I have been doing some research into the upcoming non-stop flight of ZNJ from LHR - SYD. There have been two suggested dates for the flight mentioned in this QANTAS 787 thread, one that the flight will take off from LHR at the time of the first flight to Australia in 1919 and the other that the flight will have an arrival time in SYD of 11:45am on Friday 15/11/19.
I have calculated a flight time of 20 hours from LHR - SYD, based on the flightime of 20 hours and 9 minutes by OJA on its non-stop flight in 1989. For an 11:45 am arrival time in SYD the flight would need to leave LHR at 4:45 am on Thursday 14/11/19, which I believe would not be possible with the Heathrow curfew. A slightly later departure time would get around this but not make SYD at the time mentioned.
The first flight from London to Australia left from Hounslow Heath, near Heathrow at 8:00 am on Tuesday 12/11/1919. If ZNJ leaves LHR at this time to commemorate the flight it will arrive in SYD around 3:00 pm on Wednesday 13/11/2019. The flight arrived in Darwin on 10/12/1919 and QANTAS may also celebrate this event but in another way.
To me it sounds like a great publicity exercise for QANTAS to commemorate the 1919 flight 100 years later with a flight over a similar flight path on its latest aircraft that has 100 years emblazoned on its fuselage.
The real mystery is the expected departure time from LHR. There may even be a third scenario! Just a few days to wait before ZNJ re-positions to LHR. If anyone has any further information please share it with the group.
Last edited by James Smith; 9th November 2019 at 09:47 PM.
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