Henry (S):
I flew in a Qantas 747SP from Nandi to Honolulu long ago. Overnight and
empty so I asked if a cockpit visit was possible; the steward (only first
class got girls in those days) gave me the usual “government regulations”
talk but I asked if he would nonetheless ask the Captain.
Couple hours later the First Office comes back and sits next to me. After
a wee chat he asked if I played poker. Next thing I’m on the booster seat
in the cockpit playing the holy game (they booted out the one stewardess on
board) at 50k feet on autopilot.
I eventually asked and the crew reported that they flew it to 1000 feet and
from 1000 feet but it did the rest by itself.
Nice views up there.
Bill
On Mon, Mar 1, 2021 at 4:42 PM Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 1 Mar 2021, roxanna Mason wrote:
The point is 40KFt is at commercial jet altitudes and some business jets
like the Lear 24 service ceiling is 51KFt.
Indeed, if memory serves, a 747SP -- the specialist long-haul 747
derivative, same wing and engines but shortened fuselage -- could be up
near 50k at the end of a long flight. (They ended up needing to add ozone
filters in the cabin air inflow, because up there at the edge of the
stratosphere, the ozone concentration in the incoming air was starting to
become noticeable.)
Henry