I got the free shuttle bus to the airport and checked in, before heading down to the gate. The international terminal at SFO is pretty compact and it took just 15 minutes to go from check in to the gate, with barely any line for TSA. Our flight was delayed slightly, but boarding was commenced before long and I made my way to board the beautiful Boeing 747. I took my seat in 53K, and it wasn't long before we pushed and taxied to runway 28L. We made a powerful yet sedate takeoff before getting a fantastic view of downtown San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. We headed across Lake Tahoe into Nevada, before crossing Wyoming on track towards North Dakota and the Canadian border. We then headed across Ontario and Quebec to Newfoundland, getting a wonderful view of the Canadian coast. In the middle of summer it never gets truly dark at these latitudes, and indeed on our flight we got dusk for about an hour before it got light again. The left hand side of the aircraft remained very bright throughout.
We crossed the southern tip of Greenland before making a direct course for Scotland, getting a wonderful view of Northern England/Isle of Man, and the entire country on a beautiful sunny summer morning. We touched down smoothly on runway 09L around 10 minutes ahead of schedule, after what was another fantastic flight with United.
I like to film each flight in full length, so you can watch the entire flight or just click through to the parts you're interested in. The full length flight video is here:
Full Length Flight Video
Airline: United Airlines
Flight: UA901 (callsign "UNITED 901")
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400 N174UA
From: San Francisco (SFO)
To: London Heathrow (LHR)
Departure: 13:40
Arrival: 07:00
Flight Time: 9:20
Seat: 53K
Flight Path: http://infl.it/ykdlv
Our journey today begins with the drive into San Francisco's International Airport, as we pull off of the interstate and into the terminal building. We make our way through to check in, then to security and then to the gate at the compact International terminal. After spending a while watching the aircraft movements at SFO we head to the gate and proceed to board our flight for today, the beautiful Boeing 747. We take our seat in 53K and before long we push back and begin our long taxi out to runway 28L. We depart to the north on what is a beautiful day for flying, getting a fantastic view of the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown San Francisco, before making a right turn and heading inland. We pass to the north of Yosemite National Park and cross into Nevada near to Lake Tahoe. From there we enjoy further clear skies across Nevada and into Idaho, getting a great view of the huge salt plains in the north of Nevada. It clouds over as we head across Idaho, and make further progress across North Dakota and into Canada, where we cross Ontario and head into Quebec. The sun starts to get lower in the sky over Quebec as we hit late evening, but as it is midsummer it never fully sets and gets completely dark. We fly across Newfoundland coasting out to the North Atlantic, our northernmost point being over the southern tip of Greenland. The dusk starts to get brighter again after around an hour, and it is soon bright daylight again out of the window. Before too long we are closing in on the UK, flying over a cloudy Scotland and getting our first clear views of the UK over Lancashire. We see the Isle of Man, Barrow in Furness, Blackpool, Southport, and Liverpool very clearly, before heading down towards the Birmingham area and commencing our descent. We descend over Oxfordshire and get some amazing views of the home counties as we make our way to the ILS approach for runway 09L. We touch down smoothly 30 minutes ahead of schedule, and taxi into our stand on Terminal 2's B Pier. We then disembark through the forward doors again and make our way through the terminal emerging on a very warm summer morning in London.
TIMELINE
00:00:06 Driving into San Francisco Airport
00:05:44 Walking into the International terminal at SFO, self-service check in
00:08:01 Heading to TSA (security)
00:08:52 After TSA, walking to gate
00:12:09 Aircraft movements overlooking the ramp
00:14:55 Our aircraft being towed onto stand
00:16:16 Going down the escalator to our gate
00:17:06 Waiting to board
00:18:14 Boarding the aircraft and taking our seat in 53K
00:29:29 Cabin view
00:33:58 Cabin view
00:50:15 ATC: Push and start clearance
00:52:23 Safety video
01:00:40 ATC: Taxi clearance
01:14:55 Takeoff runway 28L
01:17:20 Daly City, CA
01:19:20 Overhead San Francisco, Golden Gate Park
01:19:57 Golden Gate Bridge
01:20:22 San Francisco
01:20:56 Treasure Island
01:21:37 Oakland, CA
01:23:57 Concord, CA
01:34:14 Eldorado National Forest and Yosemite National Park, CA
01:37:12 Lake Tahoe, CA/NV
01:44:41 Cabin View
01:55:00 First drinks service
02:08:59 Jarbridge Peak, NV
02:15:57 Twin Falls, ID, Shoshone Falls
02:21:37 Cabin View
02:35:15 Meal service
03:46:14 Cabin view
05:15:15 Cabin view
05:27:52 Cabin View
06:05:54 Sunset over Newfoundland
06:24:50 Midnight snack!
09:43:04 Breakfast service - French Toast with sausage
09:54:04 Isle of Man
09:58:48 Barrow in Furness, UK
10:02:05 Blackpool, UK
10:03:41 Southport, UK
10:05:24 Liverpool, UK
10:06:37 Wirral Peninsula, UK
10:11:05 Telford, UK
10:21:23 Oxford, UK
10:26:13 Commencing approach to London Heathrow, landing runway 09L
10:30:59 Establishing on ILS to runway 09L
10:35:31 Landing runway 09L, taxi to terminal 2
10:43:56 Disembarking aircraft into terminal 2
10:57:02 Walking to border control
10:57:05 Walking from border control to kerbside at Heathrow
