NY TO OZ NON-STOP? YA TOTAL DANCER!
Macarena is used to test passengers
QANTAS asked passengers to dance the Macarena as the Australian airline tested the longest non-stop commercial passenger flight.
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with 49 people on board took 19 hours and 16 minutes to fly from New York to Sydney, a 10,066-mile route.
The dance moves were part of the company’s research on how the journey could affect pilots, crew and passengers.
Scientists from Monash University in Melbourne are looking at the health aspects associated with the lengthy flights.
They monitored crew melatonin levels before, during and after the flights and pilots wore an EEG device to track brain wave patterns and alertness.
Researchers from Sydney University were on board and on the ground monitoring passengers’ “sleep patterns, food and beverage consumption, lighting, physical movement and in-flight entertainment to assess impact on health, well-being and body clock”. Professor Marie Carroll said she and fellow passengers did a lot of stretching and exercises at prescribed intervals.
She said: “It’s an experiment to see if airlines can adjust their schedule of food, beverages, exercise and lighting to be in sync with the destination time.
“We did the Macarena in the economy cabin.” Next month, Qantas plans to test a non-stop flight from London to Sydney.
Captain Sean Golding, who flew the Dreamliner, said: “Overall, we’re really happy with how the flight went and it’s great to have some of the data we need to help assess turning this into a regular service.”
To give the plane sufficient range to avoid re-fuelling, the flight took off with maximum fuel, restricted baggage and no cargo.
No commercial aircraft has the range to fly such a route with a full passenger and cargo load.
To reduce jetlag, passengers were asked to set their watches to Sydney time after boarding and were kept awake until night fell in eastern Australia. They were served a high-carb meal and the lights were dimmed to encourage sleep.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “This is a really significant first for aviation.
“Hopefully, it’s a preview of a regular service that will speed up how people travel from one side of the globe to the other.”
Last year, Singapore Airlines launched a near 19-hour journey from Singapore to New York, the world’s longest regular commercial flight.