TIME AND RANGE RECORDS FOR AIRLINERS

The first ever powered, heavier-than-air, manned flight, which in retrospect signified the birth of aviation as we know it, started with the two Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville. It lasted for only 12 seconds, and covered a distance of 36.6 meters. This was on the 17th of December 1903, and then, was definitely a milestone, though I imagine the villagers around the North Carolina Outer Banks dunes thought the two brothers were soft in the head. With this flight, the Wright brothers had proved that it was possible for man to fly and the only way to go with aviation from that point was forward. Over the years, aircraft engineers have strived to set records for various achievements. The Russian Engineers have gone for size and payload capacity, the Americans for the most technologically advanced and probably the most expensive toys, while Europe gave us speed and agility. But when we look back at where aviation started, it hits us, what a leap man has made in this field in a relatively short time, given the achievements. Case in point, the Wright brothers flew for 36 meters in 12 seconds, and their world applauded. Currently, the capability of aircrafts to fly over long distances is amazing to say the least. I am not talking about direct flights, but rather non-stop flights. One will ask what the difference is, and its justified as this field, like any other, has its terminologies which may appear befuddling to the normal Tom, Dick and Kimani! Direct flights are flights scheduled from point A to C, but may pass by point B to refuel or get more passengers, without those going to point C having to disembark, while Non-Stop flights go from point A to C, without digressing for any reason, well apart from an emergency, in which case the passengers, I recon, will be too glad to land anywhere on earth! Records for the longest flights have been set by various airlines over the years, the earliest probably in 1967-68, if it was indeed a non-stop flight as shown in their roster, Aerolineas Argentinas flew their 707 between Madrid and Buenos Aires, which took about 12 hours, making it the longest flight before the debut of the Boeing 747 SPs. April 1976 saw the setting of a new record of longest scheduled non-stop flight, from New York to Tokyo, a distance of 10, 854 km, and the same year in December, Sydney-San Francisco was the new longest scheduled route, of 11,937 km , both flown by the 747 SPs ( SP- Special Performance). In May 1988, the first ultra-long-haul passenger flight left the ground in Tel Aviv airport and touched down in Los Angeles, 13hours 41 minutes later, having covered 12, 189 km. In modern day, Qantas and Singapore airlines holds the records for the longest commercial non-stop flights. Qantas Airlines Boeing 747-400 flew 18, 0001 km from London to Sydney, setting a record for the longest nonstop flight by a commercial aircraft, then more recently, on the 3rd of February 2004, Singapore Airlines introduced ultra-long-haul flight operations from Singapore Changi Airport to Los Angeles then on 28th June 2004, to Newark, and these two hold the record for the longest commercial passenger non-stop flights, based on both time and distance. On the 9th of November 2005 a Boeing 777-200LR, Christened the Worldliner completed the world's longest non-stop passenger flight, traveling 21,602 kilometers from Hong Kong to London (going Eastwards), in roughly 22 hours and 22 minutes. On board were eight pilots including Suzanna DarcyHenneman, Boeing's first female test pilot. Although the airplane seats 301 passengers, there were only 27 aboard this flight including two Boeing executives, several Boeing 777 engineers, representatives from

General Electric and a dozen journalists from around the world.This, however, was not the record for longest time airborne for an airliner. This debatable record is claimed either by the 1939 BerlinNew York non-stop flight of a reciprocal piston powered Focke-Wulf Fw 200 built for Deutsche Lufthansa ( 24 hours 56 minutes) or by a Trans World Airlines Lockheed 1649A Starliner on the inaugural LondonSan Francisco polar route on 12 October 1957 ( 23 hours 19 minutes). However, from 1943 to 1945 Qantas operated a weekly return flight from Western Australia to Sri Lanka with flight times from 28 to 33 hours on their Consolidated PBY Catalinas. This was called The Double Sunrise service. Considering this history, from 12 seconds to over 28hours and a range of over 18, 000km from the mere 36m, its obvious that aviation will never be the same, and man, the curious and ever keen to achieve creature, will yet come up with greater achievements.

Boeing, B 747-400

Boeing, B777-200LR