Longest Flight

[ETOPS773]

Howdy all.
Just a question i`ve never really thought of asking,but thought it`d be interesting to ask :)

Whats the longest flying x-country you`ve flown??
And also,on the topic of long stuff,anyone know which GA single has the longest range???

Cheers,
ETOPS

[bcfc]

2:05 C172 KPVG-KFAY Had to land early as wife needed to deposit chunder :eek:

[distaff_beancounter]

About 5 hours, Airways, in a Piper Malibu, Ibizi to Elstree.

Only logged as P/UT, as I needed the fella in the R/H seat, with his IR & instructor's rating :D

But I did really enjoy being a total poser, flying at 20,000ft over the Pyranees. :cool:

[treadigraph]

Slightly off topic but of interest none the less - what about the two guys in Nevada who flew a 172 for 64 days - yes, 64 days!!! - in the late 50s, picking up fuel, oil and provisions twice a day by flying low over a truck...

If ever you are passing through McCarran International, the aircraft is hanging from the roof inside the terminal. So far as I know it's still a record: well, would you want to try and beat it? I wouldn't, 2 hours in a Cessna is bun-numbing enough for me, would have to stop for coffee...

[FlyingForFun]

Damn, yesterday I had my log book with me, I could have given you the exact flight times.

Flight was a return trip from Chandler Airport, Phoenix, Arizona to Compton Airport, Los Angeles, California, in a Piper Arrow. Can't remember the distance or the amount of time it took - I seem to recall each leg being about 4 hours, which would put the distance at around 500nm, but I'll check on that tonight if I remember (unless someone from that area would care to correct me before tonight if I'm wrong, of course!)

The flight out was a bit of a nightmare. Forecast was 8 miles vis in dust storms. "No problem," I thought, "I regularly fly in 5km vis, 8 miles is a nice day compared to what I'm used to." Well, that's true enough, 5km vis in South East England, where there are towns, roads, railways and rivers every couple of miles, isn't really a problem. Out in the Californian dessert, though, where there's nothing to navigate by visually except a mountain or two, 25 miles away or more, was a little more challenging. :eek: Made good use of VORs to back up ded reckoning skills, eventually got back over some populated areas where there was no sand to be blown around, and more features on the ground, only to be hit by turbulence that required some pertty intense concentration to keep altitude to within a couple of hundred feet. The turbulence calmed down eventually, but by the time I had to tackle the nightmare that's known as the LA airspace for the first time ever, I was exhausted! It showed when I got far too close to the Cessna in front of me in the circuit (sorry, pattern), but I made it down safely, got a cab to my hotel room, and collapsed into my bed!

The return flight, on the other hand, was one of the best cross-country flights ever. Perfect weather, beautiful scenery, everything went exactly to plan - one of those flights to remember forever.

As far as range is concerned, I don't fly the Arrow very much (got checked out specifically for this and one other long cross country which I thought were too far to do in a Super Cub, and haven't flown one since) but I recall the endurance being about 7 hours, which would certainly beat the endurance of my bladder!

FFF
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[buzby15]

Wick to Keflavik (Iceland) in a cherokee six - flight time 6 hours and a lot of cold water underneath. I also flew the next leg Keflavik to Narsarsuaq (Greenland) 5mins short of 6 hours, but with a ferry pilot sitting in the rh seat although I was able to log it P1. Then it all went wrong. One mag failed between Iceland and Greenland so had to wait for one to be sent, had to get back for work so flew down the back of a B757 to Copenhagen and then with Go to EGSS. The six made it to Danbury CT later that week with its owner and the ferry pilot. The owner is a friend of mine from university who now lives and works in the US - 3 kids hence needs the six. He uses it a lot last spring took it to the Bahamas - 13.5 hours each way stopping 4 times. Back to the point the transatlantic was a real experience!

[buzby15]

Addendum to last, my plane has 7.5 hours endurance or about 1050 nm. That far outstretches my endurance!!!

[Aussie Andy]

Bladder is definitely the limiting factor! Still, an interesting question so I checked through my log book (which I keep in Excel format as well as paper in case I ever lose the real logbook). Nothing fabulous really... longest flight was 2h15m from Sky Acres 44N (NY/Connecticut border) to Fulton County NY27 (upstate NY) having flown over the Catskills with my mate Andreas in his beautiful modern classic C170B - gorgeous! This was my first experience of flying in the US, and impressed me immensely!

My longest flight in the UK was 2h15m from White Waltham to White Waltham for the the recent RIN TopNav 2002 event... fabulous fun for me, doing all the flying, but tough on my mate 1013.25 doing all the nav!!! :) It was a great day - fabulous views of Beachy Head when we got there - but still haven't see the results. Don't suppose we won but would like to know where we ended up, i.e. just how bad we were!

[CBG]

Marrakech (Morocco) to Almeria (Spain) two months ago in a DR400. About 4+ hours. The most freaky was a couple of days before that, ATAR (Mauritania) to Laayoune (Morroco), 3+ hours of pure desert, not a soul in between, glued to the artificial horizon because of the zero viz outside. The most interesting was on the way out to Dakar: breakfast in France, lunch in Spain, dinner in Morroco. That afternoon flight was also my first and only intercontinental flight as P1!

[doubleu-anker]

I think the single commache has a log range, standard tanks.

I believe the late Max Conrad (professional ferry pilot) flew one, with ferry tanks fitted, from Mexico to some where in Europe, in the 60's.

[MLS-12D]

My longest flight so far was 5:30 in a SGS 1-26. I didn't go anywhere; it was just to satisfy the Silver-C duration requirement.

One of the longest glider flights on record was also in a 1-26, out of Hawaii: 36 hours.

I remember reading about the Nevada endurance record in Flying magazine. Like treadigraph says, I doubt that it will ever be broken! :D

And of course, let's not forget Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager's 1986 non-stop globe-circling flight in the Voyager: 216 hours, 24,986.727 (nautical?) miles

[Whirlybird]

Longest without stopping (even to refuel).? Longest in a straight(ish) line? Longest time in the air? I read some of the answers and still don't know.

Longest without stopping probably 2.9 hours in an R22, from Long Beach to San Diego, round the harbour, and back to Long Beach. Since endurance is only a little over 3 hours...

Longest in straight(ish) line - Elstree to Dundee, or Wolverhampton to Paris, whichever's longest (2 pilots in each case).

Longest time in air - this years's Dawn to Dusk entry, nearly 10 hours, all over central England - and I'm never ever doing it again. :eek:

[Keef]

Probably Grand Canyon to Brackett Field, routing via Meteor Crater and Sedona (not landing at either due crosswind). 3 hours 45 minutes total time, distance something like 450nm.

Fabulous trip - done something very similar since as "pax" in RHS. That's the upper limit of bladder tolerance for an oldie like me.

Done some other very enjoyable trips, similar distances, but broken into smaller chunks with food and comfort breaks on the way. Wouldn't want to do the Greenland to USA one!

[chrisN]

Longest duration 10 hours 45 minutes, covering about 348 kilometres rather slowly in Scotland (4.7.87).

Longest distance that counts - about 500 kilometres - Essex to Yorkshire and back (took 8 hours 16 minutes) (13.6.96).

Longest this year - 5 hours 25 minutes, covering 271 km (21.7.02) in Devon/Dorset.

Not particularly remarkable for glider flights, except that they were in a Ka6E (1968-built wood/fabric glider, well outclassed by today's designs).

[FlyingForFun]

Whirly,

Longest time in air - this years's Dawn to Dusk entry, nearly 10 hours, all over central England - and I'm never ever doing it again
Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it! You'll be back again next year, I know you will...

:D

FFF
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[khorne]

Reykjavik to Blackpool is my longest . I think this is about 870 nm. There was a good tailwind and we were high up in good weather so we thought we would miss out the refuelling stops. Landed with lots of fuel.

I had thought that having 1000 nm range meant that I would never fly that far but have plenty of spare for cockups. Having been to Greenland I now think you need an aircraft with 1400nm range (and a bit) in order to avoid every having to spend another night there.

[EI_Sparks]

Can't claim a longest flight for myself yet :(
But, here's (http://www.millenniumflight.com/diary/index.php3) the longest flight I can think of off the top of my head - round the world in a Long EZ. Which you would think would be enough for anyone, but then the guy gets home, thinks "hmmm", and does it again, but in the opposite direction!
:) :eek: :eek: :rolleyes:
Now that is how to spend your retirement :)

[bjs]

My longest flight was last friday - North Tenerife to Porto Santo, 275nm: 3 hours 10 minutes in EG-CBU a PA 28 - 180. A very satisfying achievement, thoroughly enjoyed it.

bjs

[englishal]

Do you mean longest leg without refueling? My longest non stop flight was Scottsdale Arizona to Long Beach CA, around 3.7 hrs - probably one of my longest flying days Long Beach - Scottsdale - Long Beach, all under the hood SIT with a safety pilot, a bit over 7 hours...yawn....Got back at 3am. (Had a great laugh flying in over San Diego, switching on the runway lights of all the airports we overflew, some poor French bloke started getting into a flap when we switched on Montgomery Field's lights. Apparently he was on the ILS or something and suddenly all the lights came on "err..socal....who else is on final...the lights have all come on...negative on the traffic....where iz hee?....i cannot zee imm":))

Another long day was Long Beach CA - San Louis Obsipo CA - Harris Ranch CA - Columbia CA - Bakersfield - Long Beach, another 12 hourer.

Cheers
EA:)

[Rod1]

Two flights of 2:30

First in a DR400 - Laval to White Walthem
Second in an AA5B - Dinard to Tatenhill.

Both without an autopilot.

Rod

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Longest in air non stop 19 hours and 10 minutes.

Longest point to point straight line 1485 NM. Dakar Senegal to Fernando De Norohna. ( 12 hours )

Cat Driver