Flew MEL-PER on QF 777 last night.
Flight was completely full, not a seat spare. Just as the FAs were closing up the doors the pilot came on the horn to explain the half hour delay to departure. Due apparently to the fact the aircraft had come into T2 in Melbourne and needed to be towed to T1, blah blah blah.
Then came the good bit. All was OK!. We would make up time as they were going to put extra fuel ("gas") in the plane and fly at a lower altitude (32000 feet) so they could power up the engines with the extra fuel on board and make the plane go faster!
A bit concerning a Qantas pilot isn't aware of basic aerodynamics and that air speed is not really something you can just speed up with a bit of extra engine power and doing so would be dangerous as we would have to breach the sound barrier to make up that sort of time. The extra fuel and lower altitude was more likely due to the heavy payload the aircraft was taking and increased drag at flying at such an altitude requiring the additional engine power and fuel.
Surely the pilot knew all this and was just a blatant lie that we would be flying faster, in which case why do so? Plane was only 10-15 minutes delayed for landing anyway, more due to the fact the schedule has some fat in it for stronger head winds. Seems like a pilot and co-pilot taking credit for something that is impossible, unless QF intentionally fly below cruising speed in their 737s routinely and have this option available to them, but wouldn't think so?
Flight was completely full, not a seat spare. Just as the FAs were closing up the doors the pilot came on the horn to explain the half hour delay to departure. Due apparently to the fact the aircraft had come into T2 in Melbourne and needed to be towed to T1, blah blah blah.
Then came the good bit. All was OK!. We would make up time as they were going to put extra fuel ("gas") in the plane and fly at a lower altitude (32000 feet) so they could power up the engines with the extra fuel on board and make the plane go faster!
A bit concerning a Qantas pilot isn't aware of basic aerodynamics and that air speed is not really something you can just speed up with a bit of extra engine power and doing so would be dangerous as we would have to breach the sound barrier to make up that sort of time. The extra fuel and lower altitude was more likely due to the heavy payload the aircraft was taking and increased drag at flying at such an altitude requiring the additional engine power and fuel.
Surely the pilot knew all this and was just a blatant lie that we would be flying faster, in which case why do so? Plane was only 10-15 minutes delayed for landing anyway, more due to the fact the schedule has some fat in it for stronger head winds. Seems like a pilot and co-pilot taking credit for something that is impossible, unless QF intentionally fly below cruising speed in their 737s routinely and have this option available to them, but wouldn't think so?