Former car salesman Cory Bengtzen launches a used airplane delivery business with two inaugural trans-global “ferry flights.” Cory’s cowboy pilots brave wild weather, take on dangerous airstrips and cover distances that these small planes were never meant to fly. He hires mechanics to rig the planes with extra fuel tanks but engine problems, fuel leaks and just bad luck threaten to put his new business on a collision course with disaster.
Cory’s new business runs into bad weather when his pilots walk off the job and he’s forced to take the controls. But that’s just half of Cory’s nightmare. He’s got two new pilots island hopping a Bonanza to Brazil with a hurricane on their tail. They’ll need a lot more than luck to tackle these odds.
After a rocky start in Macapa, Brazil, ferry flier entrepreneur Cory Bengtzen and copilot Kerry cross the Amazon rainforest. But engine trouble and power struggles make the last few legs the bumpiest yet. While up in Canada’s Northwest Territories, veteran pilot Randy McGehee readies a UN cargo plane for a 12,500 kilometre trek to war-torn South Sudan.
Cory Bengtzen hires seasoned pilots, Pete and Brad, to jockey a King Air from the UK to the U.S. But Pete, a professional air racer, is thrown off his game after witnessing a tragic accident at the Reno Air Races. He needs to regain his nerve for the dangerous North Atlantic crossing ahead. South of the equator, Cory and Randy hopscotch along a string of Carribean islands until a tense night landing threatens to trip them up.
Kerry stretches his wings when veteran pilot Marcio offers him the copilot seat in a sleek Phenom jet. The duo must ferry this jet 19,000 kilometres, from Australia to the U.S., skirting North Korean airspace with pit stops in Russia. On the other side of the globe, Cory and Randy set a thirty-year-old Bonanza on course for the darkest parts of the Amazon Jungle.
Pete is a test pilot and professional air racer while his copilot Brad has flown military operations in South America and Afghanistan - but these two are no match for a 32-year-old Cheyenne with a really bad attitude. Down south, a fellow prop jockey helps pilots Kerry and Stu navigate their way out of a Brazilian made bureaucratic maze.
Pete and Brad just can’t catch a break. The old Cheyenne is one major headache after another and now they’re running out of patience and time. Halfway around the world, Kerry and Stu battle storms, engine problems and a nasty stomach bug to ferry a single-engine Cirrus 19,000 kilometres from Singapore to the U.S.
When pilots walk, the boss gets his hands dirty. Cory and Randy are forced to take on the old run-down Cheyenne. More than 6,000 kilometres of rocky air lay ahead – from Russia to the Philippines. While high above a burning desert, pilots Stu and Kerry run into mechanical problems... in a single-engine plane...
The pilots converge in a hangar to hash out last season's most dramatic stories and a hint at what's ahead for Season 2; 18-year-old rookie pilot Claire, Kerry's daughter, is introduced.
Cory and Pete team up to deliver a Caravan to Kenya. But even before clearing the American border, a monster blizzard and some serious icing threaten to drop them out of the sky. Over in Europe, Marcio and Kerry reunite in the cockpit. But this time the roles are reversed. Kerry is in his element, flying a single engine Cirrus., while jet-loving Marcio runs into trouble with the oxygen system at high altitude.
After battling a temperamental engine over wide-open ocean, Marcio and Kerry decide it’s time to get some open water survival training. They brave the cold Icelandic water and get a reality check in surviving a ditch. Pete and Cory get their own reality check when they arrive in the Arctic sporting dress shoes and light jackets. The town’s very own super-hero, Polarman, is there to set them straight.
With almost 8,000 kilometers behind them, Pete and Cory face intense headwinds and a dwindling fuel supply. Pete challenges Cory to make the call – turn back or keep going? In Greenland, Marcio and Kerry are going nowhere fast. A bureaucratic mix-up could force them to backtrack 1,000 kilometers. While they cool their heels, Marcio the foodie reluctantly dines out on some local cuisine… whale blubber.
Kerry and Marcio are in the final stretch of an 11,000 kilometer journey. Marcio has strict orders to make it home on time to his very pregnant wife. But Kerry has other ideas, that include a pit-stop at his hunting cabin for a little downtime with his buddies and steaks on the BBQ. Over in Iceland, Pete and Cory are paying for a wild night out with the locals. They need to make up time. But Pete can’t resist an opportunity to check something off his bucket list.
Marcio is back in his element – captaining a sleek, high-tech Phenom 300 jet from Florida all the way to Singapore. The trip is long but his real challenge is dealing with his new co-pilot. Lex is just 20 years old with 700 hours under his belt and runs a thriving brokerage business. Lex is hungry to impress, but Marcio is not cutting him any slack. Over in Europe, Pete and Cory take on one of the world’s shortest AND steepest runways. Then it’s down to Africa and a tense fuel stop in war-torn Sudan before final delivery in Kenya.
Tension is thick in the cockpit between Marcio and rookie co-pilot Lex. They’ve crossed almost 7,000 km of ocean together but Lex is still no closer to earning Marcio’s respect. Lex faces another challenge when a new pilot takes Lex’s place in the cockpit. Amaury is more experienced and he’s also vying for Marcio’s seal of approval. Down in South America, Kerry has met his match – his 18–year-old daughter, Claire. She knows her way around a plane and is as bull-headed as her dad. Now, for the first time, they must work as a team to deliver a Bonanza across jungle and ocean all the way up to the U.S.
Stu and Brad team up for the first time to deliver a Beech 1900 on an epic journey from South Africa to Canada. But it’s a rocky start for both the plane and the new pilot match-up. After clearing an intense storm over the Amazon, Kerry and his daughter Claire decide to see the jungle up close with a local guide. But the survival skills they learn on the forest floor do nothing to prepare them for the trouble they get into with the Federales back at the airport.
The pilots reunite in Montreal, Canada to swap stories, clear the air and even settle some scores. The rookies get a work over and even the seasoned pros have some explaining to do about what REALLY happened out there. It’s a behind the scenes perspective on the pilots like you’ve never seen them before – and a sneak peak at what’s in store in the season’s grand finale!
Kerry worries he’ll wind up in jail after a run-in with gun-toting Federales in Brazil. Over in Malawi, Brad and Stu lose time struggling with mysterious mechanical problems on the Beech. With Africa finally behind them, it’s a tense showdown between Brad and boss Cory over fuel costs. The troubles don’t end there. For both teams, it’s a relentless race to deliver the planes to the owners on time.
