Virgin flight 1450 - 27/06/09

[Gerard M]

Was just listening to the scanner and heard flight Virgin1450 on frequency 124.9 and heard that it was flying at FL220. This flight, from Gold Coast to Adelaide also appears to be delayed by 70mins.
Does anyone know why it would be cruising at FL220 instead of much higher and if the delay has anything to do with it?

http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlight.do?id=163558382&utm_source=airlineInformationAndStatus&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=co-op
Adelaide airport has it arriving at 7:20pm instead of scheduled 5:10pm.

I also just heard Tiger883 request to descend to FL220? Is there really bad turbulence higher up today or something?

(And i just saw the typo in the title, again, after i submitted the thread. sorry about that)

[Brandon Giacomin]

I dont think the delay had anything to do with it, some flights just cruise lower than others.
On www.balus.info at the moment JQ412 from OOL-SYD is cruising at FL280 while DJ973 from SYD-BNE is cruising at FL380.

[Daniel M]

there are major winds up there today, some as strong as 180knots from what I've heard. I'm guessing they are just cruising a bit lower to get away from some strong headwinds.

In regards to this flight, DJ1450 is diverting to MEL due engineering issues.

[Gerard M]

Ah, that might explain the levels. Just checked my plane plotter and Fedex77 is also at 220, VOZ877 280 and most of the flights coming down from Brisbane are in the 200's level or i the high 300 low 400s.
What would winds (knots) would normally be at that sort of level or is 180 on the very extreme end of the scale or winds?

[Michael Dawson]

I know on a recent flight down to Sydney from Brisbane and back in the same day that on the way down we were cruising at FL380 and were experiencing some quite heavy chop enough for us to climb a bit higher. On the way home that night we cruised at about FL280 according to the Captain has there was some severe turbulence experienced by other aircraft at higher altitudes and that a lot of traffic was cruising at a similar level to us causing slight delays in our arrival to Brisbane. Quite common considering the Captain is trying to find the smoothest ride for the patrons.

Regards


Michael

[Radi K]

6.30 bne-per today .. yuk, no thanks!

[Craig Murray]

6hrs 30min to Perth ex Brisbane, that is epic! I thought near on 5hr 30min on a B744 was a fair effort but >6hrs is madness.

My sister is operating crew on the CNS-PER JQ flight this evening, hopefully they've got extra food onboard.