Whats your longest flight ?

[1771 DELETE]

Without the use of AAR, what is the longest flight you have had to endure.
My guess is that in recent times it will come from the Kipper fleet (Nimrod) but some older Shackleton crew members or even Hastings on Op Helitrope may come up trumps.

I will start off with 4 Mar 2000 Nimrod Mk2 10hr 35 Mins on a Link 11 trial flying off the SWAPPS at a constant FL120.

[Ken Scott]

I can just beat that, 28 Aug 94, Gander to Nellis in a Hercules CMk 3, 10 hrs 40 mins.

[iRaven]

Normal time for E-3D WAD to LSV (Nellis) is 10hrs 50mins direct for RF.

My longest unrefuelled Tornado is 3hrs 05mins and 11hrs-dead on E-3D, although both still had "some" fuel to go. I seem to remember an F3 in the 80s flying transatlantic unrefuelled West to East with 2x 2250l and 2x 1500l tanks ("ferry fit") - don't know how long that was but must be 5-6 hours??!!

Did 10hrs and 5mins in a Tornado with AAR once - very uncomfortable!

iRaven

[FE Hoppy]

Nimrod - 13:10 polex in 91. 2 prods.
3* RAF - 10:30 to Vegas
3* civvy - 11:35 BKK - ARN

[yellow tool box]

Jacksonville NAS to Lyneham, October 1995, Hercules CMk3 XV209. 10 hours 55 minutes. Remember it well, OCU trainer with a particularly unpleaseant trainee captain. It's funny what sticks in your mind after all these years. Happy days.

[bakseetblatherer]

Did 10hrs and 5mins in a Tornado with AAR once - very uncomfortable!OUCH! I did 8 odd hours in Telic and that was long enough, how did you not run out of engine oil????

[bad bear]

eeeh thats nuthin' the guys in gliders have been doing 14-16 hour flights
bb

[Dan Winterland]

At a Farnborough airshow many years ago, the RAF kept a Shackleton airborne for the whole show. Wasn't the same one of course - a Shack took off as the show started, the next one started it's take off roll as the previous one was on finals 24 hours later. So one can presume the Shack actually remained airborne for 24 hours at a time - assuming the crew didn't think ''Sod this'' - landed somewhere and went down the pub.

What the point was, I've no idea!

[Dan Winterland]

Personally, RAF 11:35 in a VC10. 10:45 in a Victor (just as uncomfortable as any FJ). 13:50 in a 747 (but 5 hours spent sleeeping!)

[RAFEngO74to09]

Stanley - Ascension 4 Aug 83 Hercules C1 XV187 11 hrs 30 mins as a rear PAX. A long flight, but a lot quicker way to RTB than my deployment in the SS Uganda which took 15 days !

[FFP]

17 hr 50 mins with 1 AAR (I know, without refuelling was the question). West coast USA to Middle East. Painful....

[TBM-Legend]

13hrs 20min B-25J Mitchell Stockton, Ca to HNL....

1983 [no GPS]

[BBadanov]

TBM-L, I remember your overflight of BNE in Dec 83, I was on leave back out from Europe. No GPS!!! (I am glad I never took your offer of many years before of being a nav on your future planned trips :bored:)

R, All the best :ok:

[L J R]

Reaper 20.5 Hours.. :E .ok ok you meant manned aircraft..!:ok:

[BBadanov]

That would be right LJR, sitting in your hotel in Vegas!! Did you get the campaign medal?

[L J R]

Yes.... for the 4 month holiday in KAF as the TO & Land dude..:eek:

[Geehovah]

That gives a slightly misleading answer for fast jet operators. Even having suffered long sorties down the back of a C130, it doesn't compare to being stuck in a bang seat for hours on end.

Without AAR it was 3.05 in a Tornado F3 with big tanks. We were doing endurance checks on oil useage behind a Tristar tanker. Twice around UK IIRC.

With AAR it was 10.15 (4,45 night and 5.30 day) from UK to Oman for the first Saif Sareea. We needed special dispensation to exceed the GASOs regulations. My lasting impression was someone in the Tristar waving something appetising as the dawn broke over the Middle East. My sausage roll wasn't quite as attractive.

Sounds like iraven was on the same trip!

I have quite a few 7.00 tanked QRA sorties in F4s.

[denachtenmai]

14.5 hours, Lajes to Bermuda, Shackleton MR2 1961:eek:
Regards, Den.

[herkman]

2/6/68 C130E A97-181 12.55 Gatwick to Mcguire AFB

7/9/68 C130E A97-159 13.15 Butterworth to Laverton

8/10/68 C130E A97-172 13.35 Butterworth to Richmond

14/11/68 C130E A97-180 14.05 Butterworth to Richmond

The last three were medavacs for Australian army with Vietnam wounded.

Never heard anyone complain they were going home.

Regards

Col

[Whenurhappy]

IIRC, the kiwis kept a P3B airborne for c 20 hours in the late 60s, when the aircraft were new and state-of-the-art (now they are 44 years old and...state-of-the-art!).

Perhaps a fishead from 5 Sqn could confirm this stat? There used to be a plaque up in the crew room from Lockheed.

[rvusa]

As a previous poster (DW) mentioned, Farnborough 1960, Shackleton MR3 flew as last item one day to appear as first item the next day!
7.9.60 to 8.9.60- 22Hrs
Also, same month, 15.9.60 - 17h 10m - SAR
Egg banjos, pies were just a dream!
RV

[Top Bunk Tester]

14:45 in a Herc, No AAR but we were a tanker so had the tanks down the back. South Atlantic SAR in 1993. Not much left in reserve and no divs, unless you count Stanley.

[fincastle84]

All of my 5 flights in the back of a C130. What a pig!:{

[Brian 48nav]

Bahrain-Fairford,12:15, Apr 70 with Chris Haysom and Pete Milward. Did some longer days crew duty,but stopped off at Gan or Akrotiri en-route before going on to Bahrain or Changi.

Dec72 supposed to be doing Lyneham direct Bermuda with strict instructions not to lob into Gander because the Canadians didn't want ammunition for Belize going their way. At LPD for Gander it was obvious the winds were stonger than forecast and Bermuda was out of the question; div'd back to CYQX for fuel then on to Bermuda.14:50 airborne. None of that logging taxy time like the civvies!

[Tankertrashnav]

A chum of mine, an old tanker AEO had been on Neptunes as a sergeant siggie. His proud boast was a 3 day trip, taking off at 2345 and landing at 0015 the day after next, a total of 24hrs 30 (2 crews on board). Never actually saw his logbook, mind, so he might have been shooting a line! Did 7 mins on a Victor once - captain need to get airborne for night currency and an approaching cu-nim put him off the idea of extending it to 45 mins circuit bashing as was the norm.

[Airborne Aircrew]

3.5ish hours in a Puma, (helicopter) from Belize to Grand Cayman... :ok:

As a civvie, on June 13th 2010 - Hong Kong direct to Detroit - 16 hours with a newly adopted daughter who simply refused to sleep for more than an hour at a time and really would have preferred to get off... :uhoh:

[Algy]

Most depressing moment, C-130 four hours out of Ascension, AAR rendezvous, fuel refuses to flow, break off and return to Ascension knowing we´re going to do the whole damn thing again the next day.

[just another jocky]

For me - 8.00 in a GR1, 27 Aug '91, Marham to Dhahran leading the return to the Middle East post-GW1 for Op Southern Watch. We didn't get any dispensation to over-run the engines. I'm amazed those F3 engines made it all the way.

I am aware of an RAF pilot who has done over 23 hours at the controls of a B2 (obviously with AR) and I also believe the record was in excess of 40 hours. :\

[peppermint_jam]

As an engineer, knowing that anything more than 20 minutes in a MB seat in any FJ I've sat in/worked on starts to get uncomfortable, some of these times are crazy! certainly earned your flying pay those days fellas!

The crews of the Vulcans and indeed their supporting Victors, used on the black buck raids must be up there time wise.

[vecvechookattack]

6 Hrs 50 minutes in a Sea King..... Bladder just survived

[Roger D'Erassoff]

March 09... 11:30 in a C130K. Took off from Basrah, landed at Basrah, never left sight of Basrah for the whole time...:zzz:

[dagama]

1971 - Herc - 14 hrs 25 mins Bahrain - Thorney Island via the Cento route. Had to ask London for direct Sandgate (ah the memories) to Thorney. APU did not not start as we taxied in! Couldn't see the face of the staff captain on shutdown (it went dark) who put the whole flight in jeopardy but he was a 'wheel' who couldn't be argued with. Anyway, good training as a stude planning in-flight diversions (topos everywhere) to Thessaloniki, Rome and CDG. V tired after the flight but 'I learnt about flying from that' - don't be stupid, even if you are a 'wheel'. :ugh:

1982 - Herc - 26 hrs 05 mins - ASI - ASI - 2 AAR brackets, 1 hour's loitering near the ships and RTB in the dark with no refuelling. Augmented crew but had other duties when not in the seat. Mine was to man the cupola to look out for the Argie 707 or anything else.

[1771 DELETE]

LJR
It had not even crossed my mind about UAV`s, dont tell me you put entries in your logbook and wear a flying suit as well?

[Motleycallsign]

12.35 Tristar KC1 BZN - Albuquerque direct (No AAR but we had the underfloor tanks full)
10.20 C130 Mk 2 - SW approaches guesting on 'SNOOPY'

[oxenos]

Shack Mk 3 - 15h 50m 1965
Nimrod Mk 1 - 11h 10m 1975 No AAR

[Rossian]

...back to the '60s at Ballykelly. High summer up in Bodo doing 13.10 and 13.15 on consecutive days. Back at BKY in November 14.10 op trng from 1800 until breakfast time the next day and the really scary bit was the pilot aimed bombing at 100ft from 0700 until 0745 and finishing off with a few circuits. Later that morning (I was in my scratcher) the staish came raging over to the squadron and demanded of the boss WTF he thought he was doing putting crews through this routine just to push a chinagraph line up the wall. After he had departed the boss assembled the troops and said that "finally" he had "persuaded" the staish to stop this "mad hours scramble" so there would be no more 14hr trips. The walls were very thin in that building so everyone knew the true version of events.

I don't think they make squadron bosses like that anymore. Do they?? This guy was left over from the war and was as batty as a box of frogs.

The Ancient Mariner

[Shackman]

16:45 in a Shack on 'Ops tasking' in the Indian Ocean, followed by three more sorties in 6 days totalling nearly 60 hrs in 7 days.

Chinook over 12 hours in two sorties in one day (Air India) - and no in flight catering!!:{

[Shack37]

Any claims on the most (nonstop) flying hours, taking off from BK and landing at Machrihanish? On a clear day you can see one from t'other.

I've done around 12 hours but no exact dates or logs to back it up although Ex Strong Gale rings a bell. Would have been between 1968 and 1971.

[Mystic Greg]

30 December 2002 - 14.50 in an E-3D over Afghanistan (including transits) when, depressingly, the replacement jet didn't turn up on time.

I think the all-time E-3D record for Op VERITAS was 17.50, with the average being around 13.15. [But these missions did include AAR and I'm not sure what the non-AAR record would be]

[Wensleydale]

I think the all-time E-3D record for Op VERITAS was 17.50, with the average being around 13.15. [But these missions did include AAR and I'm not sure what the non-AAR record would be]

My longest over 'stan (Jan 2002) was 15:40 - again due to the USAF E-3C not turning up on time. I believe that the longest E-3D sortie was the crew that was retasked on 9/11 to monitor returning civil traffic to UK after the US closed their airspace - probably PLE for a full toilet! Not sure of the exact time although I understand that 2 x AARs were needed. Good effort by all!

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

11hr 15mins in a Cessna152 from Goose Bay - Angmassilik (Greenland). No autopilot, big fuel tank instead of a RH seat (with an HF radio strapped on top). 4hrs actual. Part of a delivery from Arizona to Israel.
Luckily I have an extra bladder instead of a brain.

[FFP]

11hr 15mins in a Cessna152 from Goose Bay - Angmassilik (Greenland) That's hardcore. Taking aside the fact that 11 odd hours in a 152 would be painful enough (Did 30 mins once on my flying scholarship) that route in a single engine is a challenging one to say the least.

[moggiee]

Personally, RAF 11:35 in a VC10.

That must have been a "K". The longest I managed in a "C" was 9:35 - left Las Vegas for Brize with 158,000Lb of very cold fuel on board (when the official max was just over 154,000).

[Blacksheep]

Not military but as supernumary crew on a Royal Nepal Airlines charter flight from Kathmandu to Nagoya and back (via Calcutta and Hong Kong) as certifying engineer for transits. 46 hours including ground stops - working on the transits and sitting on the "jump" seat while flying. Ended up with a square bum and a serious need for a lie down.

[Biggus]

28 May 1983 Hercules CMk1 XV293 10.35 Day. Bodo - Elmendorf, double gyro and routing directly over the geographic North Pole.

Nothing special about the trip, not a stunt, the crew just elected to go to Alaska via Bodo and north rather than Gander and west for training purposes. Astro was the only fixing aid once out of Tacan range.




9 May 1984 Hercules CMk1K XV203 10.45 (7.30 Day, 3.15 Night). Tanker ferry from Port Stanley to Ascension, no AAR involved.

[ANAPROP]

Quote:
I think the all-time E-3D record for Op VERITAS was 17.50, with the average being around 13.15. [But these missions did include AAR and I'm not sure what the non-AAR record would be]
My longest over 'stan (Jan 2002) was 15:40 - again due to the USAF E-3C not turning up on time. I believe that the longest E-3D sortie was the crew that was retasked on 9/11 to monitor returning civil traffic to UK after the US closed their airspace - probably PLE for a full toilet! Not sure of the exact time although I understand that 2 x AARs were needed. Good effort by all!

In fact the re-tasked 9/11 E-3D misson was 15.35, which set the record at the time. We'd gotten airborne for a routine training mission and had only planned (and rationed) for 8 hrs! Our record was later broken by some of the Op VERITAS missions.

[mikealder]

I seem to remember an F3 in the 80s flying transatlantic unrefuelled West to East with 2x 2250l and 2x 1500l tanks ("ferry fit") - don't know how long that was

24/09/87 ZE155 did the 2200 NM trip in just 4 hours 45 minutes, indeed it had the four fuel tanks fitted - Mike

[OldNavigator]

My longest : 13:55 31 Dec 1992, requiring AAR listening to Big Ben at midnight on HF on a trip from Asi - MPA

This having done 12 hrs the previous day on a Comp A callout from MPA - ASI, with the promise of a night in Rio New Years Eve on the return trip - but the fun detectors stopped this.

[Fintastic]

I once did 6hrs 15 minutes...........on a hang glider, flying from Scotland down to near Leeds. By god I needed a pee after that one!:eek:

[H Peacock]

5hrs 10min in a very old spyplane. 12hrs in a very new one. Both without AAR.

:D

[moggiee]

24/09/87 ZE155 did the 2200 NM trip in just 4 hours 45 minutes, indeed it had the four fuel tanks fitted - Mike
That must have been an "interesting" take-off - 2 tanks used to make the guys at Leeming twitch a bit

[larssnowpharter]

My father has a number of flights of over 16 hrs in his logbook, all complted in a Mk2 Shack. One involved a diversion from Labuan to Singapore due to WX at Lab.

On a personal note, I have 6 flights of over 12 hrs in various gliders. One is 13.50 in a failed attempt to fly from France to S Italy. Nimbus 3. Last month flew AUH - ORD around 16 hrs as a pax.

However, the longest I have ever seen entered in a logbook was a flight of 46 (?) hrs in a Catalina/PBY 17. The owner of the logbook was an ex RAF AG who explained that they had been patrolling beteen Iceland and Norway and landed in a fiord a couple of times to refuel from drums stocked on shore. Kudos.

[pedroalpha]

8 hrs 50 minutes in a Chinook HC1 (refuelled) unloading ships following the Argentine surrender in the Falklands.

[friendlypelican 2]

Got me back into old logbooks.
All non-AAR and standard fuel tanks;
26Jan77 Hercules C1, XV301 - Calgary direct Lyneham 13:30 hrs.

22Oct86 VC10 C1, XR808 - Nairobi to Lossie 10:15. I put a note in my logbook that we did the last hour at FL430! Pilot was 'Pop' Randell.

Also memorable for length - 27Sep73 XV185 Turkey low-level 7:55hrs. At least I wasn't on my own - we were a 'stream' of 36 Hercs!

[Brian 48nav]

26 Sept 72; XV300 8:30 Para at Weston,was I dizzy!

[Rossian]

....I once spoke to a Catalina captain who described doing a flight from Sullom Voe to the op area SE of iceland. They patrolled their box for the briefed time then set off for home. It was late in the year and it had been o'cast all day. After a long transit they discovered they had made landfall at Benbecula!! What really ticked the crew off was the fact of the four more hours transit following the coast back to SV.
My question was "Where did you actually patrol?"
Response "I have no bloody idea! However I was amused by the nav on our Nimrod complaining that the nav error as we parked was inside the wingspan of the aircraft! Haven't times changed"

The Ancient Mariner

[lurkposition]

May 1982
Hercules XV196 Corporate 13:00 day, 4:10 night (17:10 total). Unrefuelled airdrop sortie.
Used a couple of old Andover tanks in freight bay for extra fuel - one h*ll of a bodge.
RTB ASI on fumes!

Turned round and flew another trip but only 15:55 in total this time.

July - two back to back 24:00 sorties but with two prods each this time.

And don't ask about my long SK sorties in the '90s.

It's no wonder my hearing is not what it was......

[1771 DELETE]

Ancient Mariner
I think even John Cruickshank did 15 hours when he won his VC, It took the Catalina many hours to get home before he got treated for his multiple wounds.

[Rossian]

....for t'was JC himself who told me that tale. I first met him when I was 4yrs old and he stayed with my family for a short time after his VC winning mission. When I met him again after 40 + years he said all he wanted at the end of the war was to "get back to being a banker again, having been so rudely interrupted". Super chap.

The Ancient Mariner

[Thud_and_Blunder]

Wasn't operating on this one (supernumerary crew/BCR pilot, RWR-watching on the jumpseat) - longest unrefuelled flight in a Chinook was 10h 30m. At least I was able to get up and stretch my legs in the acres of space between the 3 Robertson tanks in the cabin, unlike the HP/NHP. Not that the cabin was much better - all hatches open, which meant that the gunners (there to provide cover if we'd found who we were looking for) had to be carried off at the end of the sortie. OAT MS03 plus 120 kts through the cabin makes for some serious windchill.

[Pontius Navigator]

We once did a flight of 150 miles from Lossie; took 14 hrs 35 min. The famous John Elias just wanted to prove a training crew could fly longer than an operational crew. There was no signs of scurvey and we still had sufficient water but the elsan was full to overflowing.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I should pass on a story from an old ex-Air America pilot I used to work with. He had a 14 minute flight following engine failure at 200 feet.

He used to be the private pilot to the King of Nepal; airstrip on top of mountain, final landing at bottom of very deep himalayan valley - the 200 feet agl had rapidly become something over 10,000 feet agl. Plane a bit bent, crew OK.

p.s. he said all the things that happened in the Air America movie were real, including the "crayoning in a CB" scene, but didn't happen to the same person.

[mcdhu]

Before the days of refuelling:

20th November 1978
LXX Sqn
C130K XV210
Gander - Nellis AFB
13hrs 25mins - of which 12 were at night (massive headwind - came back the next day in 6hrs 55mins!)

[TyroPicard]

I once managed 1.30 unrefuelled in an English Electric jet...

[Biggus]

Tyro,

1.30 unrefuelled in a Canberra is nothing special..... :=

[WE992]

January 1991 Belfast G-BFYU, Minhad to Cairo 7 Hrs 5 minutes. 90 minutes on the ground to gas up followed by a further 8 hrs 45 minutes to Lyneham. Bring back the Belsow!

[thing]

Longest civ flight I do regularly is 13.30 from Skidrow to Changi. Even on the super comfy 380 you still want to go outside for a walk round.

Longest glider flight was 5.30 in a decrepit old K8 one August day. 31C on the ground, so shorts and T-shirt on. Not 31C at 9,000 ft which was cloudbase that day, flying was too good to come down so stayed up as long as I could suffer the cold. Which was 5.30..followed by an 'arrival' and a hasty leap out of the cockpit behind the nearest bush where the part that I needed to find was so shrivelled I thought it had dropped off. I'm sure the old kite was trembling on the way down in sympathy with my shaking hands on the stick...

The seemingly longest military flight I had was in the bowels of a C130 with the company of a Harrier fuselage en route to Belize (God knows where the wings were, did it really need wings?) from Swinedown to Gander in a headwind. I thought it took about 9 years. I spent many an unhappy hour in the bowels of a 130. I have some video somewhere taking off from Swine in the pouring rain bound for Bari where the fuselage was leaking so badly we were all wearing kimwipe hats. Ah, the good old days........

[moggiee]

Quite a few of the above posts seem to have missed the distinction between flight (singular) and flights (plural)!

[Wensleydale]

We once did a flight of 150 miles from Lossie; took 14 hrs 35 min. The famous John Elias just wanted to prove a training crew could fly longer than an operational crew. There was no signs of scurvey and we still had sufficient water but the elsan was full to overflowing.


My JE sortie equivalent on my training course was only 12:55. 2175 RPM on number one, with the rest back at 1750 and No 9 inverter working its little legs off to keep the radar going. Mind you, JE also provided one of the shortest Shackleton trips when the tail surface controls had been accidentally reversed during service: A straight in approach from Lossie to Kinloss (or was it vice versa) with everything working backwards (down is up and up is down). One for the "other thread" perhaps although I only know of this one through hearsay.:ok:

[TyroPicard]

Biggus.. did you really write
a Canberra is nothing special....

[BEagle]

In about 1978 or 1979, there was rather a silly contest at Sunny Scampton, to see who could keep a Vulcan airborne the longest (within legal limits). This needed a 98+16 jet (with perhaps a drop more than 98?) and the right conditions.

The geriatric boat spotters had a go, then the dead dog mob had theirs. Fortunately our boss, the late 'Sweaters', heard about this nonsense and issued dire threats to anyone on 35 who was stupid enough to consider such a time wasting exercise - and the contest died its death.

[Megaton]

One hour ABZ-LHR with ex-Lightning pilot.

[Pontius Navigator]

Mind you, JE also provided one of the shortest Shackleton trips when the tail surface controls had been accidentally reversed during service: A straight in approach from Lossie to Kinloss (or was it vice versa) with everything working backwards (down is up and up is down). One for the "other thread" perhaps although I only know of this one through hearsay.:ok:

No it were true. JE had of course been on Nimrods before regressing to Shacks. Now one thing did puzzle me, how did no one notice the elevators were misconnected during pre-flights?

[Shack37]

No it were true. JE had of course been on Nimrods before regressing to Shacks. Now one thing did puzzle me, how did no one notice the elevators were misconnected during pre-flights?


Slept through the Theory of Flight lectures maybe?

[Warmtoast]

My longest flight with 99 Sqn was on Britannia XM 520 from Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) to Lyneham. My logbook shows it took place on 17-18th June 1962 and took 12 hours, 10 minutes for the non-stop flight. Distance flown around 4,300 Great Circle miles I think.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/EdmontontoLyneham.jpg


Mind you at Seletar a couple of years earlier Flt. Lt. N. Bull (Norman Bull?) of 205/209 Sqn. flew a dedicated endurance flight from Seletar on 18/19th February 1958 with a Sunderland that was airborne for 20 hours 30 minutes. I left Seletar on posting in January 1958 so wasn’t present when this flight took place, but it was fairly common knowledge in FEAF.
Not sure if this was a record or not, but many years later whilst researching in the National Archives at Kew had a look at 205/209 ORB for the relevant dates and sure enough the squadron ORB records the following:

Aircraft. Sunderland ‘R’ RN303
Captain. Flt. Lt. N. Bull.
Airborne. 18th February 1958 at 14.55
Down. 19th February 1958 at 11.25
Mission. “NAVEX and Endurance Flight”

[Alan Mills]

3 May 1965 LROFE - 15 hrs 25mins - Shackleton 204 Sqn
25 May 1982 3 prods 18Hrs 45mins Nimrod 120 sqn:)

I remember 205 Sqn history referring to 30hr plus flights, doing mail runs from Ceylon to Cocos Islands

[Mister.E]

January 1991 Belfast G-BFYU, Minhad to Cairo 7 Hrs 5 minutes. 90 minutes on the ground to gas up followed by a further 8 hrs 45 minutes to Lyneham. Bring back the Belsow!

Must of had a tailwind!

[minigundiplomat]

Chinook HC2 - 6 Hours from the North Arabian Sea - Kandahar.

Then 3 hours onwards to Bagram.

[laterron]

Any P3 fishead out of beautiful down Butterworth regulary exceeded 10+ fun filled hours burning kerosene for the government.

[Hockham Admiral]

WE 992, (don't know your name) quote:
"January 1991 Belfast G-BFYU, Minhad to Cairo 7 Hrs 5 minutes. 90 minutes on the ground to gas up followed by a further 8 hrs 45 minutes to Lyneham. Bring back the Belsow!"

My two longest flights in the Queen were with GBEPS Ascension to Brize, June 1983, 14.20hrs.

Later, also in GBEPS, Osaka to Honolulu, November 1997, 13.10hrs all over-water.

I know which seemed the longest; there's not a lot to do in 13 hours over the Pacific! :zzz::zzz:

[60024]

Pontius,

IIRC it was 'just' the trimmers that were misconnected on that Shack. Otherwise, the pilot might have noticed when he tried to raise the tail during the take-off roll.

My longest so far was 8:15 from Bahrain to Bruggen post GW1.

Happy New Year to all.

[Nomorefreetime]

Does Nicholas Patrick qualify. He learnt to fly with UAS. 12 Days 20 Hours 45 Mins ?

[Biggus]

I wonder if either Dick Rutan or Jeana Yeager have read this thread...? ;)

[layman]

Before my time, but following previous mention of the Catalina's exploits, thought this worth a mention. During WW II the RAAF / Qantas used to operate a 'regular' Perth - Columbo flight ... up to 32 hours. Passengers received the "Order of the Double Sunrise"

See http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/419918-pby-super-long-range-patrol-book.html

regards
layman

[SinglePin]

Not sure if you're still looking at airborne times but here is one for you. My dad flying a MR1 Shackleton WB827 on Dec 9th 1958 did 16hrs 15 min looking for Shackleton VP254 which had crashed in the South China sea. Over the next 6 days he logged 73hrs 20 min (and that's airborne time!). He left the RAF high tone deaf! good old shackletons.

[brakedwell]

RAF 7th August 1971 - Britannia XM496 (Now at Kemble) Thule - North Pole - Brize Norton 11h.25m.

Civilian 2nd April 1993 - Boeing 767 300ER OE-LAW Munich - Los Angeles 12h.16m (2 FD crew! 10 CC)

[trex450]

not me but always worthy of a mention on these. Must be about 12-15 years back now there was a SAR seaking flight from the Falklands to just off South Georgia which I understand was about 16 hours with 2 deck refuels and 2 hover refuels to recover someone off a cruise ship.

[A2QFI]

Bear with me! When I was a very young spotty schoolboy I had a copy of the Guinness Book of Rrecords which included, inter alia, this tale of the exploit of Truculent Turtle which was the 3rd production Lockheed P2V-1 Neptune

"Loaded with fuel in extra tanks fitted in practically every spare space in the aircraft, "The Turtle" set out from Perth, Australia to the United States. With a crew of four (and a nine-month-old gray kangaroo, a gift from Australia for the Washington, D.C. zoo) the aircraft set off on 9 September 1946, with a RATO (rocket-assisted takeoff). Two and a half days (55h, 18m) later, "The Turtle" touched down in Columbus, Ohio, 11,236.6 mi (18,083.6 km) from its starting point. It was the longest unrefueled flight made to that point - 4,000 mi (6,400 km) longer than the USAF's Boeing B-29 Superfortress record"

The longest ever refuelled flight may come as a bit of a suprise too!

Longest flight ever: “Amazingly the record for the longest airplane flight dates back all the way to 1958 - 1959. On December 04 1958 Bob Timm and John Cook left Las Vegas, NV in a Cessna 172 and didn’t land again until February 07 1959. In the 64 days 22 hours 19 minutes and 5 seconds they were airborne they manage to cover a distance comparable to flying six times around the Earth. During the trip they were constantly refueled in flight and swooped down to grab water and food from a chase car that followed them.”

[rvusa]

Shackleton MR3, XF707, 7/8 September 1960, 22.00hrs Farnborough-Farnborough. Each day of this Farnborough show a Shackleton took off as the last item of the display to then land as the first item of the following days show. We could, of course, have simply landed somewhere else to reappear the next day, but, we actually flew at endurance speed to, as I recall, Lisbon, Canary Islands, Azores and back. Extra tank in the bomb bay.
Same month, 15 September, Shackleton MR3, WR979, 17.10Hrs, SAR for B47 down in the Atlantic.
RV

[Fintastic]

Balloon: 30min. 100'
Glider: 5hrs 15min. 13,500'
Hang Glider: 6hrs 15min. 14,100'
Tornado GR: 7hrs 55min. 41,500' (not for long!)

Longest without going to the toilet: 7hrs 30!

What's your highest?
:ok:

[Airborne Aircrew]

Balloon: 1100', (the gauge failed on the way up to 800' so four of us got to jump from 1100').:ok:

[Lancman]

1 September 1953, Shackleton Mk I WB 857, 19hrs. 20 mins. Ballykelly, around Iceland and up the Greenland coast to 76*N, down to Jan Mayen Island and back to Bally-bloody-kelly. Fuel load 3,292 gallons/23,700 lbs/ 10,750 kgs.

[SASless]

June 17, 1970....CH-47A...twist Bu Dop in Vietnam and some LZ inside Cambodia....flight time about 25 minutes total....maybe.

About ten minutes into the flight....hit by a .51 MG and a hydraulic fluid fire in the cockpit started as one of the pedals departed for parts unknown fortunately leaving my foot behind.

"Centuries" went by before the fire went out after all the contents of the Utility Hydraulic system had been consumed. Playing the Weinie Roast scene as the Wienie is best avoided if possible.

My claim to flame.....errrrr.....fame.

Nomex helps....but isn't the absolute cure.

Definition of Time and Distance are contingent to what activity is ongoing!

[friendlypelican 2]

An excuse to dig out the old log books - great!

Andover C1 XS603 10 June 69: Gander - St Mawgan 8:45
With an extra tank on board admittedly.

Hercules C1 XV301 26 Jan 77: Calgary - Lyneham 13:30

VC10 C1 XR808 22 Oct 86: Nairobi - Lossiemouth 10:15

Nimrod MR2 XV243 17 Apr 95 SAROPS ex Kinloss 8:40

Plus too many others withh AAR!

[sargs]

trex450:
not me but always worthy of a mention on these. Must be about 12-15 years back now there was a SAR seaking flight from the Falklands to just off South Georgia which I understand was about 16 hours with 2 deck refuels and 2 hover refuels to recover someone off a cruise ship.

If you're talking about the casualty winched from M/V Explorer on 03 Nov 98, then I'm afraid it wasn't quite that long - it was 9 Hrs 25 Mins all told, refueling on Gold Rover and HIFR'ing from HMS Sutherland. Not the longest flight I've done, but long enough in a stripped-out Sea King!

[airsound]

I wonder if either Dick Rutan or Jeana Yeager have read this thread...?Good point Biggus.

Their 1986 flight in Voyager was the first successful circumnavigation of the planet, passing the equator twice, non-stop, non-refuelled. It was 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds, from Edwards AFB to Edwards AFB.

He described the flight as like being dragged in a telephone box on its side by a huge unsilenced tractor over rough fields - for nine days. And that didn't mention their personal problems, which were not insignificant.

There was a Radio 4 programme a couple of years later called 'Flight from Love' with the frank inside story from both of them.

airsound

[VIProds]

Year: 1952
Route: Malta to London
Carrier: Hunting Clan
Aircraft: Twin prop Vickers Viking
Duration: 11 Hours

Well er, we had to land at Nice to refuel. Over France I was invited up to the cockpit to take over control for a few minutes, which was a 11 year old schoolboys dream come true. My Mother realized what was going on & was having the proverbial "kittens" at the back.

[FInotQFI]

Ah, the memories!

Nimrod MR2: 21 Jul 2000, SAR Top cover Tenerife to Kinloss, 8:50
C-17: 7 Aug 2002, Accra-Norfolk,VA, 10:55

Both normally aspirated, many longer with AAR.

[coldbuffer]

20 seconds, top of the White Lady,on skis, strapped to a hand glider during the early 70's. thank goodness i crashed as i didn't have a clue what to do, but it seemed a good idea at the time :O

[grandad]

Early 1990's in the days when we jet swapped the ac in MPA by flying them down. 10hrs10min Coningsby to Ascension. Followed by ASI -MPA, MPA TO RIO,RIO TO ASI, ASI TO CONINGSBY. The jets taken down were specially tested for oil consumption. not so sure about the ones we brought back for major servicing. The south atlantic is one big old place when your PNR on the tanker is fast approaching and the fuel line says Africa 900nm South America 800nm

[Cows getting bigger]

As a pax, Albert 1989 - ASI - MPA (well, just short of) - Montevideo. 15+hrs and a brew. Worst bit was having to go back to ASI before trying all over again. :(

Also as a pax - Albert 2000 - Cairo West - Akrotiri - Souda Bay - Lyneham. OK, lots of legs but the best part of 36 hours stuck in the back of an aircraft sharing with a ship's engine.

[TheWestCoast]

The Cessna that flew for 60+ days can be seen suspended from the ceiling of McCarron airport's baggage claim.

[brakedwell]

Still waiting for someone to reclaim it?

[500N]

"Still waiting for someone to reclaim it? "

I think most people don't notice it, by the time they get off the plane and then to the baggage claim area, all they want to do is get their bags and get out of there !

[Green Flash]

As a pax; AAS to Bahrain, landed mid pm, nosewheel went wobble, spent all night sleeping on the pan waiting for spanners to be weilded. Took off early next morning to LCRA, hour in terminal whilst crew changes, out of holiday island by 30 mins when the nav kit comes out in sympathy with the nosewheel and the fuel pressurisation(?) also goes tech. Back to LCRA, no fix, night in Mess (got utterly s**tfaced, first beers for months ....) Next morning dragged hangover onto now fixed cab to go home, via ..... Incerlik! Landed late morning, waited for new crew to arrive late afternoon, car bomb went off in town as we were boarding and we were struck by lightning on the way home. Frankly, I'd have got out and pushed. Oh well, if you can't take a joke .....;)

[kiwi12]

Bucc Akr - Nice 3.40 unrefueled (2 wing tanks)
Rosevelt Roads - Lajes 6.20 (3 prods)

744 Lax - Hkg 15.55 (regularly over 15)

744 is a tad more comfortable than the Bucc but not as much fun

[Rick777]

About 12 hours Guam to Diego Garcia.

[McC]

F4, Coningsby to Ascension. 9hrs 40m, followed a couple of days later Ascension to Port Stanley 8.5hrs.

[C118BFE]

17.3 hrs. Nas Norfolk direct Montijo,Lisbon,Portugal.US Navy C118B 131608,c/n 43711 full load of pax-80 seats-max.1967 out of Nas Dallas,Tx.I was 1st FE and believe me fuel was critical and powered down to 650 bhp,hanging on the prop tips.

[Geehovah]

It was quicker coming home McC. I did 7.20 and 9.00 for the return trip in 85!

[LesleyP]

I was Adj on the Air Transportable Telecommunications Flight (ATTU) - mobile Air Traffic in other words - at Richmond when the Es first arrived there. The base was humming with delight and everybody wanted a 'go' - yes, I did manage it. Flew to Townsville for Christmas - hot and very wet, both inside and out! My other 'hat' was RAAF Liaison Officer with the US Embassy helping to organise R'n'R for troops arriving on various bits of transport from Vietnam. By 1968 I was back home in Edinburgh, Scotland

[pontifex]

How about 20 hours exactly in a Nimrod on the 6/7th May 1982 with a Kinloss crew just going round the UK. This was the final test sortie in the Nimrod AAR conversion. My log book tells me I did 2 contacts, one of 72,000lbs and a second one of 28,000. It took months to get the smell out of my grow bag! Happy days.

[Schnowzer]

F3 Refuelled in 1990. 10.15 Leeming to Dhahran followed 12hrs later by 10.45 back the other way. Lost number 2 into Cambrai and diverted to Leuchars due fog. 4 guys so tired they ended up tucked up in their curries in the Balaka after a half pint and a popadom. Talk about a pain in the arse!

[tarbaby]

C130. Can't give exact dates and time (lost log) but seem to remember 14+ hours from some little island in the Caribbean back to Lyneham. Watched the sun go down and then come up again. Also have a Kai-Tak - Gan of 11.10, having to stay over the sea, some fracas over the land.

[Dengue_Dude]

C130. Can't give exact dates and time (lost log) but seem to remember 14+ hours from some little island in the Caribbean back to Lyneham. Watched the sun go down and then come up again. Also have a Kai-Tak - Gan of 11.10, having to stay over the sea, some fracas over the land.

Quite likely to have been Nassau as we recovered to Lyneham on 23 Dec 75 and landed 24 Dec. It swept up the end of that particular slip. That is also an unrefuelled flight (in the days before AAR on the C130).

[tarbaby]

No not Nassau. TCW? had been doing some long range comms exercises and we were bringing some equipment back to UK.

[LoeyDaFrog]

Probably about to get shot down in flames, but here goes anyway...
Mine was a solo soaring trip out of Portmoak many moons ago as a wee space cadet. 2:45 of pure, unadulterated freedom and joy, munching wine gums as I tracked the ridge up to the Vulcan Gap and back.
Everthing else over three hrs has been as walking cargo on albert!