Summary Taylor Swift’s upcoming flight from Tokyo to Las Vegas is a historic moment in aviation, providing an opportunity to introduce new audiences to the industry.
She will be flying on a Dassault Falcon 7X, a luxury business jet with a hefty range suitable for long-haul flights.
The flight is well-planned and will be closely monitored by air traffic control, ensuring the safety and comfort of the passengers onboard.
Singer and social icon Taylor Swift is expected to grace the sky, using her private jet to transit the Pacific Ocean from the end of her concert in Tokyo, Japan, and join one of the world’s most-watched sporting events at the national football leagues’ Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Nevada, a continent away. The movement is dubbed the world’s most anticipated flight in heavier-than-air aviation’s more than 120-year history.
The flight is a great moment for aviation, as Taylor Swift fans now draw their attention to the logistics of aircraft movement and the world of flight. For one, it provides an opportunity to share details of the aviation industry with an entirely new audience. While the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics says that only 5% of pilots are women, Taylor Swift fans present a one-of-a-kind opportunity to share aviation with those who generally interact with it.
So, whether Taylor Swift is your first parlay into the miracle of flight, or you have been around aviation for years, here is all the information about the upcoming flight from Tokyo to Las Vegas you could ever need.
The Aircraft
Founded 95 years ago, Dassault Aviation is no stranger to luxury, high-performance business jets. The Falcon 7X Taylor will likely use is a large-cabin business jet that took its first flight in 2007. Ms. Swift’s jet was the 27th jet of the type to be built, and it was manufactured in 2009.
The Falcon 7X was developed from the Falcon 900 and is powered by three Pratt & Whitney PW300 series engines, producing up to 7,000 lbs of thrust each. The Falcon 7X has a longer range than the smaller Falcon 900, which is essential when flying the more than 4,800 nautical miles between Tokyo and Las Vegas.
Meet Stephan Bailey, a pilot with more than 10,500 hours of flying experience who has been instructing pilots for over ten years. Bailey himself is an instructor on the Falcon 7X and has logged time on several Dassault Aviation aircraft.
Bailey says the design of the Falcon 7X’s cockpit layout makes it an aircraft that is easy to fly such long distances.
“It’s a lot more comfortable because of that openness; it’s very smooth en route because when you fly, it’s a fly-by-wire system.”
Photo: Dassault Aviation
Pilots measure fuel for flight planning, as this will affect aircraft performance. Dassault says its Falcon 7X has a maximum takeoff weight of 70,000 lbs; the maximum fuel weight can be more than 31,940 lbs. The Falcon 7X will burn around 2,348 pounds of fuel per hour at cruise speeds of Mach 0.8., or 80% the speed of sound, according to Dassault.
Bailey says that the distance between Tokyo and Las Vegas is “a cakewalk” for the 7X, adding that it is well within the range of the aircraft. Bailey notes that the aircraft will likely not be flying the 4,800-mile trip directly, saying that the flight distance will change depending upon which route the aircraft is assigned on the day.
The aircraft can fly a little faster, but doing so would increase fuel consumption. Aircraft performance is subject to change around various factors, including weight, temperature, altitude, etc., and pilots will consult with dispatchers to determine the best performance available for that day.
Photo: Dassault
Onboard, the aircraft cabin has a height of 6 ft 2 inches inside, which means Ms. Swift should be able to walk around comfortably. The aircraft features luxury interiors that can accommodate up to 12 passengers and can even be equipped with a makeshift bed if needed. Regarding passenger comfort, charter company Magellan Jets says that the Falcon 7X can have cabin pressurization of 3,950 feet at altitudes of 41,000 ft. Bailey says cabin pressurization is key to comfort and making individuals onboard feel better rested and more relaxed.
The Flight
In most cases, experienced private jet operators will have the jet waiting for passenger arrival. This means that the flight crew will have completed their pre-flight checks and inspections well before the flight, consulting with a dispatcher who will make all the necessary logistical arrangements for the aircraft and gather relevant airport and weather information for the pilots. With safety being the number 1 priority, the pilots will be type-rated for the Falcon 7X, meaning they would have undergone specific training to become masters of that aircraft specifically.
“Her pilots are very nice guys, very laid-back guys,” Bailey said. “For them, this is routine; they do this with her day in and day out.”
Photo: Brian Friedman | Shutterstocl
Superbowl Sunday for Ms. Swift will likely start on Saturday, after her Era’s Tour concert at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. Ms. Swift is expected to go on stage at 18:00 local time in Japan and will finish the 44-song-long concert at around 21:15. Ms. Swift is known to sometimes add in a few extra songs for her fans, who surely will know what a big day the Nashville-based pop singer has in store.
The logistical details of “when” the flight will depart are currently unknown, but in planning, Ms. Swift will have more than 24 hours of margin. The drive from the Tokyo dome to the city’s Haneda Airport is about 25 minutes, meaning that Taylor could be airborne by 22:00 on Saturday in Tokyo, which is 05:00 in Las Vegas.
Photo: Hit1912 | Shutterstock
Once airborne, Bailey says that the pilots will be talking to controllers in Japan until they reach Guam, where they will then contact air traffic controllers at FAA facilities in Oakland, California, or Anchorage, Alaska, to guide them to the United States.
During the flight, the pilots will check the aircraft’s position to ensure the Falcon 7X reaches the waypoints along its flight at the appropriate time. The system for waypoint reporting hasn’t changed much since Amelia Earhart disappeared in the South Pacific.
But unlike in the 1930s, the Falcon 7X will communicate with ground control using satellite and ultra-high-frequency radio communication to send written communications. While over the Pacific, the Falcon 7X is unlikely to appear on the radar, making these position reports essential to help avoid conflicts with other aircraft.
Photo: NATS
Flying at Mach 0.8, Bailey says the flight should take around 10 hours, meaning Ms. Swift would arrive in Las Vegas a few hours before she departed; this is because Ms. Swift will cross the international date line, effectively stepping back in time during her flight across the Pacific.
Bailey, who has flown business jets into the Super Bowl before, notes that the FAA will be using a system of slot arrivals for business jet traffic heading into Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport (LAS).
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Traffic and parking will be tricky in Las Vegas as a surge in private aircraft, as well as regular passenger aircraft, is expected at LAS and other airports in the area. It’s unknown if Ms. Swift’s 7X will remain on the ground for long. The jet may depart and park somewhere outside of Las Vegas during this time.
Tracking
Until a few days ago, Ms. Swift was associated with two Dassault Falcon jets, both of which are difficult to track. Usually, most aircraft can be followed by entering their registrations or “tail numbers” on free services such as Flightradar24 or FlightAware. These services use a combination of aircraft transponder data to display real-time locations.
However, understandably, with many other high-profile celebrities, the jets associated with Ms. Swift won’t appear on flight tracking services, as their operators have arranged to hide their position from public display.
A recent update to the publicly available FAA aircraft registry revealed that Taylor Swift had sold her smaller Falcon 900, registered N898TS, leaving her with a sole Falcon 7X for the job on Super Bowl Sunday.
While this Falcon 7X (N621MM) has its flight tracking blocked, there are a few ways around this. Jack Sweeney, on /X/ (formerly Twitter), specializes in such monitoring. Mr Sweeny has previously been sued by Elon Musk for providing tracking information for his private jet. On February 4th, attorneys for Ms. Swift sent a letter to Mr Sweeny demanding that he cease and desist his tracking activities, according to the Washington Post.
Either way — and this is important to remember — if you are tracking N621MM on Super Bowl Sunday and if the aircraft disappears, that’s perfectly okay. When flying over isolated areas, like the Pacific Ocean, for example, it is not unusual to lose track of ADSB data. There are many reasons for this: a lack of receivers available or a specific geography limiting detection, for example. If N621MM disappears from your screen, it’s probably nothing to worry about. The pilots will be communicating with air traffic control the whole time.
Either way, folks watching the flight can be “Fearless” as the flight is well within the capabilities of its aircrew, aircraft, and aviation professionals on the ground. So, if you are a Swiftie or a plane spotter, Sunday’s big game is expected to be one for the books.
The Beauty Of Air Travel: How Taylor Swift Is Singing In Tokyo & Attending The SuperBowl On the Same Day
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