Curiosity - has anyone ever made a non-stop, round-the-world flight longitudinally, passing over both the north and south poles?
I am motivated to ask because I know it has been done latitudinally (correct adverb?), and can't readily find anything concrete to suggest a flight has taken place in the manner I suggest. Many people out there are interested in challenges like this, so it seems to me that someone may well have attempted or at least planned such a feat.
Are there any particular challenges beyond the obvious non-stop round-the-world challenges of things like fuel endurance?
Grateful for any info.
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- flyingturtle
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RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
| Quoting RussianJet (Thread starter): Are there any particular challenges beyond the obvious non-stop round-the-world challenges of things like fuel endurance? |
Landing places, I think.
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=USH+-+PER+-+HRB+-+ACK+-+ush&MS=wls&DU=nm gives you 5600 nm between Ushuaia and Perth.
I assume one would rather land on Midway Atoll than in the middle of Antarctica.
David
RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
| Quoting RussianJet (Thread starter): Are there any particular challenges beyond the obvious non-stop round-the-world challenges of things like fuel endurance? |
That routing will have bigger ETOPS challenges...that's not really a regulatory hurdle because ETOPS doesn't apply to those types of record flights but you'd want to be a lot more careful about diversion/emergency planning.
Tom.
RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
Did USAF ever do a refuelled trip nonstop... I'm guessing not, aside from the well-known B-50 and B-52 trips.
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- RussianJet
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RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
| Quoting flyingturtle (Reply 1): Landing places, I think. http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=USH+-+PER+-+HRB+-+ACK+-+ush&MS=wls&DU=nm gives you 5600 nm between Ushuaia and Perth. I assume one would rather land on Midway Atoll than in the middle of Antarctica. |
| Quoting tdscanuck (Reply 2): but you'd want to be a lot more careful about diversion/emergency planning. |
Is that really such a big problem for a death-defying, record-breaking daredevil? I mean, people are happy to freefall from the edge of space for example....
RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
Of all the non-stop flights around the world . . . which direction did they went? I assumed that they went a certain direction to take into account prevailing wind and rotation of the earth.
So an intermediate challenge would be to go the reverse before you try the poles?
bt
So an intermediate challenge would be to go the reverse before you try the poles?
bt
RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
Have there only been four nonstop flights round the world? Three eastward and one west?
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- Starlionblue
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RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
| Quoting bikerthai (Reply 5): Of all the non-stop flights around the world . . . which direction did they went? I assumed that they went a certain direction to take into account prevailing wind and rotation of the earth. |
Virgin Global Flyer went eastbound all three times. Voyager went westbound. It really depends on which hemisphere for the winds. Also presumably seasonal.
| Quoting timz (Reply 6): Have there only been four nonstop flights round the world? Three eastward and one west? |
Unrefueled you have Rutan Voyager once and Virgin Global Flyer three times. Can't think of any others.
Refueled you have the three B-52s.
[Edited 2013-01-30 18:29:46]
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- Viscount724
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RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
It wasn't nonstop but in October 1977 a Pan Am 747SP made a special round-the-world flight over both Poles to commemorate their 50th anniversary. You could purchase tickets on that flight ($3,333 first class, $2,222 economy). Routing was SFO - LHR - CPT- AKL - SFO, passing over the North Pole between SFO and LHR, and over the South Pole between CPT and AKL. Total flight time including the stops just over 54 hours.
Related newspaper item.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...th%20anniversary&pg=1973%2C3373450
It's also mentioned in the Wikipedia articles on the 747SP and Pan Am. That flight used the aircraft below., named "Clipper New Horizons" at the time of the flight (it was renamed 4 or 5 times). Note the special "Flight 50" logo on that aircraft referring to that special flight, just behind the Pan Am name in the 1st photo and just over the forward door in the 2nd photo. I think that was the only Pan Am 747SP that made it into the "billboard" livery before they sold their Pacific routes (including their 11 SPs) to United in 1986 in their effort to generate cash and avoid bankruptcy a little longer.
As mentioned in the news item above, a 707-320C did something similar in 1965 (the newspaper article says it was TWA but it was Flying Tiger). That flight operated HNL-LHR - LIS - EZE - CHC - HNL, passing over the North Pole between HNL and LHR and over the South Pole between EZE and CHC. That flight took about 62 hours including 51 hours in the air.
News item on that flight.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...7%20north%20pole&pg=6604%2C3521309
Related newspaper item.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...th%20anniversary&pg=1973%2C3373450
It's also mentioned in the Wikipedia articles on the 747SP and Pan Am. That flight used the aircraft below., named "Clipper New Horizons" at the time of the flight (it was renamed 4 or 5 times). Note the special "Flight 50" logo on that aircraft referring to that special flight, just behind the Pan Am name in the 1st photo and just over the forward door in the 2nd photo. I think that was the only Pan Am 747SP that made it into the "billboard" livery before they sold their Pacific routes (including their 11 SPs) to United in 1986 in their effort to generate cash and avoid bankruptcy a little longer.
 Photo © Howard Chaloner |  Photo © Richard Vandervord |
As mentioned in the news item above, a 707-320C did something similar in 1965 (the newspaper article says it was TWA but it was Flying Tiger). That flight operated HNL-LHR - LIS - EZE - CHC - HNL, passing over the North Pole between HNL and LHR and over the South Pole between EZE and CHC. That flight took about 62 hours including 51 hours in the air.
News item on that flight.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...7%20north%20pole&pg=6604%2C3521309
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- rfields5421
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RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
| Quoting RussianJet (Thread starter): Are there any particular challenges beyond the obvious non-stop round-the-world challenges of things like fuel endurance? |
Flying over the North Pole is challenging - but well documented enough with losses of navigational aids to be an acceptable risk.
Flying over the South Pole is even more challenging and more problems with navigational aids.
The real problem is weather.
The Rutan Voyager flew at an average of 11,000 ft. The GlobalFlyer flew quite a bit higher - Fossett was at 40,000 ft when he diverted to Bournemouth.
Neither aircraft was designed to withstand rough weather conditions. They also both required the assistance of tailwinds - thus why the Rutan Voyager flight and the three GlobalFlyer flights were all eastbound circumnavigations.
A North to South Pole circumnavigation would approach one of the two poles in a poor weather situation. There would be almost no wind assistance.
It is going to require an aircraft with significantly more endurance that the Voyager or GlobalFlyer.
RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
| Quoting rfields5421 (Reply 9): A North to South Pole circumnavigation would approach one of the two poles in a poor weather situation. There would be almost no wind assistance. |
If you have to cross the jetstream, then you'd get a knock because you need to crab into the crosswind, unless you want to drift right and then left of course a bit....
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- flyingturtle
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RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
| Quoting Starlionblue (Reply 7): Refueled you have the three B-52s. |
...and one B-50: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Lady_II . One of the B-52s that made it was the Lucky Lady III. Lucky Lady I was a B-29 that made an eight-stop round the world trip.
And there has a training bombing run in 1995 where B-1s dropped ordnance on three ranges while completing a nonstop round the world flight: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronet_Bat
David
RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
| Quoting rfields5421 (Reply 9): thus why the Rutan Voyager flight and the three GlobalFlyer flights were all eastbound circumnavigations. |
| Quoting Starlionblue (Reply 7): Voyager went westbound. |
Anyone else think Voyager went eastward?
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- rfields5421
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RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
Sorry, wasn't thinking clearly when I wrote that.
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- Starlionblue
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RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
| Quoting timz (Reply 12): Quoting rfields5421 (Reply 9): thus why the Rutan Voyager flight and the three GlobalFlyer flights were all eastbound circumnavigations. Quoting Starlionblue (Reply 7): Voyager went westbound. Anyone else think Voyager went eastward? |
I thought so too. But I looked it up and all the maps show the course to be westbound. Given the nature of the Intertubes, It could all be lies of course.
RE: Non-Stop Flight Round The World Longitudinally?
| Quoting flyingturtle (Reply 1): I assume one would rather land on Midway Atoll than in the middle of Antarctica. |
Midway is at the height of albatross nesting season right now, so I'll call it a toss-up
