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Tom Lopes flew a 2018 Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP on a ferry flight between California to Hawai’i. He flew the small single-engine general aviation aircraft an incredible 2,425 miles over more than 17 hours over the Pacific Ocean to the aircraft’s new home. This feat is even more mind-blowing when you learn that this was a nonstop flight that was more than three times the normal range of the aircraft. Here’s how Lopes did it.
Perhaps the coolest part about this journey is the fact that it’s something that Lopes has done before. Tom Lopes, the owner of Gateway Air Center, is a ferry pilot. He’s the guy you hire when you’ve just purchased a plane from somewhere far away and you want it delivered to where your home base is. Two years ago, Lopes flew the same crazy journey we’re talking about today. Lopes flew a different Cessna 172 between Merced Regional Airport/Macready Field in Merced, California, and the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawai’i. I wrote about that trip two years ago and it took Lopes over 18 hours to fly the little plane 2,521 miles, or 2,190 nautical miles.