Ferry flight? 6:10pm LHR to DFW
Apr 4, 2015, 7:49 am
#1
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Ferry flight? 6:10pm LHR to DFW
I see AA9785 in flightstats from LHR to DFW at 6.10pm today (April 4th 2015). Based on the flight number I'm guessing it is a ferry flight?
Is it common for AA to do such long distance ferry flights? Do they ever try to sell tickets on these flights? Timing looks great.
Is it common for AA to do such long distance ferry flights? Do they ever try to sell tickets on these flights? Timing looks great.
Apr 4, 2015, 7:58 am
#2
Join Date: Oct 2011
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Flightaware shows it as a 788 test flight.
Last edited by reeg2; Apr 4, 2015 at 7:59 am Reason: removed reference to other flights - they've flown to LHR on the 788 three times now
Apr 4, 2015, 9:08 am
#3
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It looks like there have been several of these 788 LHR-DFW flights over the past couple of weeks.
Apr 4, 2015, 9:28 am
#4
Join Date: Apr 2004
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Curious how this works with slots? Is AA not using all of their valuable LHR slots?
Apr 4, 2015, 10:49 am
#5
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Apr 4, 2015, 11:17 am
#6
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To put things in perspective - the 787 (compared to the 777) has a total of 40% fuel savings on this particular route.
Apr 4, 2015, 11:35 am
#7
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I'd doubt it has anything to do with AA's passenger slots as these are passenger-less flights. Perhaps it's treated just like general aviation where you pay for the handling and landing fees.
Apr 4, 2015, 11:37 am
#8
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Are "slots" for flights or gates? I would imagine since this is a test flight, passenger flight rules would not apply.
Apr 4, 2015, 2:42 pm
#9
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Valencia, Spain
Posts: 806
If the pilots need to practice take-offs and landings, surely they can do this at DFW?
If the cabin crew need to be familiarised with the galleys and seats, surely they can do this on the ground at DFW?
It's an aeroplane, very similar to all the others they fly. Why do they need three+ months to learn how to fly it?
Apr 4, 2015, 3:17 pm
#10
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I am curious as to why they need to fly this plane around empty for so long, before putting it into revenue service. Especially on long flights like this.
If the pilots need to practice take-offs and landings, surely they can do this at DFW?
If the cabin crew need to be familiarised with the galleys and seats, surely they can do this on the ground at DFW?
It's an aeroplane, very similar to all the others they fly. Why do they need three+ months to learn how to fly it?
If the pilots need to practice take-offs and landings, surely they can do this at DFW?
If the cabin crew need to be familiarised with the galleys and seats, surely they can do this on the ground at DFW?
It's an aeroplane, very similar to all the others they fly. Why do they need three+ months to learn how to fly it?
Sure, you can fly for 10 hours over the USA, but, you might as well make it even more realistic and "challenging", flying where diversion airports are Less than or equal to 180Mins away, with no Air traffic centres to "report" to...
Apr 4, 2015, 9:31 pm
#11
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I think it's more the case of getting familiar flying it long-distance, over areas with little/no radio communications, alternate airports etc....
Sure, you can fly for 10 hours over the USA, but, you might as well make it even more realistic and "challenging", flying where diversion airports are Less than or equal to 180Mins away, with no Air traffic centres to "report" to...
Sure, you can fly for 10 hours over the USA, but, you might as well make it even more realistic and "challenging", flying where diversion airports are Less than or equal to 180Mins away, with no Air traffic centres to "report" to...
Apr 5, 2015, 12:00 am
#12
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: East Bay, CA
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It's funny, I was going to post yesterday if anybody else saw the AA 787 at Heathrow yesterday. I did a double take when I saw it after landing from SFO on the new 380 flight (BA that is). Saw it again when waiting to take off on our next flight. I tried to snap a pic but wasn't really in a good location to get one. It was parked at a remote stand, 590 or 591 I believe.
Tim
Tim
Apr 5, 2015, 12:52 am
#13
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[along with a smaller J cabin than the 77W]
Last edited by Max M; Apr 5, 2015 at 1:17 am
Apr 5, 2015, 4:03 am
#14
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These are definitely the 787 flights, I saw on the tarmac at LHR recently and my crew yesterday was talking about it as a training/certification flight.
Last edited by bdemaria; Apr 5, 2015 at 5:15 am
Apr 5, 2015, 4:38 am
#15
Join Date: Jul 2001
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Posts: 2,203
These are ETOPS qualification flights.