Do wind bonuses affect planes differently?

[swiftus27]

I guess I never knew this...

Example:

KCLE - KSFO in a Connie is 8h30m
KCLE - KSFO in a Comet is 5h50m

KSFO - KCLE in a Connie is 7h15m
KSFO - KCLE in a Comet is 5h15m


Difference in top flight is 2h40m
Difference in bottom flight is 2h00m 

Can someone explain? 

[ArcherII]

Navigation calculations are not linear. The Connies spend more time flying against the wind than the Comets in the first leg. Then in the return leg with a tail wind, the Comet will spend less time with favourable wind than the Connies, thus bringing the benefit down a bit.

[swiftus27]

is he right ?    I don't know.

[Frederik]

If you look at the differences in percentage terms they are not that different:

SFO-CLE the Comet travel time is 72% of that of the Constellation
CLE-SFO the Comet travel time is 69% of that of the Constellation

My hypothesis is that the time difference is larger for longer flights as the speed difference is higher at cruising than for landing and even more so for ground speed which is likely more or less equal. This is why jet aircraft are used more for long distance than short haul flights (cost being an other factor)

Frederik

[Sanabas]

It's 1873 NM.

Comet does 430, Connie 290.

Leave out taxi/climb/descent, and the Comet should take ~4:20. If the breeze is 28 knots, that makes it 402/458 for speed, which makes 4:40/4:05, add 1:10 for taxi/climb/descent each way, and that matches.

Do the same for the Connie, and you get 262/318, which makes 7:09/5:53, round that to 7:10/5:55, add 1:20 for taxi/climb/descent, and that matches too.

So it seems to make sense.

[Sami]

Yes, that is how it goes.. The flight time and performance calculation in AWS is much more complex than just "distance / speed" type thing.

[swiftus27]

Sami, come on I know that much.   Just surprised about a 40 minute change due to the prevailing winds.   Or else id have submitted a bug....   

So one was us really a 20 minute penalty for fighting winds climbing out where the the other direction benefits 20 minutes from the tail wind