The planes were also quite luxurious and even had separate areas for eating and sleeping.īut all that luxury while spanning the globe was quite expensive. They were specially designed to take off and land in the water. Pam Am’s planes, called the “Clippers,” didn’t need airports. The longest leg, from San Francisco to Hawaii, took 18 and a half hours.

The plane flew during the day and made stops in Hawaii, Midway, Wake and Guam at night. It took six days and about 60 hours of flying time. The trip started from San Francisco and ended in Manila, capital of the Philippines. The first service to ferry paying customers across the Pacific was created by Pan Am in October 1936. John Oxley Library, CC BY Six days and 60 hours The first trans-Pacific flight included three layovers, with legs as long as 34.5 hours. One of the most famous aviation failures involved Amelia Earhart, who disappeared in 1937 while attempting to cross part of the Pacific on a world circling flight. These super-long flights, of course, were taken by daredevil pilots with no passengers. The flight took 41 hours and covered more than 5,500 miles. When they reached the U.S., they crash landed – but survived to claim the prize. To save weight and fuel, the pilots even threw out their landing gear after takeoff. In all, the pilot and his crew covered about 7,000 miles in 10 days – all without losing any luggage.Ī few years later, in 1931, two daredevils in search of a US$25,000 prize flew from Tokyo to the state of Washington in the first nonstop flight over the Pacific Ocean. It took the aircraft, dubbed the “Southern Cross,” three long flights to get to its final destination in Australia: 27 and a half hours to Hawaii, 34 and a half hours to Fiji and a final 21 and a half hours to Brisbane. The first plane to make it across the Pacific took off from Oakland, California, in 1928. In fact, 19 hours is rather quick for the industry’s trailblazers. Pilots and airlines have been pushing the boundaries of flight times since the earliest days of air travel.

21 pilots ride 10 hours