The Qantas NY to Sydney test flight flew for the first time on Friday. It will fly continuously for almost twenty hours without any break in between. This flight is considered to be the longest flight in the world that flies constantly for twenty hours without any stopovers.
The flight departed from NY at 9 pm from the US megalopolis. It is one of the three prearranged test flights that involved the Boeing 757-9s aircraft that was set to fly on routes between London, NY, and Sydney. This flight is anticipated to last nineteen and a half hours covering a 17,000 km distance.
Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas Group told that the airline was keen to take the current research strategy to the next level. This is done by performing operating onboard research with the help of stringent scientific protocols.
The airplane will develop as a moveable research laboratory. Here six out of fifty volunteer passengers (that includes crew members too) will be put on experiments to find ways to lower the influence of a plane on the body. These volunteers will go on a severe plan to control their intake of food, drink and sleep, and physical movements.
There is a provision of providing dinner to passengers after take-off during the night flight. Post dinner, the lights are switched off. However, this may not be the ideal method to reset the body clock of a passenger to the destination time zone.
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A study is planned to be conducted by researchers from the Cooperative Research Centre for Alertness, Safety and Productivity and scientists from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre. They will examine the attentiveness levels and doze cycles of the cabin crew and pilots.
The airline spokesperson told that 4 pilots and 6crew members will get included in the collection of data by completing a dozen journals, trying activity monitors, and filling out attentiveness logs and rest. Pilots will also provide scientists and researchers with samples of urine taken before, post, and during the flight. It will assist them to record levels of melatonin in their bodies. This will help in establishing the body clock timing of a person.
Along with it, cameras will also be installed in the cockpit for the entire duration of the flight. This will help in recording operational events and awareness signals. The tests will be performed as a part of Project Sunrise. This project is Qantas’ prearranged new flights from Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane to New York and London. This project is planned to be implemented by the airline by 2022.
Project Sunrise will stretch the limitations to a little further. Joyce told that this research holds a lot of importance. It will give valuable insights about the health of passengers and crew members when they fly for 20 hours at a stretch and without any breaks. Presently, the longest direct flight is provided by Singapore Airlines that connects the city-state with New Jersey in just 18.5 hours.
