and a pilot’s perspective.


Michelle’s video,  Kenny’s video.


As I ran up the engine at the end of the taxiway the tower controllers said, “You do have long range tanks don’t you?” I smiled and said yes and that I was off to fly the North Atlantic…they were impressed. Normally a T182T could not fly the leg distance from Van Nuys to Oklahoma.


This leg of the journey was 1030 nautical miles or 1184 miles. It took me 6 hour 35 minutes to get there. It was a lovely uneventful flight.


I was pooped when I landed so I spent the night and took off in the morning


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What didn’t work and problems on our flights to and from Leeds, England

Monday, May 25th, 2009 by jeffrey | 0 Comments

Before I start telling you about each leg of the flight, it’s joys and tribulations, I thought I would list our equipment failures which are amazing  and numerous.



  • No chart data for North Atlantic and Central Europe…fixed before leaving Goose Bay, Canada

  • No navigational data for the Garmin 1000 past Canada…not fixed yet

  • Localizer failure in Kevlavik, Iceland and beyond

  • GPS failures…about 15 of them

  • Video camera failure

  • EOS Cannon camera failure

  • Electronic flight bag failure (EFB) of the GPS but at least we had navigational data there

  • Icing numerous times as much as 1/2 inch for 3 hours at 5000 feet from Greenland to Canada

  • Leeds, England Cessna dealer after being called ahead would not fix our Garmin nor oil change


Except for those failures it was indeed a phenomenal journey :-)


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Don Ratliff’s opinion of Jeff Miller’s flight across the North Atlantic

Monday, May 25th, 2009 by jeffrey | 0 Comments

During this holiday weekend I have had some time to think about my fabulous trip to Europe with my new found friend Jeff Miller in his superbly equipped late model Cessna T182.


Let me begin by saying that I learned a lot about Jeff, starting from the very first day we spoke about the trip, and continuing on through the trip itself.


Some things I learned about Jeff.


He is quick to learn anything new about aviation.


He is eager to learn anything new about his equipment or aviation in general.


Jeff has a quick mind, somewhat like a dry sponge, he soaks up new information instantly.


He is eager to learn anything that will improve safety.


He listens well.


He offers suggestions that are helpful.


He takes constructive criticism well.


He has a talent for being a good, safe, well educated pilot.


He uses his check lists well.


Jeff learned that even if you don’t have a database in your GPS for the route to be flown, you can do it safely with the “user” database, as we did when GPS first came on the scene some 18 to 19 years ago.


He adapts to a new environment quickly and works well within that environment. I am talking about the North Atlantic position reporting and working with controllers in Europe who have an “accent” and may use slightly different, or sometimes very different terminology, an example would be a request to ” pass your message”, term very common in the UK.


It was not all a one sided learning experience. I learned a few things from Jeff myself about the G1000 glass panels that I have not taken the time to learn previously. Just a little “fine tuning”. And I have flown 50 or more glass panel aircraft across the North Atlantic.


It was a very pleasant experience for me, getting to watch someone who is truly committed to doing the best, and safest job possible in a new and different environment. I know that Jeff with continue in his learning process as he undertakes new challenges in the world of general aviation. And I am sure we will be taking another trip sometime as Jeff moves up the ladder of general aviation with more complicated, faster and higher flying equipment.


We discussed my idea of leasing a King Air 200, repositioning it to Hawaii and inviting three “honeymoon couples” or couples, of any age, who would want to experience the thrill of flying around the globe island hopping to such exotic places as Christmas Island, American Samoa, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, Brisbane, Alice Springs, Perth, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, The Maldives, Muscat, Dubai, Malta, Barcelona and the Azores.


Best regards

Don Ratliff


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A global perspective of lessons learned.

Friday, May 22nd, 2009 by jeffrey | 3 Comments

The totality of this experience is so immense that it appears I must start first with the global then to the specific.


What have I learned?


How to prepare Miss Behavin’ for the journey.

How to prepare myself for the journey.

What I did not prepare for properly.

How much equipment can fail on one journey.

How to pack Miss Behavin’ (which I did not do correctly).

How to prepare for survival and ditching (I give myself a C+)

How to clear customs.

How to “Pass my message” a way to tell the different European controllers what I’m doing.

How to give position reports when crossing the Atlantic where radar is not available.

How to and not to deal with icing.

How to get somewhere when your plane’s navigational data fails.

How to relieve ones self during a very long flight (there are many wrong ways :-))

How to deal with airport agents who file your flight plan and give you weather reports overseas.

How to flush the toilet in various countries (not so obvious).

How expensive fuel can be ($20/gallon in Greenland vice $4 plus change in the US)

How to use a High Frequency radio (HF)  for communicating out of VHF range.

How important topping off your fuel tanks are for safe flight.

How tiring and  cumulative many days of flying  wear on you.

How to keep my cool during aviation emergencies (I’m pretty cool there, Vietnam taught me that)

How alone you are when crossing the Atlantic in a single engine plane.

How to safely land in utterly difficult landing environments.

How the economies across the world are just like ours.

How much I missed my friends and my cat Spooky.

How nice it is to be a world away from my business.

How to have my plane de-iced in Canada.

How to pump fuel into Miss Behavin’ from 55 gallon barrels.

How great Arctic Radio is during a crisis (flying back from Greenland to Iqaluit, Canada)

How the northern most latitudes appear to effect Miss Behavin’s navigational equipment (magnetic north).

How not making lists effected the ease of my journey.

How it feels to become a single engine international pilot.


As you can see I have many lessons…and many more not mentioned.


Stay tuned…


Filed under: Jeff's Comments

Intense, Immense, Life Threatening, Life Saving…WAY COOL!

Friday, May 22nd, 2009 by jeffrey | 1 Comments

These words penned by a poet I don’t remember say it all so beautifully:


From the beginning of a journey

To a trip to the moon

To the start of thing to come

A journey to remember

Till the end of time

To the beginning…


This journey was so intense because of it’s required focus on detail and flying and lessons learned.


This journey was immense due to it’s scope and distance.


This journey was life threatening due to 3 to 4 intense, immense problems (I’ll write more later on this).


This journey was life saving because it refreshed my soul and made me feel alive.


This journey was WAY COOL as I will describe in future posts real soon.


Filed under: Jeff's Comments

Heading Home…

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 by Lisa | 2 Comments

Just a quick update…I spoke with Jeff at about 8:00 o’clock this morning. Yesterday he landed safely back in the USA in Bangor, Maine. Today he is flying back in our direction heading for home in California. We will continue to track Jeff on his journey home and we are all looking so forward to Jeff’s safe return.


Anxiously awaiting,


Lisa


Filed under: Team Miss Behavin's Thoughts

Don Ratliff Ferry Pilot and Jeff Miller relaxing at the Northern Light Inn Keflavik, Iceland

Sunday, May 17th, 2009 by jeffrey | 2 Comments

Well Don and I have finally gotten a little rest. We’ve spent a day and a night relaxing in the beautiful weather in Keflavik. Don says this is rare to be in Iceland without clouds and have warm weather too.


Let me tell you a little about my new friend and mentor Don Ratliff who is officially the CEO of American King Air Services. This guy has been ferrying every kind of plane you can think of all over the world. Don’s delivering a Piper Matrix to Poland in a few weeks and he’s asked me to join him. I’m thinking about it.


I’ve been asking Don a million questions on this trip…what kind of plane would be best for me next…how do you decide if a used plane is okay, how do you check the engine over, how many cycles of landing gear is okay, should you bore scope an engine when buying it, how do you give a position report in Europe or Canada when necessary, how about pressurized aircraft instead of using oxygen, what about ferry tanks, the difference of crossing the Atlantic in a twin engine or single engine, about just about everything.


Don has some really interesting ideas about taking a King Air over to Hawaii and then taking three couples around the world stopping at places like Samoa, Singapore, Palau, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Dubai, Cairo, Cannes, Paris and who knows where else.


Don wants to show his new friends the world as he sees it. He’s also willing to teach the art of ferry piloting to those who want to learn.


You know you don’t have to just ferry a plane you can containerize it and ship it on a boat. He’ll tell you the pros and cons of that.


What I like most about Don is that he knows the answers to most questions about flying, ferrying, containerizing and inspecting airplanes.


He’s got me interested in switching Miss Behavin’ for a Piper Malibu Mirage that is pressurized, it flys at 25,000 feet, cruises at 215 to 225 knots and is a little more expensive than Miss Behavin’.


Don’s given me a great idea on how to sell Miss Behavin’ my sweet T182T for more money than the market will bear in the United States by selling it in Poland, South Africa, Kenya or somewhere else in the world…and the buyers will pay for the ferry costs.


Don will soon be blogging and sharing his knowledge about all matters of planes on his site.


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The Journey home begins…

Saturday, May 16th, 2009 by Lisa | 0 Comments

I spoke with Jeff at 5:30 this morning, once again from a high altitude, in the middle of nowhere while flying over the North Atlantic Ocean heading towards Iceland. Jeff and Don are only about 1 hour out and they are anticipating a much smoother landing this time as the weather is being more cooperative!!! They will have to stay for 2 days as the airport in Iceland is not open on Sundays.


Jeff sounds terrific and is no doubt thrilled with the experiences of his journey. He expects to be back home in California in about 4-5 days (give or take a day or two).


Keep watching spidertracks to follow the journey home! More updates to come as we hear from Jeff.


Lisa


Filed under: Team Miss Behavin's Thoughts

Jeff Miller…Adventurer!

Friday, May 15th, 2009 by Spooky | 5 Comments


Filed under: Spidertracks Descriptions
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