QF28 - Over the ice.

[VOZ102]

Managed to snap a few pics of the ice over Antarctica as we came from from SCL the other day from the upper-deck.

This was the route

Pretty cool stuff!

 

[love_the_life]

That's really spectacular. I knew the JNB flights tracked well south but (silly me) didn't think about SCL ones doing the same thing.

 

[docjames]

Great pics, thanks for sharing thse.

What i find amazing is that the ice looks "so close" which of course is just the scale and some of those fissures in the ice must be huge!

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Not to get too deep into thread jack, but there is a chaper way to see snow/ice, SYD - CHC on EK's flight in winter is quite spectacular too.

 

[love_the_life]

Not to get too deep into thread jack, but there is a chaper way to see snow/ice, SYD - CHC on EK's flight in winter is quite spectacular too.

But it's not Antarctica Poochie
NZ is good but not quite the same.

 

[Pleb Status]

If this route was flown by the 787, you would most likely not be able to get this view as the FA would have locked off the ability to 'lighten' the window dimming.

Luckily, the window dimming system used on the 787 is that poor that you can still clearly see out the windows even when it is set to maximum darkness.

 

[kermatu]

Great pics. What a spectacular bonus to a flight.

 

[juddles]

Managed to snap a few pics of the ice over Antarctica as we came from from SCL the other day ...

VOZ, which day was that? I came over on that flight yesterday, and the ice truly was spectacular. First time I have seen ice stretching to the horizon on the RIGHT side of the plane - IE looking north!!

 

[Mattg]

Great stuff!

If this route was flown by the 787, you would most likely not be able to get this view as the FA would have locked off the ability to 'lighten' the window dimming.

Luckily, the window dimming system used on the 787 is that poor that you can still clearly see out the windows even when it is set to maximum darkness.

I also suspect that a 787 would not have flown that far south due to ETOPS requirements.

 

[moa999]

ETOPS will be reviewed, albeit they may still not go that far South.
QFs 787s will reportedly have Gen2 of window dimming which is meant to be darker

 

[Himeno]

If this route was flown by the 787, you would most likely not be able to get this view as the FA would have locked off the ability to 'lighten' the window dimming.

Luckily, the window dimming system used on the 787 is that poor that you can still clearly see out the windows even when it is set to maximum darkness.

The darkness tint issue was only a problem for the first batch of aircraft. Outside of the oldest JL, NH, UA and LO aircraft, the tint goes darker.
The tint system and the central control override is the one thing I don't like about the 787.

The 787 has a ETOPS type rating of 330, which would cover much of Antarctica near the SYD-SCL great circle route. Great Circle Mapper Weather CASA allows QF to use the 330 rating is another story.

 

[Duffa]

This was the route

Well I think the airline should be ashamed, wasting all that fuel just to show off Antartica. Why couldn't they fly straight across?

 

[mannej]

Well I think the airline should be ashamed, wasting all that fuel just to show off Antartica. Why couldn't they fly straight across?

Umm...

A straight line distance isn't necessarily the quickest in aviation.

 

[Bilton]

Well I think the airline should be ashamed, wasting all that fuel just to show off Antartica. Why couldn't they fly straight across?

Aircraft and powered ships generally follow great circle routes, as far as possible, for long distance journeys over open ocean. They are the straight across way to get between two places with the least expenditure of time/fuel. The route that QF27/28 follow is a great circle which goes across part of Antartica.

See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great-circle_navigation

 

[love_the_life]

Very funny, Duffa. Good joke there

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Great Pictures, looks just as good as flying on QF63.

How excited were the rest of the passengers?

 

[Garry BT]

This is some awesome news and advice. I had no idea that any airline flew that close to Antarctica.
I just checked up on flight radar and, even as I type this, QF28 is 3 and a half hours out from Santiago, heading towards Antarctica.
Qantas fare is just over $1,100 return, which is much cheaper then the tourist flights over Antarctica.
South America here I come!

 

[glefoe]

Wow thanks for sharing this. I'm flying to Santiago in November. Can you recommend BC seats for getting this kind of view?

 

[Himeno]

This is some awesome news and advice. I had no idea that any airline flew that close to Antarctica.

If you believe the flat earthers, flights across the southern oceans, like QF28, don't exist and are faked by the airline and NASA as part of the "ball earth conspiracy".

I just checked up on flight radar and, even as I type this, QF28 is 3 and a half hours out from Santiago, heading towards Antarctica.

FR24 added a ADS-B receiver in Antarctica in December 2015. It can track flights within approx 300nm of Troll Research Station.

 

[VOZ102]

Well I think the airline should be ashamed, wasting all that fuel just to show off Antartica. Why couldn't they fly straight across?

LOL looks straight to me: