Hacker News Reader

I wonder if it was just a matter of getting permission to fly that route over China / East China Sea.

Yes, "Air India made the change after receiving approval from India’s Director General of Civil Aviation to operate on the NOPAC and PACOTS tracks that cross the Pacific Ocean."

That, and ETOPS planning.

You can try various ETOPS (Engines Turn On or Passengers Swim) times on the Great Circle Mapper:

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=DEL-SFO&MS=wls&DU=mi&E=90

ETOPS stands for Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards

Yes, but the definition that greghendershott gives is the more amusing version, and seems to be pretty common amongst the Aviation crowd.

Engines turn or passengers swim.

You have an extra word in there.

Yeah, much of the assumptions here seem to not account for ETOPS rules

In the context of ETOPS180 there isn't much of the northern hemisphere that's off limits to you.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com