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Originally Posted by Cheechako  The 700s are not ETOPS equipped and probably won't ever be. It's quite the convoluted process from what I understand. It seems to me that the 800 provided the best compromise for size and range. I'm not sure the 900ER was an option when they started this whole ETOPS/Hawaii planning years ago.
Part of our enroute duties is tracking actual vs. planned fuel burn. If the winds were too much we'd know we were under on our gas before getting to the point of no return. If it didn't look like we were going to make it, just turn around and go back! That would be extreme. I would think the flight planners would know ahead of time what the winds are like and would plan accordingly. Canceling or delaying the flight would be much better than letting us sweat it out over the Pacific. |
Cool, I'm thinking that AK should give those 900ER's a second or third look. Then run both 800's and 900-ERs on the HNL route.
Since the 900's they have on property are pigs! The 739ER's have almost the range of a ETOPS 757-200ER.
Yowza...