by "ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
Published 11/16/2017 at 12:35
by "ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
Published 11/16/2017 at 12:35
Tags: wingspan
; Planelopnik
STARS: 11
On January 1, 1914, a Benoist XIV floatplane made the world’s first scheduled commercial airplane flight from Tampa to St. Petersburg, Florida, covering a distance of 21 miles in 23 minutes. Today, airliners make non-stop trips that cover a third of the globe. But which commercial flight is the longest in the world?
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Determining the longest flight can be a bit tricky, since there are different ways to measure it. You can count the total miles covered over the ground in a
great-circle
route, but some flights deviate from the great-circle to take advantage of tailwinds that shorten the flight time. The airliner flies more total miles, but covers fewer great-circle miles over the Earth. You can also measure the length of the flight in simple hours and minutes, but that can change from flight to flight depending on weather conditions or other factors.
At the moment, the longest flight in both great-circle miles and hours is Qatar Airways Flight 921, which flies from Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar to Auckland Airport in Auckland, New Zealand. QR 921 covers 9,033 statute miles (14,538 kilometers) and has a scheduled flight time of approximately 17 hours and 30 minutes at a speed of about 550 mph. Qatar Airways uses a Boeing 777-200LR for the flight, but will eventually switch to an Airbus A350 XWB .
The second and third place flights are both made by an Airbus A380-800 , and are flown by Emirates (Flight 449) from Dubai, UAE to Auckland (8,824 statute miles, 14,200 kilometers) and Qantas (Flight 8) from Sydney, Australia to Dallas, Texas, (8,578 statute miles, 13,804 kilometers), and each take about 17 hours to reach their destination.
Though Qatar 921 is the longest at the moment, it is not the longest of all time. In 2005, a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 777-200LR flew non-stop eastward (instead of westward) from Hong Kong to London Heathrow, a distance of 21,602 kilometers, or 13,422 statute miles, a flight which lasted 22 hours and 22 minutes (some accounts list a slightly longer flight time). There were eight pilots on the flight, but only 27 passengers. And Qantas is hoping to inaugurate service from Sydney, Australia to London Heathrow, a distance of 17,016 km or 10,573 statute miles. Qantas used to fly that route in the 1940s, the so-called Kangaroo Route, but that trip took four days and made six stops for fuel. Their proposed service would make the same trip in about 20 hours.
Flight distances determined and maps created using
Great Circle Mapper
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If you enjoyed this post, please join in the conversation and let me know. For more posts about airplanes, aviation history and aircraft oddities, head over to
Wingspan
.
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"Jcarr" (jcarr)
11/16/2017 at 12:48, STARS: 2
Correction: This flight took 1000 years.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
11/16/2017 at 12:48, STARS: 2
Those planes had better be specially equipped to have no middle seats. I don’t care if they need to put four aisles in them.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
11/16/2017 at 12:49, STARS: 1
At the moment, the longest flight in both great-circle miles and hours
is Qatar Airways Flight 921, which flies from Hamad International
Airport in Doha, Qatar to Auckland Airport in Auckland, New Zealand. QR
921 covers 9,033 statute miles (14,538 kilometers) and has a scheduled
flight time of approximately 17 hours and 30 minutes at a speed of about
550 mph.
#ETOPS
"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
11/16/2017 at 12:56, STARS: 0
Cool stuff! QF 8 is the one that I find interesting - aren’t they still subject to ETOPS-180 or something similar? And yes, I know ‘ETOPS’ is a contradiction in terms in this case...
I’m guessing there are enough islands between Sydney and Hawaii to make it work, and then the biggest exposure comes a few hours southeast of Hawaii - there isn’t much there.
Looking at FlightAware, it looks like Qantas pretty much sticks to that great circle route, too.
"facw" (facw)
11/16/2017 at 12:59, STARS: 0
Ha!
Qatar 921:
Emirates 449:
Qantas 8:
"Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer" (smallbear94)
11/16/2017 at 12:59, STARS: 1
It’s impressive and all, but frankly I think I’d prefer a trip that wasn’t non-stop.
In the case of USA-Aus that’s obviously not practical, but between Australia and England I’d like a few landings
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/16/2017 at 13:00, STARS: 1
Thanks! ETOPS is something that I really need to get my head around, and I may do a future “Did you know?” article about it. I know generally what it is, but I have never researched the specifics.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/16/2017 at 13:03, STARS: 2
I’m about to write a piece about the A380Plus that has 11-across seating in steerage economy (3-5-3).
"victor" (victor)
11/16/2017 at 13:05, STARS: 0
I think qf8 lost that throne 3 weeks ago to UA37 (lax to sin nonstop) , which started service 3 weeks ago and clocks in at 8700 miles and 17 hours
"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
11/16/2017 at 13:07, STARS: 2
Yeah, I tried to Google “A380-800 ETOPS qualification” and didn’t find anything useful in two minutes, so I quit.
I believe it *used* to be the case that 4 engine airliners weren’t subject to those restrictions at all, but it’s my understanding that they are now, with some greater leeway on the time to alternate than an equivalent twin. Airbus was fighting to change ETOPS to LROPS to get rid of the ‘Twin’ part of the acronym, but apparently failed at that.
More than anything, I’m curious as to what the max distance QF 8 gets from a suitable alternate.
That said, I bet this flight beats it - QF 27:
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
11/16/2017 at 13:08, STARS: 2
What I read tells me the max range of the 777-200LR is 9845 Statute miles. I get a tailwind but 13422 is a full third more range. Howsitdodat?
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/16/2017 at 13:09, STARS: 1
The flight between LAX and SIN will set the new distance record for any airline operating a flight to or from the United States, at 8,700 miles....
Flight UA 37 will depart Los Angeles at 8:55 p.m. daily, arriving in Singapore at 6:50 a.m. two days later (all times local). The return flight, UA 38, will depart Singapore’s Changi Airport at 11:00 a.m. daily, arriving at Los Angeles International Airport at 10:15 a.m. the same day. Flying times will be approximately 17 hours, 55 minutes westbound and 15 hours, 15 minutes eastbound.
( UAL )
Yeah, looks like I need to update third place. Thanks.
"victor" (victor)
11/16/2017 at 13:13, STARS: 1
ETOPS used to mean Extended twin engine operation performance standards, so it doesn’t really apply to 4 engine planes. Besides it’s up to 330 (787-9) and 370 (A350XWB, soon 787-10) now.
Edit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETOPS
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/16/2017 at 13:14, STARS: 0
The plane was virtually empty, so that might account for some extra mileage. This is what Wiki has to say about it. I converted the naut. mi. to stat. mi.
On 9 November 2005, a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 777-200LR completed the world’s longest non-stop passenger flight. It traveled 21,602 kilometres (11,664 nmi) eastward from Hong Kong to London (Heathrow) in roughly 22 hours, 22 minutes as opposed to a normal westward routing for that sector, which is much shorter at 9,647 kilometres (5,209 nmi). [30] Aboard the 777-200LR were eight pilots, including Suzanna Darcy-Henneman , Boeing’s first female test pilot. Although the airplane seats 301, there were only 27 passengers aboard this flight. [31]
"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
11/16/2017 at 13:16, STARS: 0
That sounded like a 1 time event - probably taking advantage of favorable winds (which can help a LOT), flying high at a more efficient speed (ie slow), and keeping the aircraft fairly empty (max range is probably at a higher weight).
But yeah, that’s pushing the envelope—
"victor" (victor)
11/16/2017 at 13:19, STARS: 0
Did this about this time last year on a UA 787 in businessfirst (now Polaris) with wife and infant in tow. The baby didn’t fit the bassinet, but luckily she got her own layflat seat. Plus we got a few old grandma flight attendants to babysit her for the 16 hour flight.
"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
11/16/2017 at 13:20, STARS: 0
It actually does now, though - the 747-8 is certified as ETOPS-330 for example. The acronym is an oxymoron for the 747/A380, obviously, but the concept still applies.
That page also says that the A350 is ETOPS-370.
"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
11/16/2017 at 13:23, STARS: 0
Awwwww, so cute!!! How old at the time? I’m taking my 15 month old from ORD-LAX in a month, and am a little worried- this will be his 3rd or 4th trip, but the first one since he started walking. He’s been great on previous trips, but he’s a lot more active now.
And THANK YOU for having her buckled up!! I fought long and hard with my wife, insisting that we buy our son his own ticket, so I could get him in the car seat strapped down. Holding an infant does NOT work in bad situations. I could point you to horror stories, but you don’t need (or want) it.
"victor" (victor)
11/16/2017 at 13:24, STARS: 1
Dunno why the extended it to the 747-8. I’ll ask my neighbor since he worked on that program.
"victor" (victor)
11/16/2017 at 13:27, STARS: 1
We have never bought a flight without her buckled up. at time, she was 11 months old. She’s flown a few dozen times to this point, and not yet 2, but we ALWAYS buy her a ticket and always harness her either in a car seat, an infant carrier. Now she’s qualified to fit into a CARES harness, so we use that.
"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
11/16/2017 at 13:39, STARS: 0
Yeah, that’s a hard and fast rule with me, too. It took a bit of convincing to get my wife on board with that, but it’s the right thing to do.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
11/16/2017 at 15:06, STARS: 1
What you do there is book a family of four in the middle 5 seats. That last seat wont likely get booked. Old trick, used to work before overbooking became the norm.
"Brian McKay" (brianmckay)
11/16/2017 at 15:47, STARS: 1
London to Sydney flight by Qantas stops once en route.
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