Qantas to test human endurance on a 19-hour flight

SYDNEY – The 18 hour flight barrier has been broken. Now a jet of passengers and crew wired with sensors will try for 19.

Pilots on two scheduled trips from New York to Sydney by Qantas Airways Ltd. This year will use a device to track brainwave patterns and alertness, feeding back data that will help shape the future of flights. Researchers from Melbourne-based Monash University will work with pilots to record the crew's levels of melatonin – a hormone associated with sleep – before, during and after the flights.

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