Originally Posted by
mattyj
777s are a hauler..especially the 300’s. All the pax all the freight all the fuel. (Almost
) License to print money if you can fill them up (which is the current problem)
I heard someone say they had the best underfloor cargo capability in class.
Almost. On our longest flight they pumped the gas until the plane wouldn't take anymore. Typically 312-315,000 lbs vs the 320,000 lbs advertised. Fuel was slightly warmer than 15C/59F. Sometimes we'd be capped at approx. 40-60 less passengers than full. Carry that much weight for 16 hrs wouldn't leave enough reserve fuel on arrival. We'd laugh if the takeoff weight was undr 760,000 lbs - "we're light. This baby is going to stand on it's tail and rocket out of here!" Needless to say reality was that we didn't rocket out of town on departure at that weight. Another saying "there is no 'pull the nose up to make a crossing restriction.' The more you pull the nose up the farther you'll miss the restriction by."