

United Airlines Tries Hypermiling a Boeing - yumraj
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/06/united-airlines-tries-hypermiling-with-a-boeing-777/

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jws
Bad show Wired. _1400 pounds of fuel_ … out of how many? What is the typical
variation in transoceanic flights? Is this noise?

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epochwolf
First it's 1,400 _gallons_

Second, about 6-7% (Extremely rough estimate)

Calculation:

Boeing 777 data: (nmi = Nautical Miles)

    
    
        Model      Fuel           Range      nmi/g
        777-200    31,000 US gal  5,240 nmi  0.17
        777-200ER  45,220 US gal  7,725 nmi  0.17
        777-200LR  47,890 US gal  9,380 nmi  0.20
    

(1,400 gallons * nmi/g)

Which means 238 to 280 nautical miles on a flight that is 3,772 nautical miles
long. Which is a difference of 6-7%

Data from

\- <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777>

\- [http://www.travelmath.com/flight-
distance/from/Chicago,+IL/t...](http://www.travelmath.com/flight-
distance/from/Chicago,+IL/to/Frankfurt,+Germany)

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jws
Thank you for fixing both Wired's article and my units!

I still wonder about the variation due to weather though. I can say that
flight times vary by at least 7%, so that would suggest that fuel use
variation should also be over 7%.

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epochwolf
> I can say that flight times vary by at least 7%, so that would suggest that
> fuel use variation should also be over 7%.

Couple of things to remember.

1\. This was a single test flight. Not statistically significant by any
measure.

2\. My calculation was back of the envelope with unreliable figures. :)

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coin
I never heard the term "hypermiling" until this article. Did anyone else find
it term cryptic and misleading? I envisioned windmilling the engines by
setting them to idle or something alike.

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dinedal
Every occupation has it's jargon.

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whimsy
"Hypermiling" comes from a hobby, not an occupation. See yumraj's post.

