Airbus A380 on a Polar Route #2
Sony HX400V---The A380 is the world's largest airliner, having been in service since 2007. It can carry 525 passengers in a typical 3-class configuration and up to 853 in an all-economy class seating arrangement. Its cruise speed is listed at 560 mph.
Flying at 35,000 feet, at 5:01 pm, 11/6/15, PST, this plane was heading towards the Northern Polar Region non-stop from San Francisco to Dubai. It was an Emirates A380-861, Flight UAE226 or EK226. When I checked it two hours and forty-five minutes later, it was directly over Yellowknife and Great Slave Lake, NWT. It was going 575 mph (ground speed). It started its flight at 3:40 pm, PST.
Forty-five minutes later, it was over Cambridge Bay Airport and then crossed Prince of Wales, Somerset, Devon and Ellesmere Islands, in the Arctic Ocean. Within an hour, it crossed near Etah in Northern Greenland and would have soon been starting to head south. It seems likely the first European explorers in the area were English.
At 10:50 pm, PST, it flew near the Nord Scientific and Military Station (Denmark), on Princess Ingeborg Peninsula, in NE Greenland. At 11:20 pm, PST, it began to pass over Spitsbergen Island, in the Svalbard Archipelago, north of the mainland of Norway. It had increased its speed to 633 mph, obviously having a favorable tailwind.
At 11:55 pm, PST, it passed out of the 24 hour-a-day darkness and into a twilight zone. It entered full daylight 23 minutes later, at 12:18 am, PST, 11/07/15. But at 35,000 feet, the Sun would have been visible several minutes earlier.
At 4:00 am, PDT, which was 4 pm, Gulf Standard Time (GST), it was passing over the Northern Border of Turkmenistan, not far from Dubai. At 4:49 am, PST, it flew over Ashgabat International Airport. It had climbed to 38,000 feet and had slowed to 557 mph. Soon after, it began to cross Iran. It was scheduled to arrive in Dubai at 7:25 pm, GST.
This flight landed safely in Dubai at 6:58 am, PST, 6:58 pm, GST, 27 minutes ahead of schedule. It was in the air for 15 hours and 18 minutes. Based on that and average speed, I estimate that it flew about 10,000 miles. This would include a higher ground speed than airspeed, if the tailwind factor was good. It is a daily flight, with another going back to San Francisco, leaving Dubai at about 9 am, GST and arriving at about 12:30 pm, PST.
There was another A380 flying to Dubai from L.A. on a similar route, a short time later. Another flight from Seattle to Moscow, was following the same track for most of the way.
An interesting thing, was that a flight to San Francisco, took off from Dubai at 9:17 pm, GST, 11/06/15. But it was headed to the NE and its polar route took it north of Alaska, instead of over Greenland. The flight came south through the NW Territories of Canada and from there, followed the same track to its landing, as if it had gone on the opposite polar route. I assume that a reason for using this alternate route would be the direction and strength of prevailing winds at the flight altitude.
Added note on 11/08/15: Today, Flight UAE225, which is going back to SFO from Dubai, is headed on the opposite polar route as it did yesterday. It's angling slightly to the NW, near the upper tip of Norway. It will pass over the top of Greenland heading west and then curve south to SFO on the reverse track of yesterday's UAE226, that I've described here.
If you look at the route tracking lines for completed flights on FlightRadar24, which I've been using, you see that the theoretical routes and those actually flown by each flight, have a lot of variations. The pilots follow weather and wind reports and often alter their pathways and elevations, to make the best of prevailing conditions.
One day later, on 11/07/15, I'm looking at Flight UAE226 again and it's heading NE, but about 350 miles east of its outgoing track past here yesterday. Later, it passed over the Southern ends of Baffin Island and Greenland and then Iceland, about 1,100 miles south of the track this same flight followed yesterday.
Dubai is exactly halfway around the world from the West Coast of the U.S. Generally, winds tend to flow from the West, in the Northern Hemisphere. GST in Dubai, is 12 hours ahead of PST, so this flight would give you that many hours of jet-lag.
Shot at full-zoom and in the 7.5-MP mode for an equivalent of 1,680mm.
Added note on 9/30/17: Today, an Air France A380 on a polar route, had the #4 engine blow up over Greenland. It was thought to be caused by a failure of the fan, which took the whole cowling off the engine and damaged the wingtip. Fortunately, after a short period of vibration, the plane was able to proceed on three engines and landed safely at Goose Bay in Labrador. That's why there are numerous landing fields scattered across the Arctic, for emergencies like this.
Airbus A380 on a Polar Route #2
Sony HX400V---The A380 is the world's largest airliner, having been in service since 2007. It can carry 525 passengers in a typical 3-class configuration and up to 853 in an all-economy class seating arrangement. Its cruise speed is listed at 560 mph.
Flying at 35,000 feet, at 5:01 pm, 11/6/15, PST, this plane was heading towards the Northern Polar Region non-stop from San Francisco to Dubai. It was an Emirates A380-861, Flight UAE226 or EK226. When I checked it two hours and forty-five minutes later, it was directly over Yellowknife and Great Slave Lake, NWT. It was going 575 mph (ground speed). It started its flight at 3:40 pm, PST.
Forty-five minutes later, it was over Cambridge Bay Airport and then crossed Prince of Wales, Somerset, Devon and Ellesmere Islands, in the Arctic Ocean. Within an hour, it crossed near Etah in Northern Greenland and would have soon been starting to head south. It seems likely the first European explorers in the area were English.
At 10:50 pm, PST, it flew near the Nord Scientific and Military Station (Denmark), on Princess Ingeborg Peninsula, in NE Greenland. At 11:20 pm, PST, it began to pass over Spitsbergen Island, in the Svalbard Archipelago, north of the mainland of Norway. It had increased its speed to 633 mph, obviously having a favorable tailwind.
At 11:55 pm, PST, it passed out of the 24 hour-a-day darkness and into a twilight zone. It entered full daylight 23 minutes later, at 12:18 am, PST, 11/07/15. But at 35,000 feet, the Sun would have been visible several minutes earlier.
At 4:00 am, PDT, which was 4 pm, Gulf Standard Time (GST), it was passing over the Northern Border of Turkmenistan, not far from Dubai. At 4:49 am, PST, it flew over Ashgabat International Airport. It had climbed to 38,000 feet and had slowed to 557 mph. Soon after, it began to cross Iran. It was scheduled to arrive in Dubai at 7:25 pm, GST.
This flight landed safely in Dubai at 6:58 am, PST, 6:58 pm, GST, 27 minutes ahead of schedule. It was in the air for 15 hours and 18 minutes. Based on that and average speed, I estimate that it flew about 10,000 miles. This would include a higher ground speed than airspeed, if the tailwind factor was good. It is a daily flight, with another going back to San Francisco, leaving Dubai at about 9 am, GST and arriving at about 12:30 pm, PST.
There was another A380 flying to Dubai from L.A. on a similar route, a short time later. Another flight from Seattle to Moscow, was following the same track for most of the way.
An interesting thing, was that a flight to San Francisco, took off from Dubai at 9:17 pm, GST, 11/06/15. But it was headed to the NE and its polar route took it north of Alaska, instead of over Greenland. The flight came south through the NW Territories of Canada and from there, followed the same track to its landing, as if it had gone on the opposite polar route. I assume that a reason for using this alternate route would be the direction and strength of prevailing winds at the flight altitude.
Added note on 11/08/15: Today, Flight UAE225, which is going back to SFO from Dubai, is headed on the opposite polar route as it did yesterday. It's angling slightly to the NW, near the upper tip of Norway. It will pass over the top of Greenland heading west and then curve south to SFO on the reverse track of yesterday's UAE226, that I've described here.
If you look at the route tracking lines for completed flights on FlightRadar24, which I've been using, you see that the theoretical routes and those actually flown by each flight, have a lot of variations. The pilots follow weather and wind reports and often alter their pathways and elevations, to make the best of prevailing conditions.
One day later, on 11/07/15, I'm looking at Flight UAE226 again and it's heading NE, but about 350 miles east of its outgoing track past here yesterday. Later, it passed over the Southern ends of Baffin Island and Greenland and then Iceland, about 1,100 miles south of the track this same flight followed yesterday.
Dubai is exactly halfway around the world from the West Coast of the U.S. Generally, winds tend to flow from the West, in the Northern Hemisphere. GST in Dubai, is 12 hours ahead of PST, so this flight would give you that many hours of jet-lag.
Shot at full-zoom and in the 7.5-MP mode for an equivalent of 1,680mm.
Added note on 9/30/17: Today, an Air France A380 on a polar route, had the #4 engine blow up over Greenland. It was thought to be caused by a failure of the fan, which took the whole cowling off the engine and damaged the wingtip. Fortunately, after a short period of vibration, the plane was able to proceed on three engines and landed safely at Goose Bay in Labrador. That's why there are numerous landing fields scattered across the Arctic, for emergencies like this.