Lindbergh's Legacy - Twins vs. Quads

·1 hr 24 min·5 clips

A Lufthansa A340 with a hole in its fuselage burned over 400,000 pounds of fuel on a 10-hour ferry flight at 9,000 feet.

The episode opens with casual banter about personal events, including a Clue-themed birthday party and a frustrating van ride in London due to a tube strike. Hosts thank new supporters and read announcements from listeners who passed checkrides, including an instrument rating and a seaplane endorsement. Listener feedback segments address clarifying radio check-in procedures after frequency changes, extending glide distance with constant-speed props, and the cumbersome process of listing medical visits for FAA medical certificates. A detailed story from a listener describes navigating the Caribbean in the 70s/80s using NDB approaches and the Blue Two Zero airway, highlighting the precision required over water. The main topic, inspired by listener Juliet Echo Charlie, examines whether a twin-engine 767 can fly transatlantic at 9,000 feet compared to a quad-engine A340. Hosts provide fuel burn numbers: a 767-300 burns about 11,400 pounds per hour at cruise, while an A340 burns around 19,600. They discuss a real ferry flight where a damaged A340 flew at 9,000 feet for 10 hours, burning over 400,000 pounds of fuel—double the normal rate. The conversation covers ETOPS regulations, explaining that twins like the 767 must plan for worst-case scenarios including engine failure, decompression to 10,000 feet, and cargo fires with 180-minute suppression limits. In contrast, quads like the A340 have no ETOPS rules and six-hour fire suppression. Hosts note that a 767 would run out of fuel margin at 9,000 feet, while an A340 can manage due to larger fuel tanks. They touch on diversion planning, critical points, and historical context of ETOPS enabling twin-engine oceanic flights. Later feedback includes a mystery about ATC asking "Do you see the LP?", possibly related to rocket launches, and a story about new wake turbulence reporting requirements prompting controllers to ask about injuries and pitch/roll deviations. Another anecdote describes unusual line-up-and-wait procedures at a foreign airport. The episode closes with a transponder code story involving invalid digits 8 and 9, leading to a technical explanation about transponder design limitations.

As heard by us

A transatlantic what-if that turns fuel numbers and airspace questions into easygoing aviation talk.

Opposing Bases builds around a neat aviation what-if: whether a transatlantic routing could work at 9,000 feet, and how a 767 would compare with an Airbus A340.

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Why you'd press play

If you like aviation puzzles with fuel math, route talk, and listener feedback, this one goes your way.

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