777-200LR Flight Test Journal: Archives

10 November 2005

Mission accomplished! 777-200LR sets world distance record

Rodney Skaar, world record flight navigator and flight test production pilot

Boeing's 777-200LR Worldliner (WD002) landed this morning at London's Heathrow Airport and earned a spot in aviation history by setting a new distance record on a non-stop flight from Hong Kong. The jetliner flew 11,664 nautical miles (21,601 kilometers) in 22 hours 42 minutes with 35 crew members, media and company officials onboard. (Read Boeing's news release). I had the privilege, and thrill, of being part of the crew.

For those of us in flight test or the 777-200LR program, setting a new record is probably the most exciting way to demonstrate the airplane's capabilities. The advanced, fuel-efficient General Electric GE90-115B engines and the auxiliary fuel tanks that are available -200LR options are the most important factors in being able to fly 11,664 nautical miles. But finding favorable tailwinds, pinpointing the best route and many other variables are taken into account, too, which makes planning a record flight more complex than most people realize.

I was the lead route planner on this flight because of my experience with previous Boeing records. In 1997 a Boeing 777-200ER set a distance record of 10,823 nautical miles on a flight from Seattle to Kuala Lumpur. That's equal to half-way around the world at the equator. Even though the 200LR's flight exceeds that distance, the 200ER's record still stands unbroken. How can that be? This is where the official rules and regulations of setting aviation flight records come into play. Records are categorized by method of propulsion - jet engine, turbo-prop or piston - and by weight. The 777-200ER and -200LR are in different weight categories, which explains how they both can claim distance records. So which record did the -200LR break today? It was a 9,200 nautical mile non-stop flight from London to Sydney by a 747-400 in 1989.

The National Aeronautics Association (NAA) is the group that sanctions all aviation records. Part of the NAA is the Contest and Records Board, which sets guidelines and keeps track of record-flight attempts. I serve on the board with other aerospace industry and general aviation volunteers. An NAA representative was onboard the flight to officially record the results.

There are other NAA rules that affect the airplane's final route on a record attempt. Once the airplane takes off, we can't change our declared route or chosen "turn points." For the purpose of computing the record distance, the NAA rules allowed us to declare three turn points, between Hong Kong and London. The flight's official distance is measured by adding up the miles between points: Hong Kong to point A...point A to point B...point B to point C...then point C into London. The trick is to put those turn points where they will maximize the wind advantage and take into account all of our other flight restrictions.

Before we took off from Hong Kong we spent a lot of time checking weather charts for where the jet stream was going to be - all the way across the north Pacific, North America and north Atlantic. We were trying to pinpoint a route of flight that maximized tail winds to help give us the greatest distance. We made the final decision just hours before takeoff.

In addition to favorable winds, another critical factor in setting a new record is fuel. I already mentioned the auxiliary fuel tanks. Two other variables are fuel density, as measured by pounds per gallon, and BTUs per pound (BTU stands for British Thermal Unit, a measure of energy.) The highest energy fuel available comes out of southern California; typically, the lowest density fuel in the world is in southeast Asia, where we took off. We thought about shipping fuel from California to Hong Kong, but it just wasn't practical.

We also had to pick the best cities for our departure and arrival. We wanted big cities with a lot of impact and public exposure and eventually chose Hong Kong and London. The planning started about six months ago and now, with a world record under our belt, all of us involved with the flight think the hard work and extra effort were well worth it.