Todd Bishop
On October 19th, Qantas will have a special arrangement for 40 people to test the psychological and physical impact of long-haul flights on a 19-hour test flight from New York, New York, to Sydney, Australia.
This is the first of the three test flights. If the “marathon flight” test flight is successful, the flight will be put into service in 2022, becoming the world’s longest direct flight route.
The test project was named Project SunRise (provisional translation: Sunrise Plan) and was flown by a Boeing 787-9 airliner with flight number 7979. The passenger took off in New York at 9 pm on the 19th.
In order to ensure that the aircraft has enough fuel to fly 16,200 kilometers without refueling, the passengers and crew of the aircraft are limited to 40 people, most of whom are Qantas employees.
Researchers from two Australian universities will monitor the sleep status, melatonin levels and food intake of the passengers on board. The pilot also needs to bring the instrument to let the researchers observe the brain waves and alertness.
Qantas President Alan Joyce described the test as “the forefront of the aviation industry.” Qantas will test flights from London to Sydney in the coming months and will decide whether the relevant routes will be officially opened at the end of the year. If this is the case, this will save the passengers a total of 4 hours of travel time.
Currently the longest route in the world is provided by Singapore Airlines (Singapore Airlines) from Singapore to New York, 18 hours and 45 minutes.
