BA777 to Melbourne

[adz555666]

Afternoon all,

Saw on the news last night that Tony Blair arrived in Melbourne non stop from Brussels and it was the longest non stop passenger flight.

Now it got me and my mates (with the help of a few beers!) discussing which way he would have gone. Some thought he may have gone east bound up and over the North Pole and down the Pacific while others and myself thought he went westbound via the Middle East.

Now there is a crate of Stella Artois resting on this so if any can help with the answer I would be very grateful!!

Best Wishes

Adam

[120.4]

Don't know exactly what his route would have been but from Brussels he won't have gone "westbound via the Middle East" - That would be eastbound!
.4

[kiwi1]

Try gc.kls2.com (no www I think). The Great Circle Mapper. Put in EBBR-YMML (Brussels - Melbourne), and 180 min ETOPS and it comes out with a route taking you direct East over Europe, Iran, Himalayas, Burma, down to Singapore and Indonesia and across Aus to Mel. This website is great fun, just to see which way an A/C would go, and for settling "discussions" :-)) Cheers, Kiwi1 :)

[AlphaWhiskyRomeo]

Sounds right to me. That is the way all UK to Aus flights go (though they stop in the Far East for fuel.)

I guess having only a few VIP pax and press on board gives the 777 a good bit more range than normal, though I doubt there was much left in the tank upon arrival.

[kiwi1]

Looking at the manuals, presuming it was one of the RR powered ones, (ER's) and you can load 137.5T of fuel on. Coming back across the pond on Fri am, the training capt. I was with mentioned abt 7T/hr works (climb/crz/des) so if you filled the tanks you could get 19.6hrs out of it (rough no.s) Rollers use no oil, GE's use a bit, so oil wouldn't have come into it. The rollers have a MTOW of abt 297T and DOW wgt of 148T I remember, leaving abt 12T for the pollies/hangers on etc. Cheers, Kiwi1

[Human Factor]

...so if you filled the tanks you could get 19.6hrs out of it...

Sounds about right, which is why BA use them to Montreal. :rolleyes:

[adz555666]

Thanks for your answer gentlemen!!

After re reading my post I should have put going eastbound via middle east!!
I guess I'm still hungover from last night!!

Thanks again!

Adam

[harry the cod]

297T MTOW ?! BA don't have the -300 series and as far as I know, the -200 MTOW is around the 263-267T mark.

As usual, I stand to be corrected by someone in the know.

Harry

[Human Factor]

BA's 777-200ERs (Rolls) have a MTOW of 297T.