in 1998 i was on hols in the dominican republic and got caught up in hurricane georges, due to damage at the airport our return to the uk was delayed and we had to coach it to the north of the island to get a plane home. after waiting many hours a chartered 767 appeared in the distant sky and all cheered when it touched down, the plane had been sent out from the uk empty and so it was more or less a re-fuel, change of crew, turn around and straight off again. I remember thinking about half way home - which if I re-call is mid atlantic and quite a long way from anywhere else - what an amazing feat of engineering modern aircraft are...the flights quite a long one - can't remeber how long but it was +7 hrs (for some reason I recall nearer 11 but that can't be right?) anyway those engines had been at it for a very long time indeed that day, without much of a let up. We were told by the crew that it had routed Gatwick to Miami (where some of our package co-horts had been evacuated to) to Gatwick, Gatwick to Peurto wherever we were and back to Gatwick more or less non-stop.