A massive weather system that is bringing havoc to northern Europe had a silver lining for passengers and crew aboard a British Airways 747-400 heading from JFK to Heathrow overnight Saturday. The flight’s routing matched the path of a 265-MPH jet stream and the crew was able to get the old Jumbo up to 825 MPH groundspeed and make the crossing in a record time of four hours and 56 minutes. The plane got to the gate 80 minutes ahead of schedule on Sunday morning.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. The good news is we’re 80 minutes early. The bad news is the 100 MPH crosswind won’t let us drop you at your intended destination.”
Returning to Houston from Hawaii several years ago, we had a similar experience. The pilot announced that, thanks to the jet stream, we would be arriving in Houston an hour early. But, he cautioned that the ride would not be smooth. He wasn’t kidding. It was like a six-hour roller coaster ride! All things considered, most passengers would have traded the hour for smooth air so we could have slept.