Originally Posted by
KelvinD
When I was living near Capetown in the mid 1970s, I turned up at Capetown airport early one morning to watch the arrival of South African Airways' first 747SP. I don't remember all the numbers etc but this aircraft had flown non-stop from Seattle. In order to do this, most of the seats had been removed and additional fuel tanks installed and I seem to remember it was carrying 14 crew. A heck of a long flight!
It took 17hrs and 22mins for the 10,200miles and they had reserves for another 2.5hrs left upon landing. Amazing endurance whatever the configuration!