assuming this is a good wind day a bad one would bring the flight time to ~18hrs I guess. 787 should be able to do it assuming it gets its levels etc. Wouldnt catch me in economy for that long though

My ears may have been deceiving me, but I'm sure the effo just asked Departures for "Direct Heathrow"!

They got SWAGY instead.

:ok::ok::ok::ok:

I'm waiting for SpaceX BFR. Anywhere to anywhere in less than an hour.

I noticed they also flew ZNB over to Perth as QF777 about an hour ahead of the inbound QF9. Would this have been a bit of 'insurance' that the inaugural flight would get out on time?

DVT Express.

Sitting down for 17+ hours is quite a challenge (don't forget they've probably also been sitting down for over an hour at the terminal) - will everyone be getting up for a leg stretch?

Besides the issue of the toilets clogging, becoming occupied for long periods of time, running out of water (has happened to us a couple of times on LH), all it will take is some expert to say that sitting down for so long is considered unhealthy and the opportunists among the pax will follow through with law suits for compensation (i.e free trip).

Can't stand LH flights as I get older unless the plane is half empty, but what an expensive luxury that is.

Shame they will have to circle for an hour at LHR..

https://www.flightradar24.com/QFA9/10d05b84

ETA 0306hrs. :rolleyes:

Oh, and another thing. Good to actually a see a white rat on a big tail heading west. Stood out like dog's balls in the dark. Might be the LEDs...

Won't be a game changer unless it has an App.

Crikey, shorter than some DFW-SYDs I've done

So whats the big deal then haha, ULH is horrific as pax and crew

... and it being the first service if they didn't have a back up aircraft people like you would be complaining if it didn't depart because there was a maintenance issue... Pan Am had another 747-121 available which they ended up using for the first service.
Yes, others have operated the 787 for years but they haven't operated it from PER to LHR direct.

Because they want to have more than 230 seats :}

I think the timing of the carefully planned first flight will have the desired effect of heaps of pre-flight headlines of "(Almost) World's Longest Duration" morphing into post-flight "Direct to LHR in under 16 hours!"*



*Unless the giant head of GT adds too much drag.**


**AJ "Too much drag is never a problem..."

Flying incrementally further ULH is nothing new, but I’ve never seen so much negativity about a new route!!

Good on QF, hope it goes well :ok:

Now estimating 0246.


Guess they have taken account of European clocks going forward 1 hour tomorrow morning, but still Heathrow does not allow inbounds before 0430 local (it will be 0330 UTC by then).


Hello Lambourne.

Route
DCT AVNEX DCT POKIP DCT SWAGY DCT VERIS/M084F360 DCT SAKAB DCT EPGUP DCT 1036S09933E DCT MUTMI N509 ELATI/N0494F360 N640 HE/N0485F380 N640 CL DCT KAT DCT CI/M084F380 P570 KITAL/N0490F380 P570 MIXAM P574 GIVKO/N0484F390 R401 OIIX/N0480F400 M317 ROTAL UP574 SYZ UT430 VUVAG UL333 DASIS/N0485F400 UR660 ERZ UW704 CRM UL746 EVGEG/N0493F400 UL746 ODERO L746 NEPOT L851 DEGET DCT ABETI 4832N01344E/N0485F400 DCT RENKA UL610 LAMLA/N0485F400 UL610 BATTY UL608 SUMUM L608 LOGAN

This is the plan from Flight Aware

Some questions

They have planned M.084 is that slightly slower than normal cruise...maybe LRC? Are they running a very low Cost Index number for this flight.

At -> OIIX/N0485F400.......why knots rather than Mach number

Step climbs of 1000 foot steps seems like they have planned to be closer to optimum alt than the usual bracket technique, so why top out at F400 given the altitude capability of the aircraft. Winds above F400?

How do the flight following programs know the position /speed of aircraft far out to sea, I didn't think ADS-B satellite was running yet.

Interesting to watch this flight, they seem to be very close to the Great Circle track and abeam Singapore (north of coccus) they have picked up about 20-30 kts on the tail if 485 kts is right.

Flightradar24 showing ETA 0244. Is that too early for EGLL?
Or is the plan to put the brakes on the further north they get?

why is the eta coming back so far? too many directs?

As has been said aside from one or two niche exceptions the night slot earliest landing into LHR is 0430 local = 0330Z Sunday AM due clocks changing this weekend.

If their last routing point is LOGAN (alias Clacton) and Heathrow is on westerlies (forecast to change round to this overnight - just) then they should be passing right overhead Chateau WHBM on approach.

Too dark for a photo, but I'll set the alarm.

ETA updated...
 

Now showing 0500BST (10 minutes early) on Flightaware. So far so good...

Such a long flight, they are barely past the UAE, still another 7 hours to go :(

I see they are currently flying over Iran, will that be their normal flight path??

I dunno, always pretty happy punter on that one, crew mostly too.
Go figure eh

To give some historical perspective to this 17 hour flight, IIRC the wartime Catalinas that operated the Double Sunrise flights did not have single engine performance for the first 16 hours.

Probably whilst Iran remains domestically reasonably stable and internationally acceptable.

Expect Perth to more or less overhead Dubai and then the same route 99% of the QF1 & 9 services have been using since the Iraqi airspace closed.

And they probably didn’t have to worry about offending anyone by calling them a man or woman either!

EK are over flying Iraq airspace again.

Did the effo sign-on 2 hours before the skipper to put all those winds in?? :{

Get with the times Bloggsy!
 

ACARS wind uplinks for four levels at every waypoint in seconds...😂👍😉

How strict is the 0430L rule? Perhaps they’ve made this an exception?

Why are some people writing effo? What's wrong with FO?

Where do I sign up for that?! http://www.smilies.our-local.co.uk/i...rscrossed2.gif

It's 0237 in London now and it'll get there in 2:16, according to FR24. Should be OK for 0430 then...

We all thought LHR to SYD would be an eight hour trip by now, post Concorde. I do hope Musk delivers on his promise but I won't hold my breath.

Now showing ETA 0352z. Its late. :ouch:

You’ve hit the nail on the head there, Lancer. There are people who will complain and criticise no matter what Qantas management does. Any airline - any business - tries to make the most of new events and publicity opportunities. VAH wheel out Branson as often as possible for publicity. I don’t see the usual Qantas criticisers going after them for that

Watched the boarding hoo-ha live on the news, cooked and ate nice dinner, couple of wines, watched a movie, 8hrs sleep in my bed, shower, gym, lazy breakfast at cafe, mowed the lawn and now having a relaxing coffee on deck. And that flight still has 2hrs to go, I might even get to have lunch before arrival time.

I can only imagine how the crew feels at this time. Yuck!

Poor AJ!

(Never thought I'd say that)

Will the UK media be going crazy when they arrive?

Damn right!

"Cheating bloody Aussies!" ... thanks Steve! :{

Pity the poor passengers departing Melbourne who actually boarded the first leg over 5.5 hours before it left Perth (after waiting up to 3 hours in the terminal at MEL from checkin!)

I wonder if Qantas will terminate its sponsorship of a team led and managed by alleged cheats?