Karl,Â
With a long runway and a reduced power setting for t/o a stretch 737 will
indeed make you think you are drivng to the West Coast before lifting off the
runway. My guess is you were at about 170 kts. That's also about as fast as a
321, another stretched airframe, under the same conditions.Â
Almost certainly the low initial cruise altitude was due to winds or
turbulence. We are often planned well below our no-wind optimum cruise
altitudes on westbound legs. Additionally, traffic out of the DC area is also
held down because of conflicting traffic from BOS,LGA,JFK,PHL which attain
their optimum cruise altitude before the DC area traffic. Ditto for traffic to
Florida.Â
If you could have listened to the radio frequencies in the SFO you would have
heard the efforts of controllers trying to sequence 737s with much slower
Airbuses, 777s and 787s.Â
Eric
On Sunday, June 7, 2026 at 02:49:56 AM EDT, Karl L. Swartz via Mifnet
<[email protected]> wrote:
Keady, it sounds like you’re either referring to the 737-900ER or conflating
that with the straight 737-900 as the flattened aft pressure bulkhead appeared
on the -900ER.
I ran a Featured Map about the 737-900 (non-ER) just over a year ago:
Rare Birds: Boeing 737-900 (30 April 2025) - Featured Map - Great Circle Mapper
I’ve been on both the -900ER version and the 737-9 (MAX 9) on IAD-SFO flights.
The takeoff roll was just short of eternal and at least the -900ER started off
at no more than FL280 before burning off enough fuel to climb a bit, then more
later in the flight. It felt even more leisurely than a drive in my 1979
Volkswagen with its stunning 48 horsepower.
(I’ve never flown on a straight 737-900.)
 -- Karl
On Jun 6, 2026, at 12:46 PM, Jack Keady via Mifnet <[email protected]>
wrote:
i forget who writes these informative articles but Smart News today just wrote
an extensive article on the Boeing 737-900 model.
I would not want to captain one. The takeoff roll can be up to 9800 feet and
the whole package seems like the aircraft is totally wrung out to the extreme.
Questions for Mike Borfitz:
1. Boeing implemented sealed leading edge slats for improved takeoffs.
2. They also flattened the aft pressure bulkhead to accommodate an extra row of
seats
Is safety compromised to any degree?
keady
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