London to Hong Kong 18/3

[cee]

I asked for a forecast for this flight but didn't get one in the end...only read tb negs sticky after I posted it D:

Anyway...coming out of London was lovely and smooth. We took a slightly different route which took us over Germany, Poland and Kiev across Moscow that way. The whole of Europe was smooth sailing.

We hit our first bit of light chop across Khazakstan but it was alright..then the worse bit was 5 mins across Urumqi when it became mod-sev in some parts. We'd been cruising across Europe at 33000 feet but we increased to 350000 to get out of the worse of it. After that it was moderate patches across China for the rest of the journey. Kinda ruined a restful flight but on the upside the descent &landing were smooth as anything!

[B744drvr]

First of all, sorry we didn't have time to give you a forecast.
Around the Himalayas it's always tricky, quite a high mountain ridge near Urumqi and there is almost always a strong jetstream there, which in the 'right' conditions can cause quite some turbulence. I had one of my worst turbulence encounters there as well, losing almost 1000 feet altitude . So it could have been worse in your case.
From Lanzhou down to Chengdu same issue, mostly a better ride once you get to higher altitudes. On the way back from HKG to LHR this area is often quite bumpy as the plane is heavy and not able to climb to the better altitudes.

[tb_neg]

What's it like losing 1,000 feet? I'm sure it's not all at once.

[B744drvr]

Not being able to read any instruments, only hearing altitude warning horn (which means altitude deviation >300ft) + autopilot disconnect warning.
When it was smoothing out we saw how much we were off our cruising altitude.
Very rare occasion, not something I want to experience too often.

[cee]

No worries about the no report bit...I managed to have a look at the Asia 48hr map & it looked pretty bad anyway so there was no escaping it!... It's the end bit of the Chinese monsoon which I suppose contributed to the crazy weather conditions in that area!

I know we rose further to 37000 across Chengdu then to 39000 across Guangzhou which seemed strange because it was time to start Landing shortly after that!

Also my mom also said when she returned last time from hong kong to London in jan she thought that the route had taken them as far out as shanghai then over north east china that way? Do they sometimes take that route or is that a completely new one?

[tb_neg]

Not sure about the routing, but I admire your can do spirit!

so there was no escaping it!.

[B744drvr]

I know we rose further to 37000 across Chengdu then to 39000 across Guangzhou which seemed strange because it was time to start Landing shortly after that!

Saves fuel, even if it's for a short time

Also my mom also said when she returned last time from hong kong to London in jan she thought that the route had taken them as far out as shanghai then over north east china that way? Do they sometimes take that route or is that a completely new one?

Definitely not the regular route, maybe very unfavorable winds or closure of the airway somewhere between Chengdu and Urumqi. There are not many (read: too little) airways in China so if they decide to close one, alternative routings are quite long.