Soups From Ghana, joined Jun 2004, 3437 posts, RR: 15 Posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 6 hours ago) and read 2022 times:
sometimes flights arrive at their destination early, 10min earlier sometimes 50minutes earlier. depends on the wind. i came across today flight from Tripoli to Accra. the flight landed 2hours and 15min in advance while the total flying time between tripoli and accra is around 4hours 30min. is that normal?
Flight # Time Origin Status Revised Time
8U790 2325 TRIPOLI Landed 2108
Next destinations, Suarabaya, beirut, paris, Accra
ACYWG From Canada, joined Feb 2005, 265 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 4 hours ago) and read 1939 times:
I remember once on AC851 arriving in Heathrow, we were 30 mins early arriving. We landed, but as our gate was still occupied by a Qatar Airways aircraft, we were asked to hold on the taxiway until our gate opened.
Halophila From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 623 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 3 hours ago) and read 1889 times:
Its fairly common for airlines to overschedule (i.e. schedule the flight longer than the actual flying time + taxiing) their flights. It's often that way on the transpacific flights I have been on. However, the actual flight time can vary significantly depending on winds, route, speed limitations, and arrival slot time (plus many other factors not listed here). Granted, 2 hr 15 min is a pretty early arrival. In looking at timezoneconverter.com, I notice that Accra is 2 h behind Tripoli. I think their schedules must be wrong on the website since 1915 + 4 hr 30 mins -2 hr = 2145 or thereabouts.
Soups From Ghana, joined Jun 2004, 3437 posts, RR: 15 Reply 4, posted (7 years 9 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 1743 times:
the flight routine is Tripoli-lagos-accra-tripoli.
probably the airline decided not to fly to lagos today.. change of mind LOL typial of african airlines
Next destinations, Suarabaya, beirut, paris, Accra
Caribb From Canada, joined Nov 1999, 1627 posts, RR: 9 Reply 5, posted (7 years 9 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 1568 times:
I've flown YUL-AMS and we've caught a good jetstream and shaved an hour or more so off the arrival time. For the westbound fights I've also hit ATC delays and a northernly route and added about 2 hours to the flight... so depending on all sorts of things flights can vary substantially from their schedule.. at least on the North Atlantic and presumably most everywhere else on the intercontinental air lanes.
Didn't the Concorde do New York-LHR in about 2 hours once thanks to the jetstream? What was the record it set?
Tornado82 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (7 years 9 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 1541 times:
Quoting Caribb (Reply 5):
Didn't the Concorde do New York-LHR in about 2 hours once thanks to the jetstream? What was the record it set?
At FL600, or those other obsecenely high alt's the Concorde flew at, you'd be beyond the level of jet streams/troposphere, to the extent that I doubt the jet gave the Concorde any noticable help. Besides, at Mach 2.0, how much help could a jet stream really be, relatively speaking.
YOWza From Canada, joined Jul 2005, 4781 posts, RR: 17 Reply 7, posted (7 years 9 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 1507 times:
Quoting ACYWG (Reply 2): I remember once on AC851 arriving in Heathrow, we were 30 mins early arriving. We landed, but as our gate was still occupied by a Qatar Airways aircraft, we were asked to hold on the taxiway until our gate opened.
Haha I've had the same experience about 10 times, AC getting into LHR nice and early but QR or MEA is blocking us every time!
Vasu From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2005, 3761 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (7 years 9 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 1478 times:
Quoting Halophila (Reply 3): Its fairly common for airlines to overschedule (i.e. schedule the flight longer than the actual flying time + taxiing) their flights.
True... Something I read on here ages ago said that, Following the timetables, flights from London to Paris have been growing in duration over the last 30(?) years, even though the planes have become faster!
Danialanwar From Switzerland, joined Mar 2001, 421 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (7 years 9 months 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 1459 times:
I have experience overscheduling too. And yes, I once sat in a plane for 30 minutes waiting for the gate to be freed up, or circling over Zurich waiting for the morning curfew to be over ...
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Freedomtofly From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 750 posts, RR: 6 Reply 11, posted (7 years 9 months 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 1344 times:
I've been about 45 minutes early before. It was on a UA flight to SFO.
AA87 From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 129 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (7 years 9 months 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 1312 times:
Has happened to me several times, last was in June, AZ on FCO-EWR, in about 45 min early. Once landed at JFK on Swissair, 20 minutes early, had to wait 40 minutes for our gate to be freed up by Varig (early Swiss, late Brazilians, a stereotype ? ). Years ago, El Al was known as "Every Landing Always Late", but since they've shaped up I've landed early on them too. Early basically means things went much more efficiently than is usual
Ikramerica From United States of America, joined May 2005, 21029 posts, RR: 60 Reply 13, posted (7 years 9 months 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 1284 times:
Quoting Vasu (Reply 8): even though the planes have become faster!
actually, didn't the 707 cruise faster than today's planes, and the 747 is faster than most other planes, but it is more economical to fly a bit slower? 707s were flown at upward of 600mph to get you there fast, back in the day of exclusive, expensive air travel.
There was also no congestion, no holding patterns hundreds of miles away from major cities, etc.
Of all the things to worry about... the Wookie has no pants.
EKGOLD From Australia, joined May 2005, 204 posts, RR: 6 Reply 14, posted (7 years 9 months 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 1234 times:
Something for our pilots....
Is arriving early frowned upon by your ops people? with current fuel prices is there any pressure on you to wind the throttles back and simply arrive on time on the back of the tail wind and theoretically save fuel?
HighFlyer9790 From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 1236 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (7 years 9 months 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 1084 times:
Its always nice getting into the jetstream above the north atlantic. while we were going BOS-LHR, typically 6 - 6 1/2 hours, we had a 120mph tail wind giving us 650mph groundspeed and arriving an hour early with a flight time of around 5 hours. that meant we landed at 4:30 in the morning....
Professional people mover. A to B. CL-65 Type; CFI/CFII/MEI/AGI/IGI
Fbgdavidson From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 3688 posts, RR: 31 Reply 17, posted (7 years 9 months 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 1069 times:
A number of times flying from the East Coast US back to London we've been held on stand killing time before pushback because winds would mean we'd arrive at LHR way too early.
Quoting Caribb (Reply 5): Didn't the Concorde do New York-LHR in about 2 hours once thanks to the jetstream? What was the record it set?
I think it was 2hrs 52mins....
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From Ghana, joined Jun 2004, 3437 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2005, 802 posts, 
From Canada, joined Feb 2005, 265 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 623 posts, 
From Switzerland, joined Mar 2001, 421 posts, 
). Years ago, El Al was known as "Every Landing Always Late", but since they've shaped up I've landed early on them too. Early basically means things went much more efficiently than is usual
From Australia, joined May 2005, 204 posts, 
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