Two "longest" flights | Page 2 | FerrariChat

Two "longest" flights

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by BubblesQuah, Feb 13, 2016.

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  1. tomc

    tomc Two Time F1 World Champ

    Apr 13, 2014
    25,865
    DFW, Texas
    Full Name:
    Tom C
    Y'all who can sleep on a plane, I envy you! My wife can fall asleep on a bag of rocks. I can't unless I'm in first class and reclined. The first time I went to South Africa by way of Rio. Two long flights in coach. I slept 30 min on the Rio to Jo'burg leg and I think that may be better classified as passing out rather than real sleep...T
     
  2. Jet-X

    Jet-X F1 Veteran

    Nov 2, 2003
    5,688
    Orange County
    Full Name:
    Brian
    You also have the upcoming Dubai to Auckland:

    "On 28 January 2016, Emirates announced it would launch non-stop flights between Dubai and Auckland on 1 March 2016 with a Boeing 777-200LR. The 16h EK448 flight will depart Dubai at 10:00am local time, arriving in Auckland 11:00am daylight-time the next day, with the reciprocal 17h15 EK449 flight departing Auckland at 9:30pm daylight-time, arriving in Dubai 5:45am local time the following day.[6] The flight will cover a great-circle distance of 14,200 km (7,667 nmi)"

    Mostly 777-300ERs, -200LRs, an occasional A380, I think Qantas used to fly Sydney to DFW using a 747-400ER (only operator of the type).

    Here's an semi-updated list with equipment:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-stop_flight

    And I've personally done this flight (just a nickel shy of 7000nm on a 777-200LR):

    https://flightaware.com/live/flight/QTR713

    (and it was torture)
     
  3. Admiral Goodwrench

    Admiral Goodwrench Formula Junior

    Mar 2, 2005
    687
    Santa Fe, New Mexico
    Full Name:
    Robert Phillips
    My uncle used to fly from Rome to Lima Peru in a super connie. No idea how long that took but he always commented about how vast the Amazon was and that if the plane ever went down it would never be found.

    Best regards,

    Robert
     
  4. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Feb 11, 2008
    98,533
    Vegas baby
    I know this sounds incredible but I've done about 150 flights across the pacific between the US to Hong Kong starting in 1981. At my peak I was doing about 10 a year. Now it's more like 6 or 7. On this Tuesday it will be my second time to HK this year.

    All of those have been on a 747 with the exception of a few 777's to Tokyo and then to HK.

    Last year I did my longest flight ever -- 15 hr 30 minutes. No stop from LA to Melbourne on a 787 dreamliner.

    People ask me how I do it and the answer is: If you do everything often enough, you learn every trick. The correct seat to choose, what to bring, how to time meals and bathroom breaks, how to get through customs quickly.

    Once you know the tricks, it becomes a lot easier.

    What's my favorite plane for long haul? A Lufthansa 747-8 that unfortunately no airline in the USA will ever buy. I fly them often from Hong Kong to Frankfurt which is also about 14 hours I believe. Marvelous machine and better than the A380 - by a whisker.
     
  5. Juan-Manuel Fantango

    Juan-Manuel Fantango F1 World Champ
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    Jan 18, 2004
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    Juan
    #30 Juan-Manuel Fantango, Feb 15, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    is this it? Amazing! Did you fly on one of these lol? No way, retired in 1946. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_314_Clipper
    And speaking of smoking, we just flew in what looked like a new A319. I noted that in the door, there was an ashtray. I asked the flight attendant why? She said federal law required it!
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  6. Juan-Manuel Fantango

    Juan-Manuel Fantango F1 World Champ
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    Jan 18, 2004
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    Hmm...when is the book coming out? Sounds interesting. Love affairs, chance meetings, conspiracies, nothing boring of course.
     
  7. erik__c

    erik__c Rookie

    Oct 21, 2014
    29
    DC
    Full Name:
    Erik
    I've done my share of long flights, too. O'Hare-Shanghai nonstop. Beijing - Dulles nonstop. JFK-Jo'burg nonstop. Vancouver-Bangkok nonstop. Dulles-Incheon (S. Korea) nonstop. Doha-Baltimore nonstop. All in coach save for Shanghai-Dulles. That was an upgrade to first. The price delta to business class is just not worth it for me and my wife. The tricks I use are to sleep for the first half of the flight, get up every hour after that and stretch, and stay hydrated.
     
  8. Jet-X

    Jet-X F1 Veteran

    Nov 2, 2003
    5,688
    Orange County
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    Brian
    My worst was flying to Bangalore:

    LAX to ORD - 4 hours, 90 minute connection time (737-800)
    ORD to DOH - 13 1/2 hours, 4 hour connection (777-300ER)
    DOH to BLR - 4 hours (787-8)

    On the return, same 787, then 16+ hours DOH to Houston. Coach (but exit row on that flight) that flight was excruciatingly loooooooooooong. Qatar was the carrier.

    And I'm 6'5
     
  9. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Jul 19, 2008
    37,984
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    Terry H Phillips
    Try 11 hours in an F-111F. No standing up, no flight attendant, no bathroom. Even worse for the guys with ejection seats in poopie suits.
     
  10. dmaxx3500

    dmaxx3500 Formula 3

    Jul 19, 2008
    1,027
    aw quit whinning,at least you got to shoot at somebody
     
  11. Fast_ian

    Fast_ian Two Time F1 World Champ

    Sep 25, 2006
    23,397
    Campbell, CA
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    Ian Anderson
    +1

    The downside of course is that they sometimes shot back! :eek:

    Cheers,
    Ian
     
  12. alexm

    alexm F1 Veteran

    Sep 6, 2004
    5,223
    Coast up from Sydney
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    Alex
    Somewhere around I've seen a funny pair of pics.

    Frame 1 an elegantly dressed couple flying in style with linen, cutlery etc and him speculating how amazing it is going to be in another 50 years hence if it's this good now..

    ..then frame 2 in 50 years people packed into economy with one guy in aisle seat pained look on his face trying to get any distance he can by leaning away from "fat guy" next seat big gut partly undressed and underpants pulled way up high..
     
  13. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

    If you pay that equivalent fare from 50 years ago in today's dollars, you can still get amazing service.

    Fares are so much cheaper now (and fuel so much higher) after deregulation that it's impossible to offer the 'old' service in coach, etc.

    Flying is cheaper than the train, by a bunch.

    Sometimes it's even cheaper than driving if there's an overnight motel or two on the way.
     
  14. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Jul 19, 2008
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    Terry H Phillips
    They shot at me, then I dropped bombs on them. Not after an 11 hour flight, though. Closest to that was the guys who did Eldorado Canyon.
     
  15. schwaggen

    schwaggen Karting

    Apr 22, 2006
    104
    Miami FL
    Longest personal flight came quite unexpectedly: Swissair from Zurich to Atlanta.

    Normally a routine 10 hours, right?

    Except this was the morning of Sept 11, 2001.

    Seven hours into our trip, the map on the screen showed us just crossing Newfoundland, when suddenly the plane icon was facing the wrong direction. The pilot came on, and calmly told us that there had been a terrorist incident in New York, U.S. Airspace was closed, and we were going back to Zurich.

    Landed back where we started just past 1AM after 15 hours, crossing the Atlantic twice nonstop in one day, and only then did we learn what happened. Took a week to get back to the states.
     
  16. Jet-X

    Jet-X F1 Veteran

    Nov 2, 2003
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    Brian
    Wow - surprised given the point in the trip they didn't just land in Newfoundland (like the rest of the airliners).

    Read a great book about Newfoundland and 9/11 called "The Day the World Came to Town".
     
  17. lear60man

    lear60man Formula 3

    May 29, 2004
    1,829
    Los Angeles
    Full Name:
    Christian
    Thankfully the boss says for me to only travel via first class. Last long run was Tel Aviv to LAX. I got up to tinkle and they made my bed when I was in the lav. Almost lie flat but they put a mattress on it. Nothng but ZZZ's after that.

    IMHO the best domestic US first class service are the new pods on Jet Blue. Not a true pod but you get the whole row to yourself.
     
  18. Fast_ian

    Fast_ian Two Time F1 World Champ

    Sep 25, 2006
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    Ian Anderson
    #43 Fast_ian, Feb 16, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2016
    Cool boss! :)

    Closest I ever got was 'more than 8 hours & business class.' Which of course ruled out 99% of my trips. :(

    Cheers,
    Ian
     
  19. nerofer

    nerofer F1 World Champ

    Mar 26, 2011
    11,968
    FRANCE
    Ian,

    My longest continuous flight is Paris / Buenos Aires, which is 14h non-stop; business class, Air France's Boeing 777 usually. But: speaking about trains, which I like a lot…
    Nothing very extraordinary, but there is actually only one trip worth the qualification of “long travel”: 6.000 miles (9.615 kms), seven days and seven nights, Moscow to Vladivostok.
    I did it in April/May 2001; standard regular Russian Railway train (the n°2; n°1 is the other route, that is Moscow - Beijing); first class coach (not a luxury train).
    But we cheated: stopped for three days “in the middle”, at Irkoutsk to have a look of the lake Baïkal; and it sure would be a shame to have missed that.
    It really gives the expression “long distance” a different meaning; time runs at a completely different pace. I have loved every minute of it and would go for it again in a heartbeat (probably the other way around, that is Vladivostok to Moscow, this time).

    Rgds
     
  20. schwaggen

    schwaggen Karting

    Apr 22, 2006
    104
    Miami FL
    From what I have been told- by that point in the day (1:00 or 2:00 local time) there were already so many planes on the ground in eastern Canada that they told anyone with the fuel available to turn around.

    On the flip side, when we landed back in Zurich planes had been grounded all day- the closest hotel room was in Einseideln, way up in the mountains.
     
  21. David_S

    David_S F1 World Champ
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    Nov 1, 2003
    11,260
    Mountains of WNC...
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    David S.
    Possibly even better value for comfort? Book 2 (if not 3) seats in a row. If you can swing $1800, having 3 seats in a row (in which you can put up the arm rests & use the whole row as a couch) - it can be priceless!
     
  22. Fast_ian

    Fast_ian Two Time F1 World Champ

    Sep 25, 2006
    23,397
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    Ian Anderson
    I've seen that done. Plane was *packed* apart from one row with just one guy in it. As we're getting ready to go some guy approaches the space and asks to sit in one of the 'spare' seats.

    "Sorry, no, I paid for this entire row" and he shows the dude 3 boarding passes.

    The interloper almost ****! :)

    And still cheaper than business class.

    Cheers,
    Ian
     
  23. Fast_ian

    Fast_ian Two Time F1 World Champ

    Sep 25, 2006
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    Ian Anderson
    Very cool!

    I'd love to do Moscow -> Bejing sometime. In first class I'd guess that's a great trip.

    Cheers,
    Ian
     
  24. dmaxx3500

    dmaxx3500 Formula 3

    Jul 19, 2008
    1,027
    thanks,,was it f111's or b2's that flew non-stop from the u.s.a. to Iraq and back?
     
  25. Fast_ian

    Fast_ian Two Time F1 World Champ

    Sep 25, 2006
    23,397
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    Ian Anderson
    I can understand that! Would piss me off too! ;)

    Cheers,
    Ian
     

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