On this flight they actually had the in-flight data display working (we were on another Boeing 747-400). That is where the main movie screens periodically display the airplane’s position, altitude, airspeed, etc. I took some notes when the numbers interested me:
- The total flight distance from Kansai Airport (KIX) to Detroit (DTW) was about 6,842 miles, and the trip took about 11 hours and 26 minutes.
- Soon after take-off we had reached 2,800 ft above sea level and were going 288 mph.
- Once we were above 10,000 ft we were travelling at 370 mph. Over the Pacific the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,980 ft, going 646 mph., and the temperature outside the plane was -12 degrees Fahrenheit.
We hit some rough turbulence about 30 miles out from the airport. It made all the other turbulence we hit on the flight over to Japan look like a calm day by comparison. We bounced up and down, side to side for about 5 minutes. Fortunately CDF and MDF were already asleep and didn’t feel the effects as much. I managed to avoid getting sick, but I was happy when it was over. Fortunately we didn’t hit anything like that again.
MDF made two more friends on this flight. First we met a flight attendant at the back of the plane as we walked around and around the two aisles. We met the lady again at the middle of the plane a little later and MDF sat beside her on the seats reserved for attendants and talked for a while. Then the lady got MDF her own helping of apple juice that she could drink with a coffee stirrer straw.
The other friend was a little girl, maybe about 9 or 10 years old, who thought MDF was very cute. After we had gone back to our seats, the girl and her father came down the aisle to bring MDF a paper flower the girl had made. She said that she loved babies and wanted to give MDF a gift. MDF accepted it and promptly pulled the “flower” off the stem (but thankfully after the girl had walked back up the aisle).