With the A330neo, HiFly flies between Madeira and Lisbon in record time – AEROFLAP
The Portuguese airline hifly Flight 5K242P (HFY242P) carried out this Thursday (30) in record time, connecting Madeira and Lisbon. Employing the Airbus A330-900neo, an aircraft covered a distance of 565 nautical miles (about 1046 km) in just 70 minutes.
At the controls of the CS-TKY registration A330 were Commander Carlos Mirpuri with Captain Ruben Morais. They flew together with two other representatives of the FAI (World Air Sports Federation), who certified the record flight.
“Achieving record flying time on this route requires a set of conditions that combine. This means strong southwestern tail winds on the way and northeasterly winds in Lisbon. It is also convenient to leave runway 05 in Madeira, which is normally unfeasible with southwesterly winds, and land on runway 03 in Lisbon”, explains Commander Mirpuri.
“Today we had a reasonable tail wind, far from ideal, and we were forced to use lane 23 in Madeira and lane 21 in Lisbon, which means the worst possible combination. But against all odds and with good support from Air Traffic Control, we still managed to cover the 565 nautical miles of this route in a record time of 70 minutes, which now becomes an official figure in the presence of the FAI judges. ”
“The choice of a cruise flight level offering the highest TAS (true air speed) and the proper descent initiation and deceleration point played an important factor. Furthermore, a positive ISA deviation we prepare to reach an actual speed of 500 knots. During most of the cruise, there was an average of 35 Kts of tail winds. ”
According to HiFly, Captain Mirpuri had previously completed the same route in 64 minutes with an A320 and 59 minutes with an A330. But then he had a good choice of tracks and better tailwinds. These times were not, however, observed by the FAI judges, as they were not planned, but removed from the existing environmental conditions on the day.
He also added that “70 minutes of shooting with this track combination is an incredible time, and now it becomes official. Normally the distance between Madeira and Lisbon is covered by commercial aircraft in a flight time of 75 to 80 minutes for a 03/05 runway configuration and 85 to 90 minutes for a 23/21 runway configuration. ”
The company also observes that Commander Mirpuri also holds the record for the maximum number of passengers leaving Funchal (Madeira) for Lisbon. With an A330-300 in high density configuration, the staggering number of people in an onboard era is 410.
See an Airbus A330neo landing at the beautiful Madeira Airport: