Qantas Project Sunrise goes ahead, 12 new A350-1000s ordered

[SeatBackForward]

Hard to really work out. Some seem to have only one leg. Not easy when counting the number of legs and dividing by 2. In order to count the number of prople

Fun fact, the average number of legs per person on the planet is less than two. Ok that's enough to derail this thread...

 

[RooFlyer]

Latest episode of AvTalk podcast from FR24 had an interview with Xavier Pepin, the ‘pilot in charge’ of the ULR flight. Starts at 13:30 (you’ll want to avoid the ‘banter’ at the beginning).

A few snippets:

* Originally planned TLS-TLS only but Qantas suggested Australia.

* Originally then planned SYD - over Rolls Royce in Derbyshire - TLS, but Qantas asked for MEL origin (interesting!) and that added distance caused the route to be re- planned. Then 2 days before flight, the winds dropped and they were going to drop the UK if the wind didn’t pick up. They did!

* Not sure if I understood correctly. He said 5 pilots. Three Airbus test pilots and, at the request of Qantas, 2 Qantas pilots - ex BA who were qualified on the aircraft. 4 hour shifts, but changing one every 2 hours. One AB pilot in the coughpit at all times. Allowing the client to fly ‘hands on’ at this stage must be unusual?

* New, separated ‘twin’ pilot rest areas not used - given over to instrumentation ( temp, ventilation)

* No First or Business seating on board - instrumentation.

* The TLS go-arounds ( his description ) were scheduled up front, subject to fatigue.

Xavier Pepin, Ultra Long Range Pilot

Podcast Episode · AvTalk - Aviation Podcast · 31 July · 46min

podcasts.apple.com