Tag Archives: Meridian

Fly a Turboprop PIC to Sarasota, FL Saturday 2/9/13

Piper Malibu Meridian

Fly a turboprop to Florida as PIC with free instruction.

Log hours of turboprop time in the left seat of a Piper Malibu Meridian as pilot-in-command (PIC).

This opportunity comes this Saturday 2/9/13. Fly all the way to Sarasota, Florida for just the cost of the airplane. EFA CFI Dr. Arnold Sperling will not charge for flight instruction.

The return flight is also available on Sunday 2/24/13. Act soon to reserve your spot!

Contact Dr. Sperling directly at 781-259-0598 or send him an email.

A Piper Malibu Meridian Panel

That looks fun.

New Turboprop Transition and Introduction/High Altitude Courses Offered

Dr. Arnold Sperling and his Piper Meridian

Brand new turboprop courses offered at EFA!

Executive Flyers Aviation is thrilled to announce an entirely new element to our diverse flight training suite.

We exist to help our clients live their passion for flight. For some, that includes turboprop ownership or a career flying turbine aircraft. However, no flight school in the region has offered a non-simulator turboprop transition program. We are proud to fill this void.

Executive Flyers Aviation now offers a Turboprop Introduction Course that includes a high altitude endorsement and a full Turboprop Transition Course accepted by most insurance companies.

Both are taught by Dr. Arnold Sperling (Sr. AME, ATP, CFI/CFII/MEI). They include thorough ground training and PIC flight time in Dr. Sperling’s Piper Malibu Meridian PA-46 500TP.

We remain committed to providing the best flight training and customer service in New England. Keep telling us your dreams. We’ll keep listening.

The Trip of a Lifetime – Ferrying a Piper Meridian to Australia

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One pilot’s dream: flying a Piper Meridian halfway around the world.

Pilots dream about that one adventure, that one bucket-list flight they’d drop everything to take.

We interviewed Dr. Arnold Sperling, a long-time friend of Executive Flyers, after his trip-of-a-lifetime. He recently ferried a piston-powered Piper Meridian from Hanscom Field (KBED) in Bedford, Massachusetts to Melbourne, Australia…going East.

Co-pilot of a Piper Meridian

Indonesian customs officials process Sperling’s paperwork

Sperling’s journey began with mountains of paperwork. Innumerable customs documents were required for the ten-nation voyage. He also used a third party flight planning firm called Air Journey. Some clearances took as long as a week to process.

Next, Sperling needed an extended-range tank. He flew the Meridian from Bedford, Massachusetts to Tracy, California where the tank was installed by Skyview Aviation. Then, it was back to Bedford and on to the real journey, which would take Sperling and his friend Mike Groff across five continents.

Their first stop was St. John’s International (CYYT) in Newfoundland, the traditional last stop for small aircraft about to cross the Atlantic. They got snowed in for a day before their leg to the Portuguese Azores (LPAZ).

Sperling and Groff made a stopover in Ibiza (LEIB) off the eastern coast of mainland Spain before crossing the Mediterranean. They landed at Luxor International Airport (HELX) in Egypt where one gallon of 100LL costs $20.

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Sightseeing in the mountains of Oman.

The next leg terminated at Oman’s Muscat International (OOMS) near the eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Sperling and Groff took a day off to do some sightseeing. They visited the mountains before setting off across the Indian Ocean.

They landed in Colombo (VCBI), the capital city of Sri Lanka. The island nation lies just off the southeast coast of India. After some more sightseeing, it was on to Singapore (WSSL) and El Tari airport (WATT) in Kupang, Indonesia.

Clinic beds in Indonesia

Medical facilities in southern Indonesia.

Dr. Sperling took some time to visit local medical clinics. While fairly typical of much of the developing world, they certainly lacked much of the medical infrastructure many of us take for granted.

The next leg took Sperling and Groff to Darwin International Airport (YPDN) in Northern Australia. Sperling found Australia exceptionally friendly to pilots. There is a legal mechanism making it relatively simple to transfer FAA privileges to the Australian airspace system. Renting an airplane during an Australian vacation sounds fantastic!

Sperling and Groff refueled in Alice Springs (YBAS) near the middle of the country before concluding their adventure at Moorabbin Airport (YMMB) near Melbourne, Australia. The entire adventure covered almost 13,500nm in two weeks.

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One pilot’s trip of a lifetime.

We are impressed with Dr. Sperling’s airmanship. The journey needed lots of planning, stamina, knowledge of regulations and skill, but the return on his investment is a string of memories and stories he will enjoy for a lifetime.

Flying makes the whole world small enough to explore. Sperling’s international adventure reminds pilots everywhere that, for us, the sky has no limits.


Josh Smith is a blogger at Executive Flyers Aviation, a leading flight school in the Boston area.