Longest/Shortest flight

[sharpend]

Just spotted a thread on the GA section re longest flight.

I possibly hold the record for both longest and shortest... now there is a challenge :)

How about beating 20 seconds from one international RAF airfield to another... Being a hog, I logged 5 minutes. :D

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Luqa-Safi, Malta?

[Pontius Navigator]

Sharp, penicilling eh. Nearest 5 should have logged zero, then you would have had something to brag about.

'69, Waddo boltholing at Coningsby, many crews tried to do the hop under 2:30. Don't know if it was achieved but lots of 5 minutes.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

IIRC, you must log at least 5 or it buggers up the engineering stats (e.g. fatigue)

[Roland Pulfrew]

Lossie 23 to Kinloss 25 in a Nimrod at the end of bolthole, aim was to do it under 2:30 so as to be able to record 0:00 flight time. Sadly we only cracked 2:41

[albatross]

Tower: " Tiger flight you are cleared for take off."
Tiger Lead: "Cleared for take off- Tiger lead"
Tower "Tiger Lead you are on fire --- oh, I see you have already ejected..disregard."
Gotta be a record there.

[Minnie Burner]

I reckon the RN FAA must have had the record for the shortest average sortie length at some stage back in the '60s. Or did you wish to include a landing in your challenge, Derek?
PS Are you still claiming to have flown the most accurate GCA?

[Davef68]

Helicopter or Harrier pilots must have the shortest flight record?

[david parry]

Think it must be Lt CDR ...... For Both. Lol Test pilot..VC 10 from Brize to Singapore . Then off the cat at launch from HMS Victorious in a Buccaneer;) went down in folklore in the FAA

[CoffmanStarter]

If we are counting 'non powered' ... then the Slingsby Grasshopper TX.1 (aka T.38) via Bungee Launch has to be on the Short List ;)

[Kitbag]

For longest flight you'd have to go some way to beat the record held by Robert Timm and John Cook in a C172 - 64:22:19:05 really! (http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2008/March/1/Endurance-Test-Circa-1958)

[Peter G-W]

45 seconds, St David's to Brawdy. Diverted as Brawdy outside student crosswind limits: lonely wait on a windy, desolate old airfield till a QWI came to take me home.

[ksimboy]

Nellis to McCarran in Albert. 2:00 flight commander who was Nav insisted we all logged flight as zero as he wanted to have one in his log book. Funniest part was that 2 mins was over midnight and resulted in 33 hours off as it was the 6th day, stunning planning I'd say :D

[thing]

Loganair hold the shortest scheduled flight record. Papa Westray to Westray. Scheduled flight time two minutes including taxi. Wonder how the pilots log that?

[TyroPicard]

Does a Slingsby Grasshopper on the school playing field count? Bungee launch, about 10 seconds airborne.... But nothing in my logbook to prove it...

[sharpend]

Minnie, yes, one must have a landing otherwise any rejected t/o or bang out would be quicker.

My most accurate GCA was when I hit the GCA building and knocked the wing off :)

[sharpend]

Tyro, yes I did those! Here is the bit about it from my book:

'The very first time I took to the air in an aerial machine on my own was actually an accident! On a barmy day in July 1961 on the playing fields of a well known Grammar School close to Bomber Command Headquarters I was catapulted into the atmosphere in the school single seat glider. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending which way you look at it, the supervisor had omitted to fit the lift spoilers to the wing. Hence, rather unexpectedly, my primitive craft and I soared to the dizzy height of five feet, landing shortly afterwards on the First X1 cricket pitch, in the middle of an important match. Suffice to say, this did little to impress the team and the sight of a very young Bluntie being chased off the playing field by a horde of irate six formers waving cricket bats was a sight to behold. I can remember that auspicious event as if it were yesterday.'

[CoffmanStarter]

Tyro, Sharpend ...

As my #11 (not me though) ... :ok:

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af162/CoffmanStarter/imagejpg1_zpsf3cc3b5e.jpg

Image Credit : Unknown

[Dominator2]

ksimboy, We do like tall stories, however, the direct track from Nellis mid point to McCarran touchdown is 10nm. That means that you made an average spd of 300kts? What about the max spd of 250kts below 10k? I'm not sure but I think that might also be a stretch for C130?

[thing]

My most accurate GCA was when I hit the GCA building and knocked the wing off

:) Oh, the joy of red wine down the nasal passage...

[4Greens]

How do you do define it ? Shortest flight in the RN was from the catapult into the sea.

[thing]

I'm guessing some pianos must hold that record then.

[Warmtoast]

I'm guessing some pianos must hold that record then


Like this.


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

[ksimboy]

Dom, not wishing to get into a weeing contest we went direct tower to tower and as McCarran was relatively quiet were cleared straight in to land hence the 2 min flight. Not a tall story at all as the rest of the crew would testify to .

[thing]

Nice one Toast :).

[Onceapilot]

Sorry, that is not a GRAND piano launch, it is an upright piano launch!

OAP

[oxenos]

OAP, you beat me to it.

Do bounces count???

[thing]

You couldn't skim a piano from the height of a carrier deck, angle is all wrong.

Mind you a grand piano if you launched it upside down has a good flat top surface so maybe. It's a shame John Cage is dead, he would have probably written a symphony around it.

[Janda]

On 13 May 1975 flew in Nimord MR1's XV248, XV251 and XV226 Lossiemouth to Kinloss. All flights logged as 5 minutes but were much shorter. Not being of the double winged master race I only logged what was in F700. Spent more time in the bus going from Kinloss to Lossie than in aircraft.

[GreenKnight121]

For longest flight you'd have to go some way to beat the record held by Robert Timm and John Cook in a C172 - 64:22:19:05 really! (http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2008/March/1/Endurance-Test-Circa-1958)

As per Biggus' post #6 in this thread http://www.pprune.org/8827648-post6.html Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager clocked 216 hours 3 minutes 33 seconds from 14 December 1986 to 23 December 1986.

[Glevum]

I reckon

64 Days 22 hours 19 minutes and 5 seconds

beats

216 hours 3 minutes 33 seconds

[GreenKnight121]

OK - the way you posted it the numbers blurred together, and it looked like 64 hours.

My mistake.

[2 TWU]

Brawdy, Hawk XX312, 1988. My first convex on a refresher, immediately after lift off a buzzard took out the engine, we slammed it back down and managed to stop before the barrier. ATC reckoned the fireball out the back end was longer than the aircraft. We logged 5 mins but best guess was 10 secs, height approx 10ft.

We thought the only reason the gear wasn't travelling by that stage was as it was my first ever trip in the Hawk I was groping for the gear button rather then press it instinctively, otherwise M-B letdown.

[dragartist]

Not a claim as I was not even born:
My dad tells a tale of a Hastings flying from one of the airfields in Habbaniyah at the top of a hill to another at the bottom of the hill for an engine change back in the 50s. He worked on Mosquitos and Beaufighters.


I have had a look on Google earth and my maps from GW1 era and can only find one airfield to the south of the town.


Anyone shed any light on this.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

An interesting longest/shortest.
I knew a guy who'd flown all sorts of weird stuff, including Air America. At one point, he was the personal pilot to the King of Nepal. They had an engine failure at about 500 feet, then landed ten minutes later; owing to the runway being on top of a mountain, and his dead-sticking it onto a field at the bottom of the Himalayan valley.

[david parry]

Ah!! The piano liberated from the RAF officers mess Honigton...By 809 squadron;)

[Wander00]

Shortest flight, 4 mins in a T Mk3 glider. best GCA - Canberra into St Mawgan when the whole country out in fog, white card break off 860 ft ISTR, saw lights at 125 ft. Boss - "consider yourself bollocked. Have a beer!"

[Danny42C]

Saw a Stearman once in Florida, instructor fast taxying, lift off for 1-2 secs to 3-4 ft, then flop down again ! :D

[FantomZorbin]

... and, relatively recently, there was a Victor ...... :uhoh:

[MPN11]

My little "Record of Service, Form B/Cadets/2", on 18 Aug 61 at No 1 Gliding Centre, RAF Hawkinge, reads:

Solo - L & RH Circuits - Flying time .07 - Launches 3.

I do clearly recall that it was a quite breezy day, and that a Slingsby Cadet TX Mark 3 (**251) went quite fast downwind. Does 3 circuits in 7 minutes count here?

[mr ripley]

18 Apr 1990
JP5A XW351
Fg Off ***** and Self
5 Min dual
Waddington to Cranwell

however it was just under 2.5 mins and rather good fun

[BEagle]

RAF Brawdy to RAF Chivenor - something over 6 hrs by road (before the M4 extension / new Severn bridge / North Devon link road).....

....or about 6 min by Hawk!

Can't believe that it's over 20 years since both such utterly excellent RAF airfields were squaddified......:mad:

[Ron Manager]

My grandfather's log book, which I have inherited, features the following entry:
Apr 23 1941 Lysander L4719 Self / Sgt. Fxxxxx Argos - (Crete) .05 day (shot down by Me109).
Not sure if it counts if the aircraft is unusable afterwards?

[Buc Driver]

What about the delivery flight of buccaneer xv361 from Raf Aldergrove to Langford Lodge in April 94. Flight lasted 94 seconds.

[reynoldsno1]

Lossie 23 to Kinloss 25 in a Nimrod
I've flown that route as well ...;)

[golamv]

I recall flying from Dhahran to Bahrain on a VC10 on several occasions. Can't recall exact duration but it was certainly quicker than driving across the "Tracy Island" causeway(especially when you were driving into Saudi and the Customs staff took an interest in the latest VHS videos you had just bought from Gadeer's).

[FleurDeLys]

Quote "Lossie 23 to Kinloss 25 in a Nimrod"

Hell, they moved the goalposts again. In my day that was Lossie 24 to Kinloss 26

[1.3VStall]

Shortest: 3 mins, Cadet Mk III (first solo), RAF Spitalgate.
Longest: 6 hrs 51 mins, Dart 17R, RAF Little Rissington, 323km X-country, landed north of Banbury.:ok:

[teeteringhead]

I recall flying from Dhahran to Bahrain on a VC10 on several occasions. I did that one once - as pax - on a VC10, can't remember if it was Gulf or BA (might even have been BOAC :eek:).

Hostie doing the announcement had a fit of the giggles as she announced something like:

"Flight time of 12 1/2 minutes at an altitude of 7000 ft!"

I might have the figures wrong - it was 40 years ago - but you get the gist .....

[Minnie Burner]

9 Aug 66. Thorney Island to Tangmere, Blackburn Beverley C.1, 01:30.
Drive back (after lunch) 19 mins. :rolleyes:

[BEagle]

After IAT at Fairford one year, a VC10K crew was kept waiting for hours because the Spams insisted on a flight plan and wouldn't let them depart without one...

...for a 3 min flight to Brize Norton :rolleyes:

[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”

[Prangster]

Anson CC19 Kinloss 19 oatcake, lift off loud bang port engine stops. Gentle thump back onto runway. Comment from up front, 'and that's why you always use the whole runway available laddie'

[ricardian]

SLF on a chartered British Caledonian Britannia from Stanstead to Bahrein in 1963. Just short of 13 hours if I remember correctly. Kids behind my seat were restless so their mother gave them a mouth organ to keep them quiet!

[Exnomad]

I used to work at FG Miles in the late 1950s One of the projcts was a light trasnport with a Hurel Dubois high aspect ratio wing. A trial wing was on a Miles Aerovan. excellent STOL performance
At the Farnborough show one year, the pilot landed, turned 90 deg, and took off across the runway to fly to dispersal.

[TwoTunnels]

Two 12:30hrs missions in Mar/Apr 2011...these were two sorties in 33 over Libya, the majority of which were over 11 hours. Never worked so hard in my flying career (including during the taxy back into dispersal, sometimes keeping the engines running to complete the tasks). Most satisfying as well.

[rvusa]

From a Pprune thread December 2010 :-

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

[Distant Voice]

Shortest flight? How about Orville Wright - 12 secs and 120 feet.

DV

[Minnie Burner]

Shortest flight? How about Orville Wright - 12 secs and 120 feet.
And longest!

[Stanwell]

OK then, how about a REGULAR service - one hop, unrefuelled, lasting between 27 and 33 hours?
Perth, Western Australia to Koggala, Ceylon - 3500 nautical miles, 4020 statute miles, 6480 kilometres.

By 1943, Australia's normal air connections to the UK had been cut off by the Japanese advances and so, modified Qantas Catalinas, crewed by RAAF personnel, provided a tenuous link, carrying only mail and very important passengers.

Navigation was solely by compass and star-sights. .Strict radio silence had to be maintained
It was a weekly service and lasted pretty-well until war's end.
Passengers were presented with an illustrated certificate titled the "Secret Order of the Double Sunrise".

The Japanese did not manage to intercept any of the 271 flights made.

[thing]

5hrs 40 in a glider (bloody freezing). I know, a mere beginner. Shortest flights would have to be the inumerable cable breaks one endures as a silent flyer.

Powered I battled a headwind and took three hours to get to Oban once. I'm sure I was going backwards some of the time, it would have been quicker to walk.

Western Australia to Koggala, Ceylon

My mate's dad flew Sunderlands out of Koggala, I think you're probably the only other person that's heard of it!

[Warmtoast]

thing

My mate's dad flew Sunderlands out of Koggala, I think you're probably the only other person that's heard of it!As someone who served at China Bay and Negombo (Katunayake) I know of it!

FWIW a bit of China Bay WWII history.

On 10-11th August 1944 31 USAAF B.29's flew from China Bay against the Palembang oil refineries in Japanese occupied Sumatra - the 3,900 miles flight from Ceylon to Palembang and back was the longest single-stage flight undertaken by USAAF combat aircraft in WWII. Only one aircraft was lost when it ran out of fuel.

Also long-range RAF B.24 Liberators and Catalinas flew supply and agent dropping missions from China Bay in support of SOE operations in Burma and Malaya.

[canard68]

British Eagle had a service from Liverpool to Hawarden using a Viscount in the late 60s . The flight continued on to London but it was possible to buy a ticket for the LPL -HAW leg for a couple of pounds.

[condor17]

Jenkins , guess you mean the Shorts '' mini shed '' Skyvan , BEA Skyliner , followed by ''Shed '' 330 , and finally '' Super shed '' 360 . All great to shelter behind in a crosswind , and mostly nicknamed Vomit Comets by deadheading crews .

Aye condor .

[Wander00]

The then Flt Lt Ted Hawkins won a DFC for a flight of some 23 hours in a Catalina to somewhere north of the Arctic Circle - will have to look up details again


The award of DFC was for an extended flight to Russia in April 1942.

April 4/42
Catalina Z2143, F/Lt Hawkins, P/O Wright, Sgt Semple, Sgt Aston, Sgt Beverly and Sgt Faulkes. Special Flight. Took off 05:05 hrs 4th, landed 06:55 hrs
5th.


Ted Hawkins was awarded a bar to his DFC for sinking an Italian submarine on 9 June 1942