British Airways records its fastest ever transatlantic flight... - record flight.jpg ...

....as Storm Ciara blows jet from the US to Heathrow at more than 800mph

more at
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ws-jet-US.html

*British Airways Boeing 747 crossed the pond in just four hours and 56 minutes

*The plane rode Storm Ciara's 200mph tailwinds as it flew from JFK to Heathrow

*Beat a Virgin Atlantic Airbus by a minute and a Virgin plane by three minutes

British Airways has recorded its fastest ever transatlantic flight after a plane
flew from New York to London in just four hours and 56 minutes.

The Boeing 747 hurtled across the Atlantic at more than 800mph on the back of
Storm Ciara's 200mph winds before touching down at Heathrow at 4.48am today.

It is thought to have set a new record for subsonic passenger planes as its time
exceeds the current record of a Norwegian Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner which made the
crossing in five hours and 13 minutes.

The plane was a minute faster than a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350, which landed
moments later after also taking off in New York, and three minutes ahead of a
Virgin Airways plane that arrived at Heathrow at 5.12am.

Its time exceeds the 2018 fastest record set by Norwegian and also a 2015 record
when a British Airways Boeing 777-200 completed the journey in five hours and 16
minutes.

Flight Radar tweeted the extraordinary flight, saying: 'If we're not mistaken,
BA now retakes the fastest subsonic NY-London crossing from Norwegian.'

Passenger David Redhill, a global consultant who was on the flight, told
MailOnline that everyone burst into applause when the pilot announced the
achievement.

'I didn't have enough time to catch some sleep the flight was so fast,' he said.
'There was a round of applause from the passengers. I looked around at
everyone's face - everyone was astonished.

'The woman opposite me was more like "what?!" "How?!" I'm going to keep my
boarding pass as a momento.'

'I think we caught immigration by surprise. We all trooped in pretty cheered up.
It was a unique experience. I've flown hundreds of times.'

He said that as they left JFK airport, New York, the pilot said he was going to
fly in the jet stream to try and get in just ahead of Storm Ciara. He said there
was some turbulence on the route, but nothing major.

Speaking to the Independent, a BA spokesman said: 'We always prioritise safety
over speed records, but our highly trained pilots made the most of the
conditions to get customers back to London well ahead of time.'

The journey takes the record-setting plane an average of six hours and 13
minutes to complete.

Aviation consultant and former BA pilot Alastair Rosenschein told the BBC: 'The
pilot will have sat their aircraft in the core of the jet stream and at this
time of year it's quite strong.

'Turbulence in those jet streams can be quite severe, but you can also find it
can be a very smooth journey.'

Passenger John Welch, who appears to have been on the plane, tweeted: 'British
Airways thanks for getting me home two hours early from New York. Fastest flight
across the Atlantic since Concorde? Nearly 800mph ground speed.'

The fastest transatlantic crossing was completed by a BA Concorde, which
completed the journey in two hours 52 minutes and 59 seconds in 1996 after
hitting top speeds of 1,350mph.

It comes as Storm Ciara batters the UK leaving flights cancelled, flooding and
fallen trees across the country.




*

Miloch wrote in
:

...as Storm Ciara blows jet from the US to Heathrow at more than
800mph

more at
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Airways-record
s-fastest-transatlantic-flight-Storm-Ciara-blows-jet-US.html

*British Airways Boeing 747 crossed the pond in just four hours and 56
minutes

*The plane rode Storm Ciara's 200mph tailwinds as it flew from JFK to
Heathrow

*Beat a Virgin Atlantic Airbus by a minute and a Virgin plane by three
minutes

British Airways has recorded its fastest ever transatlantic flight
after a plane flew from New York to London in just four hours and 56
minutes.

The Boeing 747 hurtled across the Atlantic at more than 800mph on the
back of Storm Ciara's 200mph winds before touching down at Heathrow at
4.48am today.

It is thought to have set a new record for subsonic passenger planes
as its time exceeds the current record of a Norwegian Boeing 787-9
Dreamliner which made the crossing in five hours and 13 minutes.

The plane was a minute faster than a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350,
which landed moments later after also taking off in New York, and
three minutes ahead of a Virgin Airways plane that arrived at Heathrow
at 5.12am.

Its time exceeds the 2018 fastest record set by Norwegian and also a
2015 record when a British Airways Boeing 777-200 completed the
journey in five hours and 16 minutes.

Flight Radar tweeted the extraordinary flight, saying: 'If we're not
mistaken, BA now retakes the fastest subsonic NY-London crossing from
Norwegian.'

Passenger David Redhill, a global consultant who was on the flight,
told MailOnline that everyone burst into applause when the pilot
announced the achievement.

Speaking of applause..........

I was on a flight to Seattle when the
pilot said that SeaTac was socked in by
clouds and we might have to divert to
San Francisco. Groans abounded. Then he
came back a few minutes later and said
"I just spotted a small hole in the
undercast, if everyone will buckle their
seatbelts I am going to dive for it." He
did, we got in, and the whole plane
applauded.

On Sun, 09 Feb 2020 21:50:15 -0600, Mitchell Holman
wrote:


Speaking of applause..........

I was on a flight to Seattle when the
pilot said that SeaTac was socked in by
clouds and we might have to divert to
San Francisco. Groans abounded. Then he
came back a few minutes later and said
"I just spotted a small hole in the
undercast, if everyone will buckle their
seatbelts I am going to dive for it." He
did, we got in, and the whole plane
applauded.

Socked in kinda implies low clouds or fog - diving through holes in
such can lead to less-than-optimum outcomes.