Boeing 777 wide-body aircraft set an endurance record for a non-stop commercial flight

On 11 Nov 2005 04:37:02 -0800, wrote in
. com::


They set a distance record, not endurance. QANTAS still holds the
endurance record for a nonstop airline flight. During WWII QANTAS ran
twice a week scheduled service from Australia to Sri Lanka in a PBY.
The flight lasted as long as 36 hours nonstop, unrefueled. Pax got a
"double sunrise" certificate upon arrival at the destination.

That's an interesting bit of information, and remarkable too.

Apparently you are correct about it being a distance, rather than
endurance, record. It would appear that the Reuters correspondent got
it wrong:


10:34 AM ET 11/10/05

UPDATE 1-Boeing plane sets flight endurance record


(Adds background, pilot, Boeing comments)

By Jason Neely, European Aerospace & Airlines Correspondent

LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - A Boeing Co. 777 wide-body aircraft set
an endurance record for a non-stop commercial flight on Thursday,
travelling more than 22 hours flying eastwards from Hong Kong to
London.

The aircraft, with 35 passengers and crew aboard, flew more than
half way around the world, covering 11,664 nautical miles, or
21,601 kilometres, Boeing said.

The 777-200LR (longer range) Worldliner plane touched down at
London's Heathrow airport in Boeing's blue and white livery, with
the word "experimental" over the forward door.

Officials from Guinness World Records were on hand at London's
Heathrow Airport to verify the record as the world's longest
commercial flight.

The plane flew from Hong Kong to London, going the long way round
over North America in a flight which lasted 22 hours and 42
minutes.

Captain Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann, one of the pilots, said the plane
had two hours of fuel left when it landed.

Asked why they did not keep going, she said: "You have to declare
your route before you set off."

She told reporters air traffic controllers, unaware the flight was
trying to break a record, had offered the pilots vectors, or short
cuts, to speed up the journey.

"We kept being offered vectors and, strange for a pilot, we kept
saying no we want to stay on our route," she said.

The first Boeing 777-200LR will be delivered to Pakistan
International Airlines in early 2006. The plane can carry about
300 passengers.

Air Canada on Wednesday concluded an agreement to buy 32 of
wide-body jets including 18 777s from Boeing in a transaction
worth about $6 billion.

"We see an addressable market for a plane of this size and
capability of 340 planes," said Randy Tinseth, director of product
marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

He said the plane's long-range capabilities, by using two rather
than four fuel-efficient engines, would save airlines about 2
million gallons of fuel per year.

REUTERS


However CBS News got it right:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...n1033188.shtml

As did Boeing: http://www.777.newairplane.com/
(The extensive Quest For Distance timeline on the Boeing site fails to
mention the Qantas PBY flights.)


It is interesting that Air Canada has chosen the Boeing over the
Airbus. That fact seems to confirm Boeing's superiority in distance
capability:

The record-breaking attempt is part of Chicago-based Boeing's
fierce competition with its European rival Airbus SAS. The Boeing
777-200LR Worldliner was designed to compete directly with the
popular Airbus 340-500, which has a flight range of 10,380 miles.


Of course, this all begs the question of what role the jet stream
played in these range figures.