In my previous post, someone refreshed my memory that Lufthansa, though, never operated the (once, and still, ubiquitous and vastly popular) long-haul twinjet, the Boeing 777, this airline is no stranger to the type. It's just that I bear a (friendly) grudge against the airline...🙂...during my 2+ decades of loyal (long-haul) travels with it, because it never flew me on a (pax) 777 (in their defense, they did not actually operate any 777 for pax use). So, I was forced to take recourse to UAL for flying in the 777...🙂...with membership advantage of the same Star Alliance.

As I recall, I flew with Lufthansa mostly on DC10/A330/A340/B744/B748, notice the leading DC10 Trijet, and the trailing B748 Quadjet. Of course, DC10 is long gone, but the airline is still operating the (Intercontinental) B748 today on certain long-haul routes. Anyway, per records, Lufthansa currently holds a significant number of 777 (Freighters) in its fleet: 18 777Fs, with 12 owned and operated by itself and 6 operated by their joint venture partner, AeroLogic, as it looks to modernize and replace these 777Fs with the new 777-8Fs on order (if you wish, please see my previous post on 777-8). For passenger use, they have ordered (as the launch operator), the Boeing 777-9, the larger passenger variant of the 777X family.

While looking on FlightAware, for Lufthansa long-haul flights between KORD/O'Hare and EDDF/Frankfurt Main, I've often found LH 777 freighter flights in the active list. For example, today, Tuesday, Dec. 16, if one looks up FlightAware for (KORD->EDDF) flights, on the first page display itself, there are at least 3 Lufthansa/Aerologic 777 departures listed (DLH8189, GEC8189, note 4 digits for LH Cargo Flights and also that DLH and GEC, here, are interchangeable designations; and BOX449 which is the (flight) designation for Lufthansa's joint (cargo) partner, AeroLogic).

Today, I had a bit of extra time on hand...🙂...so, wished to do a (long-haul) flight I've never done before, focusing, in this post, on Lufthansa's Cargo operations, especially on their 777Fs. Lufthansa Cargo flies its Boeing 777 freighters globally, with emphasis on the major trade lanes to North America (USA/Mexico via LA, Chicago, New York, Mexico City), Asia (China, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan), and South America. One such key (overland) cargo route is between Frankfurt (EDDF) and Hong Kong (VHHH). As a RW example, yesterday, Monday, Dec. 15, Lufthansa Cargo 8460 (GEC8460), departed Frankfurt at 10pm local, flew (eastward) for 11 hours, and arrived in Hong Kong at 4pm local.

Hong Kong is 7 hours ahead of Frankfurt, and I've (deliberately) made my flight departure to be 8am (local). So, this gives Frankfurt (local) time when my 777 arrives in Hong Kong to be (8 + 11) = 19 hrs. or 7pm, or Hong Kong (local time) for my arrival to be 7pm plus 7 hours i.e. 2pm (night). Interestingly, I knew that, flying eastward, right after sunrise, I will be chasing the sun, gaining hours, and flying into daylight (with the sun rising in the east in front of me, and I heading towards it).  

Indeed, there was quite a prolonged period of daylight for me, from right after liftoff, as I got a better view of the rising sun, at the high altitude, from the cockpit...🙂...(see images below), all the way until I was well past the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (I got to fly right over these gigantic inland bodies of water; see the PMDG EFB Map and the MSFS EFB Map, below), when finally a glorious twilight (and then darkness) fell on my 777, right over the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, passing silently under my flightpath.

Then onwards, it was another prolonged spell of complete darkness all around me. Notice e.g., in my shot #15, as I'm approaching VIDP/Delhi (into northern India), the [PROG] Page of the FMC indicating 2528 nms (or 2,900 miles) still left to be flown. My SimBrief route, near identical to the FlightAware route, yielded a total of 5,739 nms (or 6,600 miles), whereas the RW (DLH GEC8460) flight showed 6,500 miles (see the FlightAware RW Route and also my SimBrief (flown) Route in shots #s 3/4 below). It was indeed a long (long) flight today for me. I've conducted the cruise portion mostly at 2X, except for the straight portions of it, where, I did 4X (no issue with the PMDG 777).

I was finally glad to be able to see the city lights of Hong Kong island(s) and then the (much eagerly awaited) leading lights to ILS Runway 07L of Hong Kong (VHHH) airport. It was an (incredibly) smooth landing, by yours truly in command...🙂...of this 777F with its gears gently touching down on the runway, in total darkness, to culminate one of the most exciting (and satisfying) long-haul flights that I can recall from this hobby. The PMDG 777F stood up to the challenge admirably well, just as the Lufthansa Cargo Flight (GEC8460) 777F had done just yesterday in the RW.

Hope you enjoy this collection of images of the Boeing 777 Freighter, on this ultra-haul (RW Lufthansa cargo) flight, from Frankfurt to Hong Kong (non-stop) ...

Thanks for viewing...!

Happy flying...short or long...GA or (big) airliners...🙂...!

Fine set, thanks for sharing !

cheers 😉

1 hour ago, pmplayer said:

Fine set, thanks for sharing !

cheers 😉

Thanks for the comment, pmplayer. Appreciated.

I wish PMDG lets in some (airline) livery packs for their 777 into the Marketplace, as iniBuilds has done for their recent airliners…

Cheers…!

Nice shots P7878, looks all good!  I tried to transfer my Baby PMDG from 2020 but doesn't work. Doesn't load and no paints.... 

Thank you for the comment, Andreas.

My MSFS2020 736 and the liveries, fortunately, work quite well in Xbox (starting the a/c on the runway), but the EFB is causing CTD in MSFS2024.

You mean Andreas, the 736 does not work in your Steam or MSFS2024…?