Flight of dance-y
Miles-high Macarena on 19-hour m-air-athon
How do you make it through the longest commercial flight in history? Do the Macarena.
The hip-shaking Spanish dance was just one gimmick used by Australian airline Qantas to stave off jet lag during the first-ever direct New York-to-Sydney flight — a marathon 19-hour, 16-minute trip that included brain-wave and melatonin tests for pilots, and exercise classes for passengers.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner touched down in Sydney Sunday morning, the first of three planned long-distance flights to test the viability of regular commercial flights between the east coast of Australia and New York and London — and the effect on passengers and crew.
Dubbed Project Sunrise, the first run carried 49 people on board, including four pilots.
“We know ultra-long-haul flights pose some extra challenges but that’s been true every time technology has allowed us to fly farther,” said Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.
“The research we’re doing should give us better strategies for improving comfort and well-being along the way.”
Night flights typically begin with dinner and then lights off, but Joyce said Project Sunrise tried another approach.
“We started with lunch and kept the lights on for the first six hours to match the time of day at our destination,” he said. “It means you start reducing the jet lag straight away.”
In addition to dancing the Macarena, passengers on the inaugural flight did stretching and exercises at prescribed intervals.
The airline also used spicy foods — like poached prawns with chili and Chinese-style cod — to keep the riders awake, and, when it came time to sleep, they were fed high-carb dishes, according to Bloomberg News reporter Angus Whitley, a passenger on the flight.
He said he boarded the plane after getting some advice from a reader, an 83-year-old Korean War vet who used to fly 40-hour missions during the war and told him: “man up.”
Two more flights are scheduled: a London to Sydney jaunt in November and another New York to Sydney jump in December.
“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,” said Capt. Sean Golding, one of the pilots.
To win the longest flight label, the trek edged out a non-stop Singapore Airlines flight from Newark, which took 18 hours and 11 minutes, Forbes reported.
Non-commercial delivery flights have made jumps longer than 20 hours dating to 1989.
One challenge for Qantas is fuel — the Dreamliner plane is too heavy to go the distance with more passengers aboard.
The airline hopes to ink deals for aircraft more suited for the trip.