Fun fact: the fastest I've ever travelled is 775 mph ground speed in a Boeing 747-400 in Sep 1997. Originally, my airline had assigned a vanilla 767 for the mid-range distance flt from Honolulu to Vancouver. Alas, the rubber band broke and the airline told us they would put us up in a hotel overnight instead. Hey, free dinner and a soft bed in Waikiki,
'A' ole pilikia...
However, around 11 pm the concierge knocked on my hotel room door and said "Change of plan! We've arranged for a replacement airplane, and we take off in 1 hour! Please make your way to the buses now waiting in the parkade".
The replacement was the Boeing 747-475, the
pride of Canadian Airlines, sporting 4 mighty Rolls-Royce RB211 turbofans. This A/C had just flown from Montreal to Vancouver, and was retasked to fetch us from Hawaii before it's planned return to Montreal in the morning (I presume w. a crew change).
When we arrived at the departure terminal at PHNL, we were hurried through security (pre-9/11) and escorted directly to our assigned seats. After a high-speed taxi, the plane did a rolling left turn onto the departure runway, throttles to the wall, and climbed like a fighter jet to
FL430 in 13 minutes! (we only took on fuel for a 2700 nm leg + IFR reserves, and had only the reduced # of pax aboard that would fit in a much smaller 767-300) so we were well below gross. To say that ship
climbed like a homesick angel is not to trivialize the feat: it was breathtaking, visceral in the way only pilots can appreciate.
Once at cruise altitude, the Flt Crew steered us 500 miles North to intercept the jet stream, blowing a fierce 175 kts at 43,000' altitude. The planned time of flt was too short to show a movie, so throughout the flight the on-board screens displayed a moving map w. Direction + Ground Speed. Just about 275 miles West of Vancouver Island, the map showed a groundspeed of 775 mph, which was the combination of true airspeed and component tail.
Shortly thereafter, the engines went remarkably quiet, and you felt a slight drop in pressure in your ears as engine bleed air decreased. We maintained altitude to reduce airspeed for 25 miles, then the plane began its decent although we were still 250 miles West of CYVR. Now don't say there's no
Cowboys left in the West; those 2 jocks brought that plane down at avg 3,000' per min all the way down to 6,000' to join the CASDY THREE Arrival for Rwy 26L.
Wheels up in Honolulu to wheels down in Vancouver: 4 hrs 5 min. Distance 2,750 nm. Avg speed: 675 mph. The Aircrew hustled us off the plane even as the maintenance staff was tidying up cushions and vacuuming carpets. I was still standing in line waiting to enter Customs as I saw our magnificent Canadian Goose push back from the jetway and taxi out for its scheduled departure for Montreal, only 40 min behind schedule. What an awesome marvel of engineering! What a team!
And what a great rubber-band-break story!
Paging
@Papafox '
your turn'.
P.S. The a/c
C-GMWW was sold to Air Canada, resold & retired, and now broken up
P.P.S. The last "
Jumbo Jet" aircraft, a 747-8F for Atlas Air registered N863GT, rolled off the production line on December 6, 2022, and was delivered on January 31, 2023.
End of an era, the fond memories remain...