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United Airlines Tries Hypermiling a Boeing
- coin 16y agoI 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.
- yumraj 16y ago"hypermilling" comes from hybrid car enthusiasts who try to max out mileage from their hybrid cars, most commonly Prius. Now it is used for all sorts of cars. Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiling for more info. In fact per the above Wiki article, "In 2008, the word hypermiling was selected as the best new word of the year by New Oxford American Dictionary."
- coin 16y agoLooking at the Word of the Year finalists (http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/11/news/economy/wordof_year/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/11/news/economy/wordof_year/ind...), they are sort of lame - Frugalista, Moofer, Topless meeting. Definitely questions the credibility of New Oxford American Dictionary.
- dinedal 16y agoEvery occupation has it's jargon.
- lotharbot 16y agoI'm familiar with the term, but I'm used to it being used to describe really extreme improvements in mileage (like, getting 60mpg in a car rated at 27.) In this case, they saved 1400 gallons on a round-trip transatlantic flight -- out of about 40,000 that would normally be burned on such a flight. 3% fuel savings is a big deal, but I wouldn't call it "hypermiling".
- bbatsell 16y agoI've always interpreted hypermiling as "optimizing fuel usage to the furthest extent possible". Considering the #1 priority in designing airliners is aerodynamic efficiency/fuel usage/CASM, an ~8% decrease in fuel usage is absolutely nothing to sneeze at.
- evgen 16y agoTo put this another way, if Boeing could refine this technique and make it an approved operating mode for the 777 they would probably be able to book enough additional orders to add a billion dollars or two to the bottom line. The same could probably be said of any airline that could apply these techniques to all of its planes/routes. For an airline, improving fuel efficiency is the quickest route to increased profits.
- ianferrel 16y agoEven without prior reference, it's a combination of a commonly used greek root "hyper", for "over, in excess, or more" with the word "mile". Its meaning can reasonably be derived from that.
- cadr 16y agoI read it as "hypermilling", and I thought United was trying to mill a 777. Out of what, I wasn't sure. :)
- ars 16y agoWood of course. They are breeding giant mutant trees.
- jws 16y agoBad show Wired. 1400 pounds of fuel… out of how many? What is the typical variation in transoceanic flights? Is this noise?
- epochwolf 16y agoFirst 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777 - http://www.travelmath.com/flight-distance/from/Chicago,+IL/to/Frankfurt,+Germany http://www.travelmath.com/flight-distance/from/Chicago,+IL/t...
- jws 16y agoThank 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%.
- epochwolf 16y ago> 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. :)