Question: When an airline purchases a small or regional jet from another country, how does it get to the airline? An example would be if an Australian airline bought an Airbus A319 (manufactured in France) or an Embraer ERJ (from Brazil), how would they get the plane to a place outside of its service range?
-- submitted by reader Jeremy, Arlington, Mass.
Answer: There are routes that can be flown to most locations using the range of the airplane. In your example, the flight would be across Asia then down to Australia. If there are legs that require longer range, then extra fuel is carried in temporary tanks installed for the ferry flight.
Q: Regarding the column, Is a 737 too small to fly over an ocean?, where are the "diversion" airfields on a flight to Hawaii?
-- Thomas Barr, Burlington Wis.
A: Most of the Hawaiian islands have airports on them. These airports are alternate airports for each other. On a flight from the mainland, the equal time point is calculated to provide the crew knowledge where the nearest airport is located.
If your question is to make the point that it can be a long distance between airports when flying between Hawaii and the mainland, you are correct. Fortunately, modern jets are so reliable that we can fly such challenging legs safely.
Q: How do they determine the weight of a plane?
-- John, N.H.
A: Airplanes are weighed when they are new and every few years thereafter. The weight and balance is determined by adding known (or standard values) for passengers, cargo, fuel and any other payload. The sum is the weight of the airplane.
John Cox is a retired airline captain with U.S. Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems.