Routes

[Shiv Mathur]

Caveat: I don't [size=8](know how to)[/size] use these things myself, so
this may not be any use.

But if you are looking for a route, maybe you can find a real-world flight
that flies it, and then track it at http://flightaware.com

Please check http://shiv.bandwagon.in/flightaware.jpg

If this is old or useless, my apologies.

Shiv

[stekeller]

No Shiv:

It's not useless. I have been doing this for a while and it works quite well. For example, when looking for a flight I will go to FlightAware and do a search for all 747 flights and find one I would like to simulate, then get the flight plan as you describe.

Since we are on the topic, I sometimes take the flight plan from FlightAware and then copy it and paste it into the "Route:" field on the following web page:

http://www.simroutes.com/fb2/ParseRoute.aspx

Just remember to put in the departure and arrival airports in the fields above and below the "Route" box. You may also have to format it and delete spaces and carriage returns that browsers sometimes put between the various waypoints so it all flows as straight text with no characters in between.

You can then make a printed out flight plan with distances and times, and in addition, you can see a graphical depiction of your route.

I have taken this a step further and done this with flights I will be riding in as a passenger. For example, last time I flew to Japan on a JAL 747-400, I did this before we departed and saw a plot of our planned route before we even took off. It makes it more fun and interactive when you have a detailed flight plan when flying as a passenger!

- Stefan
KORD

[Holger Wende]

Hi Shiv,

You are right, Flightaware is a great resource to track flights and to extract real-world flight plans
Unfortunately flightaware tracks flights only when they are inside the range of some US centers, but some flightplans are available for flights outside their service area, too.

I find it particularly valuable as pre- or as post-flight analysis for vacation or business trips.
Sometimes friends or relatives approach me an ask what they can expect to see during their flight to somewhere. Having the Flightaware flightplans of the past few flights make such a "sight-seeing forcast" easier. No guarantee of course.

If you are looking for a specific flightplan but Flightaware does not show it, it helps sometimes to check for international airports close to the origin or destination.

BTW: A while back there was a forum discussion about the longest(?) scheduled flight. It is/was the flight between Singapore and Newark, performed with an A340. According to Flightware scheduled flight time is 17h 50m :shock: Allthough I really love flying this is a real challenge for the passenger veins!

Regards, Holger

[Zinger]

There are a number of route planners, on both Internet and client PC based. Some also suitable for PS1 format. Without updated PS1  AIRACs it may become problematic for the FMC to recognize fixes by name. I have FOC which is a professional grade planner but requires substantial learning. I frequently use FSBuild 2. Among other qualities it can figure in forecast wind.

The oceanic portions change daily based on wind aloft. Those Atlantic routes called NATS are published along with their effective times. Westbound from around noon UTC and eastbaound nights because of demand. Minimum separation is 1000 feet (so flying eastbound FL380 is normal) because of this one direction flow and high traffic  density. There is a similar arrangement on the Pacific (PACOTS).
The longest commercial transport flight in both flight range and duration, was conducted in 2005 by a B777-200LR from HKG to LHR and lasted 22:40 hours.

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Flight planners such as FOC usually contain a data base with both fix names and coordinates, for obvious reasons. PS1 flight plans also contain both names and coordinates. It follows that these flight planners produce PS1 flight plans that are self-contained and do not need an updated AIRAC database on PS1.

Of course, when ATC clears you to a fix not in the flight plan, you need to improvise.


Jeroen

[Qavion]

The longest commercial transport flight in both flight range and duration, was conducted in 2005 by a B777-200LR from HKG to LHR and lasted 22:40 hours.

lol.. I guess no one told them about the short cut over Russia

[Zinger]

They had no idea, and overflew  Anchorage and Seattle IIRC.

[Hardy Heinlin]

What was the longest 747-400ER flight (in hours)?

Have to reserve sufficient memory for the PSX track plotter :-)

(It's an infinite circular buffer this time, but anyway ..)

|-|

[Holger Wende]

Hi Hardy,

I far as I know the longest scheduled passenger non-stop flight performed with a 747-400 is the 15h 30m UAL896 flight Hong Kong to Chicago.

From Wiki: In 1989, a Qantas 747-400 flew non-stop from London to Sydney, a distance of 9,720 nmi (11,190 mi, 18,000 km) in 20 hours and 9 minutes, although this was a delivery flight with no commercial passengers or freight aboard and using extra dense jet aviation fuel produced specially by Shell.

But rumors exist for a scheduled non-stop London-Sydney service.

Regards, Holger

See also:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL862
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747-400
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-stop_flight

[Hardy Heinlin]

I think I'll set the buffer to 25 :-)

[Qavion]

In 1989, a Qantas 747-400 flew non-stop from London to Sydney, a distance of 9,720 nmi (11,190 mi, 18,000 km) in 20 hours and 9 minutes, although this was a delivery flight with no commercial passengers or freight aboard and using extra dense jet aviation fuel produced specially by Shell.

There was also a few items removed from the aircraft. However, the 747-400ER might conceivably duplicate this flight without the special fuel requirements and weight reduction (but still a very low payload).

Rgds.
Q>

[Zinger]

United operates daily non-stops from O'hare to Hong Kong (UAL829) and back (UAL 828  ). The  Boeing 747-400 aircraft is configured with 14 United First Suite seats, 73 United Business seats and 260 United Economy class seats, including 88 Economy Plus seats.  ~8 tons of cargo space is allocated. They refuel in China when short.