[HN Gopher] Plane accidentally flew around the world (2018)
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Plane accidentally flew around the world (2018)
Author : omnibrain
Score : 149 points
Date : 2022-05-08 08:29 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (medium.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (medium.com)
| glonq wrote:
| I unexpectedly flew around the world once. Was supposed to do
| Canada-Germany-Dubai and then back again, but Lufthansa went on
| strike before my flight home so I ended up doing Canada-Germany-
| Dubai-China-Canada.
| mulmen wrote:
| It's a tragedy that none of the 314s survive to this day. What an
| amazing period in aviation history.
| mrlonglong wrote:
| I have read this story quite a few times but I still wonder what
| happened to the aircraft. I hope it's in a museum or still being
| flown.
| starry_dynamo wrote:
| "After the war it was sold to Universal Airlines but was
| damaged in a storm and ultimately salvaged for parts."
|
| - "December 7, 1941 and the First Around-the-World Commercial
| Flight". Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. December 8,
| 2011.
| mrlonglong wrote:
| A sad end for what could have been preserved for history.
| It's a crying shame isn't it?
| jakedata wrote:
| My grandfather was recruited by Pan-Am for the Pan-America-Africa
| project. (Hey kid, wanna learn how to fly?) and spent the WW2
| years flying into many of the places mentioned in this article.
| It's great to read about where he spent his time before settling
| down as a commercial pilot. Much later on he had to dodge an
| errant Agean rocket that was flying where it really shouldn't
| have been. I bet that was a hell of a debrief.
| jimjames88 wrote:
| ksenzee wrote:
| This is an epic. I can't believe I've never even heard of it
| before.
| Stratoscope wrote:
| The book about this is really good too.
|
| _The Long Way Home_
|
| https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00457XJ2K/
|
| I also recommend the mini docudrama series _Across the Pacific_ :
|
| https://smile.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0887SGVPX/
|
| and a fun movie _China Clipper_ :
|
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FGI69ZG/
| ars wrote:
| Kind of an irrelevant question I suppose - but did they have to
| pay for the fuel at each stop? The way it's written the various
| bases gave them fuel and other things out of kindness.
| dredmorbius wrote:
| I'm shocked that this story hasn't had significant discussion on
| HN.
|
| Several earlier submissions, but no uptake. It _is_ worth the
| read.
| Beltalowda wrote:
| > I'm shocked that this story hasn't had significant discussion
| on HN.
|
| It got quite a few votes before.
|
| It's a great story and I'm glad I caught it today, I upvoted it
| but ... I don't really have anything to comment. I have no
| informed opinions to offer, related anecdotes to share, or
| related stories I can think of right now. It's just a great
| story. Comments aren't everything.
| stouset wrote:
| This is a must-read that I go through start to finish every
| time I come across it.
| fargle wrote:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17018851
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15537891
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10804868
| dredmorbius wrote:
| Thanks!
|
| The first of those has 51 comments, the 2nd, 27.
|
| I'd actually tried a few variants of search, by URL, by the
| flight number (including in comments) which brings up a few
| interesting coincidental results, and various froms of "wrong
| way" without luck.
|
| Cunningham's Law strikes again!
| samschooler wrote:
| I'm sad the bottom two links are broken, its by far the best
| version. Here it is preserved https://web.archive.org/web/201
| 70615134729/http://lapsedhist...
| enriquto wrote:
| > I'm shocked that this story hasn't had significant discussion
| on HN.
|
| This "medium" site is unreadable to me. After waiting for the
| page elements slowly materialize, the only text that appears is
| just the first sentence of an article.
|
| Maybe other HN users with heavily adblocked browsers are
| equally unable to read this site?
| JonathanBuchh wrote:
| Try replacing `medium.com` with `scribe.rip`:
| https://scribe.rip/s/story/the-long-way-round-the-plane-
| that...
|
| https://scribe.rip is an alternative frontend to Medium.
| db48x wrote:
| I had no problems reading it. I too use an adblocker, and
| additionally block all third-party javascript.
| shagie wrote:
| From the Panam archives: https://www.panam.org/pan-am-
| inspirations/634-saga-of-the-pa...
| gkop wrote:
| Would someone kindly explain why this is considered round the
| world? I see a gap between NYC and SF...
| mulmen wrote:
| They went the "long way around". As a flying boat their
| operations are centered on the oceans, not land. This route
| operated over the Pacific Ocean. So going through Africa to
| reach NYC is "around the world". In fact the crossing of Africa
| was itself harrowing because they had limited places to "land".
| soneca wrote:
| I thought this was fiction until I read HN comments. Not sure I
| like this style for this sort of story.
| 867-5309 wrote:
| welcome to medium
| jen729w wrote:
| Welcome to story-telling. I'm enjoying it!
|
| Medium isn't at fault here, it's just the platform. Which,
| I'll also say, in this case is just fine.
| irrational wrote:
| I love this style. Just compare it to the Wikipedia article. So
| dry and boring with no sense of how amazing this accomplishment
| was.
| irrational wrote:
| Every time I see this posted I read it all over again. Such a
| great story. It would make a terrific movie.
| McNutty wrote:
| A thoroughly enjoyable read. At one point I caught myself holding
| my breath. Thanks for sharing.
| geocrasher wrote:
| Indeed, in this story are adventure and true grit in the most
| pure form. Been a while since I read it, but that's definitely
| not clickbait.
| myself248 wrote:
| This is a splendid read. Flying 300 meters off the deck,
| without radio contact, detailed charts, or friends on the
| ground, reminds me very much of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's
| writing in _Wind, Sand, and Stars_.
| julienb_sea wrote:
| This is an unbelievable story and I really enjoyed the read.
| Thanks for posting it.
| sylens wrote:
| This is an incredible story. It's crazy how they aren't better
| known for this feat.
| protomyth wrote:
| For an early history of Pan Am and the Pacific along with this
| story check "China Clipper: The Age of the Great Flying Boats" by
| Robert Gandt. The audiobook is ok but you need to download the
| supplemental pdf.
|
| I gotta admit the plane-tower conversation would make a great end
| to a movie.
| stuff4ben wrote:
| Am I the only one wondering why this hasn't been made into a
| movie? Nostalgia for that time period and a compelling tale. Just
| needs a love interest plot line and I think it'd do pretty well.
| hrunt wrote:
| The love angle can be satisfied by the radio man and his wife,
| similar to how Ron Howard handled Jim Lovell and his family in
| Apollo 13.
| abraae wrote:
| This is pure Aussie:
|
| > The scene that greeted the four as they disembarked at the dock
| was one of pure chaos. Darwin was in the midst of an invasion
| scare. Worse, the arrival of the first freighter full of beer in
| months had resulted in a temporary breakdown of military order.
| WalterBright wrote:
| Reminds me of Wrong Way Corrigan who "accidentally" crossed the
| Atlantic solo claiming his compass malfunctioned.
|
| https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/wrong-way-corrig...
| burlesona wrote:
| For the short, dry version, see Wikipedia:
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Clipper
| LesZedCB wrote:
| thanks, i really wanted to see a map of the trip!
| exmadscientist wrote:
| Another map and some more references:
| http://www.gcmap.com/featured/20220106
| speeder wrote:
| I am kinda sad that the Brazillian part in that story is how they
| forced them to stay because of Yellow Fever, but then they stole
| stuff from inside the plane...
|
| The saddest part of this, is that I am not even surprised :(
|
| As Brazillian I deal all the time with online distrust with
| Brazillians, and often when people explain why they distrust us,
| I can't fault them, there are even online games where Brazillians
| have their own server separate from the rest of the planet just
| to "silo" Brazillians from other people, to prevent Brazillians
| from ruining their fun or causing damage.
| elnatro wrote:
| Well, don't read too much into that. There are rude people
| everywhere.
|
| From what I know, Brazil produces high-quality software
| developers/computer scientists (elixir and Lua come from
| Brazil).
|
| Of course there are big social issues in Brazil but... aren't
| there in all western countries? Poverty, unemployment, violence
| (maybe Brazil is an outlier in this case), etc.
| SemanticStrengh wrote:
| > for example the excellent popcorn time
| walrus01 wrote:
| to be honest your post sounds a lot like some Egyptians I know
| who seem compelled to apologize for the endemic tourist scams,
| bribery/shakedowns/corruption, unethical taxi drivers, sexual
| harassment etc in Cairo.
| sharksauce wrote:
| The amazing part to me is that Pan Am didn't just have them land
| in Miami and relieve them with a fresh crew. Story is way better
| the way it's told, though.
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(page generated 2022-05-10 23:00 UTC)