Thursday 20 August 2009

Back to Berlin

Back to Berlin, on a 747-400 this journey.

After going through customs, we went to the Qantas lounge. The staff offered us a "suite", so the kids could spread out a bit ,and gave them some games and things to do. Cameron wanted to play games on the computer.

Our flight was delayed 1 and a 1/2 hours (much better than last years 24 hour delay). The crew loaded on an extra 4,000 litres of fuel, so we could speed up a bit to get to Singapore on time.
During the flight, Alexander was studying the flight plan map on the TV screen, and studying the Qantas magazine about the 747-400. He noticed that the highest speed in the magazine was 920 kph...but when looked on the TV screen we were going 948 kph. When one of the flight attendants came past he asked her how we were going that fast if the magazine said it only went 920 kph. She told him that she had no idea, but she would ask the captain when she went upstairs to ask the captain to fill out their log books.

1/2 hour later, the captain came downstairs, returned the log books and sat with Alexander explain why we were going so fast. The captain explained how the wind was helping us and the extra fuel that was loaded on, and the speed in the magazine was only the average speed they fly. Alexander was happy!

We thanked the captain for explaining it to our aeroplane fanatic, and he said that once we landed in Singapore to send the kids up and they could come into the cockpit for a look, and don't forget the camera!





So, pilot hat, headphones on, hand on the throttle...what more could a plane obsessed kid dream of (except actually flying the plane)

This is one of the reasons I love flying with Qantas...the staff are always so terrific with our children!

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