Since tomorrow, May 25th in the ATC calendar is featuring YSSY. I wanted to ask for some tips in completing the legendary project sunrise flight!
The aircraft I’ll be using will be the 787-9. I was wondering about payload. Mainly passenger/cargo weight. (in kilograms please)
Obviously fuel will be maxed out. Also, step climb tips and intervals. As well as climb rate upon takeoff for maximum efficiency.
This will be my longest real world flight on Infinite Flight, and I would hate it to run out of fuel not completing it. Any tips or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
My first tip would be to really calculate the fuel, look at winds, etc. I would try to minimize the passenger count and cargo count. Not much cargo is needed, and not many passengers are. I believe on the real flight there were only about 30. (Might be wrong) But I’d advise taking a real look at it since it might just save you from falling down. :) You are better off being a little under your Maximum take-off mass than over it.
And yes, step climbing is needed on this occasion. You’ll be burning thru a lot of fuel, especially in the beginning cause you are so heavy. Therefore, I’d advise you to start low and build your way up, maybe perform more than 3 climbs. The higher you are the less fuel you burn. You can try and fly to an altitude of FL290 maybe FL310. (Odd since your flying east) and just take a look at your load, if it gets low enough proceed to climb. Just climb where possible, since as said before, the higher the less fuel you burn.
That’s all I can give you, anyway. Tag me when you depart! I’d love to follow that flight. Cheers :)
Very nice route choice! I did this flight in IF too and you really don’t need to worry about running out of fuel, if of course you don’t fill up your plane with passengers and cargo. Like the others already mentioned, step climbs are definitely necessary. But I would say you can go for a slightly higher initial cruise altitude than like FL280.
Here is the altitude graph of the real flight in 2019:
The initial cruising altitude was FL330, and each small rise represents a climb by 2.000 feet (330-350-370-391-410).
If you also want to use the exact route of the real flight, you can find it here (you need an account to open it):
But do note that this route is of course not adapted to the current winds.
Have fun!
I suggest you use something such as SimBrief to ensure that you’ll have enough fuel with the payload you wish to use. Also, the stepclimb feature on there is a good way to minimize your fuel usage.
For the love of all things sane and holy, check your flight plan before you depart. I put too much faith into SimBrief and as a result my eastbound flight was 25hrs long ;-;
I’m around 4 hours from touchdown at the moment. With 53 passengers, and 1,500kgs of cargo. I have more than enough fuel to make it right now. The climb at 2500vs helped a lot with my fuel consumption in the climb. Started my cruise at 31,000ft.
Over 15 hours into the flight at the moment! Just finished the step, leveled off at 41,000ft somewhere over Southeast Asia. Thank you for the tips. I’ll definitely have enough fuel to land. No diversions for this dingo haha.
Good luck to you as well! I beleive I found your flight while looking for the progress of mine on the LiveFlight app. It looks like you’re not that far behind. Wanna race? Haha
