Definition
A special flight permit issued by the FAA that authorizes an aircraft not currently meeting applicable airworthiness requirements to be flown to a location where repairs, alterations, maintenance, or storage can be carried out. The permit is issued under specific operating limitations that may include route, altitude, weather minimums, crew, and prohibition on carrying passengers or cargo for hire.
Plain English
Official FAA permission to fly an aircraft that is not currently legal to fly — usually because it needs repairs — so it can be flown to the place where the work will be done. The permit comes with strict rules about how, where, and when the flight can happen.
Context Anchor
Used when an aircraft needs to be moved for maintenance, inspection, delivery, storage, or another approved purpose even though it cannot be flown normally under its usual approval.
Derivation
From the older sense of 'ferry' meaning to transport something across — in aviation, to move an aircraft from one place to another for delivery, repair, or repositioning rather than for normal use. A ferry permit is the legal paperwork allowing such a flight when the aircraft would otherwise be grounded.
Why Pilots Care
It provides a legal way to reposition an aircraft that would otherwise be grounded, preventing violations while allowing necessary maintenance to occur.
Intuition Check
Do not assume a ferry permit means the aircraft is fully airworthy for normal use. It means the aircraft has limited approval for a specific flight under stated conditions.
Example Sentence 1
After the annual inspection revealed corrosion, the owner obtained a ferry permit to fly the airplane to a repair shop two states away.
Example Sentence 2
Before departure the pilot reviewed the operating limitations printed on the ferry permit.