I am confused as to what ETOPS actually is... what does it mean and what is it for?

ETOPS is a set of rules from the FAA controlling long (usually trans-oceanic) airline flights. It stands for Extended Operations.

In general, an airline would seek approval for ETOPS if it wanted to "operate two-engine airplanes over a route that contains a point farther than 60 minutes flying time from an adequate airport at an approved one-engine inoperative cruise speed under standard conditions in still air." (This is taken directly from FAA advisory circular 120-42B).

In other words, ETOPS approval would allow an airline to fly a two engine airplane (like a 767) across the ocean as long as it was able at any point along the way to fly to a diversion airport on one engine (in case one of the two engines failed) within a specified amount of time (90, 120, or 180 minutes; or even more!).

Without ETOPS approval, a two-engine airliner must fly a route that puts it at all times no MORE than 60 minutes flying time (on one engine) to a diversion airport. This limitation prevented two-engine airliners from flying direct routes across the ocean.

Approval for ETOPS 180 minute diversions allow a twin-engine airplane to fly point-to-point virtually anywhere on earth, the exceptions being over the south pole or certain areas in the southern hemisphere.

Virtually all major airlines operate twin-engine airplanes on long-haul routes, so they all have ETOPS approval. This has been the case for many years; ever since three and four engine airplanes were phased out for much more efficient two engine airplanes.

From a safety stand-point, modern turbine engines have proven to be so reliable that it is considered safe to operate a two engine airplane anywhere on earth!

Its extended range operations for aircraft. Its the distance in time an aircraft can be from an alternative airport at one engine inoperative airspeed. I.e. I think a lot of the 737 aircraft have an ETOPS of 180minutes. Im pretty sure I did recently read in airliner world that this has increased in some of the new aircraft rolling out now. This is obviously useful for aircraft when they are crossing large oceans like the atlantic as it means they don't have to take a slower route in order to stay close enough to land and an alternate airport.

I think everyone else has covered ETOPS pretty well.

The 737 NG can operate ETOPS. In fact Aloha Air was using them (-700's) for trips between Honolulu and Las Vegas when they were in operation.

Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards

etops-180, for example, means a twin-engine airliner must always be within 180 minutes of a diversion airport if an engine fails.

prior to etops twin-engine planes always had to be within an hour of an airport (in effect, etops-60). they couldn't fly trans-atlantic as a result. with etops-180 you can fly trans-pacific. i've flown trans-atlantic and trans-pacific in 767s (cyvr-egll, cyvr-phnl-ymml) and 777s (nzaa-cyvr).

later: i've added a route across the north atlantic that is always within an hour of a diversion airport. this is iffy, though, since airports in southern greenland (e.g. nuuk/godthab, bggh) are often inaccessible due to poor weather and may not be available for a diversion.

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What Does Etops Stand For

FAA ruling for extended operations with multi engine aircraft.

ETOPS = Engines "turning" or passengers swimming -