Originally Posted by
BEA 71
This is N806PA at Berlin-Tegel ( TXL ), ca. 1987. Flights operated mixed domestic/international services,
i.e. TXL-HAM-JFK, they also were workhorses on the TXL-FRA route, I am not sure about international
connections.
Three decades ago ETOPS twins were a novelty on the NAT tracks and the A310 was relatively slow cruising at mach .8 compared to other traffic. 747's, L1011's and the like usually did something like .86. The Sky-Gods on the Whale would kid us about getting trailing edge bird strikes on the wing. You could bump up the speed on the A310 to try to maintain separation but at .82 the fuel flow rose to the point that you would eat into your contingency reserves and you might have to make an extra stop.
For better fuel efficiency you wanted to go high as the aircraft got lighter but the fuel temp was limited to no colder than 3 degrees C. above the fuel freeze point (or something like that on the Pratt motors, I knew it for the oral exam, I swear
). You could descend to try to warm the fuel but that ate gas as did increasing the mach.
TXL had an uber-senior A310 pilot base and I think JFK was the only other A310 pilot base. The A310 aircraft went as far as Karachi to the east and west to the domestic Pan Am route system and down to South America.