8
GA
/ Vol. 5 / No. 3 / MARCH 2013
Long haul flying
Some distances for you
Singapore Airlines recently announced that it would cut its two
longest routes from its schedule.
The SQ decision was based on the fact that it cannot make a profit
on these routes with the A340 500s presently in service and it has
therefore ordered more aircraft from Airbus. The A350 XWBs are
being purchased on the basis that Airbus have agreed to take back its
5 A340 500s as part of the deal.
SAA has apparently already taken a decision regarding its long
haul fleet renewal but it is presently awaiting new board approval.
The quad issue is the same problem that SAA has to some extent
faced with its A340 600 also being a quad. There is no doubt that
SAA will go to big twins with the likely candidates at thus time be-
ing the A350 XWB 900; B777 200 LR or the B787 Dreamliner
While there was originally talk of A380s / B747 8s coming into the
SAA new fleet mix, the latest from Chief pilot Capt Johnny Woods
is that they feel that the current optimum figure a new aircraft
should be able to carry is around 250 pax. The only concern is that
twin delivery slots are currently four years away.
With this in mind we thought we would bring you some stats on the
longest routes flown.
The World's top 10 longest commercial flights by distance flown:
Rank Miles
Routing Information
1 9,539
Singapore Changi International(SIN) to
Newark-Liberty International, Newark, NJ (EWR)
on Singapore Airlines (SQ)
2
8,771
Singapore Changi International (SIN) to Los
Angeles International, Los Angeles, CA (LAX) on
Singapore Airlines (SQ)
3
8,589
Sydney, Australia (SYD) to Dallas/Ft. Worth
International, Dallas, TX (DFW) on Qantas (QF)
4
8,448
Atlanta Hartsfield International, Atlanta, GA
(ATL) to Johannesburg International. Johannes-
burg South Africa (JNB) on Delta Air Lines (DL)
5
8,335
Dubai International, Dubai UAE (DXB) to Los
Angeles International, Los Angeles, CA (LAX) on
Emirates Airlines (EK)
6
8,313 D
Dallas/Ft. Worth International, Dallas, TX (DFW)
to Brisbane International, Brisbane Australia
(BNE) on Qantas (QF)
7 8,260
Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi International, Bangkok
Thailand (BKK) to Los Angeles International, Los
Angeles, CA (LAX) on Thai Airways (TG)
8
8,164
Dubai International, Dubai UAE (DXB) to
Houston-Intercontinental, Houston, TX (IAH) on
Emirates Airlines (EK)
9
8,099
Dubai International, Dubai UAE (DXB) to San
Francisco International, San Francisco, CA (SFO)
on Emirates Airlines (EK)
10
8,068
Hong Kong-Chep Lap Kok International Hong
Kong (HKG) to John F. Kennedy Interna-
tional, Queens, NY (JFK) on Cathay Pacific
Airways (CX)
of the SAA museum historical flight.
13 March 1967:
Flight SA406, a Vickers Viscount 818,
(registration ZS-CVA) christened Riet-
bok, crashed into the sea 1.5 miles (2.4
km) offshore while on final approach
during bad weather in the vicinity of
East London, Eastern
Cape, South Africa. All twenty-five
persons on board were killed. The ac-
cident investigation board stated 'The
available data is not sufficient for the
originating cause of the accident to be
determined with any degree of prob-
ability.' However the board couldn't
rule out the possibility that the aircraft's
pilot suffered a heart attack and this
resulted in a loss of control.
20 April 1968:
Flight SA228, a six-week old Boeing
707-300C, named "Pretoria" registra-
tion ZS-EUW, was lost near Wind-
hoek, South West Africa (now Na-
mibia). The crew used a flap retraction
sequence from the 707-B series which
removed flaps in larger increments than
desirable for that stage of the flight,
leading to a loss of lift at 600 feet (180
m) above ground level. The subsequent
descent went undetected by the crew,
leading to impact with the ground.
Fatalities totalled 123.
28 November 1987:
Flight SA295, a Boeing 747-200B
Combi, registration ZS-SAS, named
Helderberg, crashed over the Indian
Ocean en route from Taipei, Taiwan to
Johannesburg via Mauritius, after a fire
in the main cargo hold. All 159 people
on board were killed.
However, since 1987 there have
been no major recorded incidents or
accidents at SAA which is, these days
regarded as one of the safest airlines in
the world. ·
Above: Passengers disembarking a Vickers Viscount at PE's airport. Flying was a spe-
cial experience those days and passengers used to dress up for the occasion!
Top: These Hawker Siddeley 748 turboprop airliners were used on SAA's shorter
routes (Kimberley - Keetmanshoop, etc.) between 1970 and 1983.
Above: Flight SA295, a Boeing 747-200B Combi, registration ZS-SAS and
named Helderberg.