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Old Feb 18, 2016, 2:54 am
  #8421  
WHBM
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: London, England.
Programs: BA
Posts: 8,476
Originally Posted by Seat 2A
Right on, JL! I can't find any information on Biak as a tourism destination worthy of service with an aircraft the size of a DC-10. Was it a question of range and/or prevailing winds? I thought the -30s had the range for a Jakarta to Honolulu nonstop but given Biak's geographical location in eastern Indonesia, a fuel stop makes sense.... It was another stop - in Indonesia but not Denpasar. In fact, it's a place I've never even heard of. Perhaps you have
Biak is indeed a necessary refuelling point, which Garuda used for years on flights to Honolulu. It must be the easternmost large runway in Indonesia. GC Mapper tells me that Honolulu to Biak is 4,713 miles, while Honolulu to Denpasar Bali is 6,244 miles. Jakarta is even further beyond Denpasar. Sometimes you don't realise how big Indonesia is, it stretches almost from India to Australia. I used the BA flight from London to LAX several times when around 1979 it was operated by a hired Air New Zealand DC-10, that is 5,450 miles and was a notable stretch for the aircraft, in fact with a full passenger load freight sometimes had to be left off.

The airport at Biak is, inevitably, based around an old Jap fighter strip from WW2. Some from the USA will have heard of Biak only too well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Biak

I'm wondering if S2A might be actually overhead Bali on his Singapore to Brisbane flight as I write this.
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