Near-record winds over the Northeast push passenger planes to speeds over 800 mph
Near-record winds over the Northeast push passenger planes to speeds over 800 mph
A couple of planes got a big push from a jet stream with winds clocking 265 mph at cruising altitude this weekend, the National Weather Service said.
Strong high-altitude winds over the Mid-Atlantic sped up sky traffic on Saturday night, getting passengers on at least two commercial planes to their destinations early, after both aircraft hit supersonic speeds topping 800 mph.
Winds at cruising altitude peaked at about 265 mph, according to the Washington, D.C., area National Weather Service office — the second-highest wind speed logged in the region since recordings began in 1948. The highest-ever wind speed recorded in the area at a similar altitude was 267 mph on Dec. 6, 2002.
“For those flying eastbound in this jet, there will be quite a tail wind,” the NWS warned in a tweet.
Sure enough, that tailwind helped cut down the flight time for passengers on a Virgin Atlantic flight from D.C. to London by 45 minutes, according to the tracker FlightAware.
A) no it’s not supersonic because that depends on airspeed not ground speed
B) this is normal for west bound flights
Think you mean eastbound flights.
Also the quote clearly said this was the second highest cruising altitude wind speed in the area since they began recording it in 1948.
It depends on if you're in the northern or southern hemisphere. \s
Not those speeds though. Usually they fly 600-700 in that direction.
50% accuracy ain't bad I guess
While this is an incredible travel speed, I wouldn't consider it "hitting supersonic" speeds based on ground speed. I read the article wondering about the safety of passenger aircraft at 800MPH, but it seems to not apply.
I'm not a pilot, though.
The aircraft isn't experiencing anything out of the ordinary. Its airspeed - which is the speed relative to the air it's moving through - would be the same. It's just that the air is moving relative to the ground along its direction of travel.
Think of it like a boat moving down a river. If you paddle your speed is added to the speed of the current, but the force on the boat is just from you paddling.
Narrator: It's not.
Poorly written summary. Supersonic means exceeding the speed of sound (duh) and the indicated airspeed of the plane at cruising altitude would still be around 250kts, about 1/3rd speed of sound.
Yeah I was curious about that too.
The plane can't really slow down to compensate in guessing as it would lose lift? Or it could extend flaps maybe.
There's no reason at all for it to slow down. If you've ever been on one of those moving walkways think about it like that, yes by walking on it you're moving faster than the people around you, but to you you're not walking any faster than normal even though you'll arrive at your destination earlier.
The supersonic claim reeks of bullshit. Humans had a hell of a time engineering a plane that could withstand that speed, and I'd guess passenger jets would tear apart.
“Although its ground speed — a measure that combines the plane’s actual speed and the additional push from the wind — was greater than the speed of sound, it was still moving through the surrounding air at its ordinary cruise speed. It just so happened that the surrounding air was moving unusually fast,” the Post reported.
Oh! Never knew what "ground speed" meant. So no, those planes were not leaving a sonic boom. Not even close to supersonic at typical altitudes.
(Apologies, don't know how to format a table on here.)
Sea level 15 °C (59 °F) 761 11,000 m−20,000 m (Cruising altitude of commercial jets, and first supersonic flight ) −57 °C (−70 °F) 660 29,000 m (Flight of X-43A ) −48 °C (−53 °F) 673So you are right they were not going supersonic speeds, not even close. Yes their ground speed exceeded the speed of sound, but ground speed is only meaningful with how fast the plane is going to get to its destination. The plane only cares about air speed.
So it is all about the frame of reference. For a plane in flight the air is in a different frame of reference than the ground. To be supersonic the plane needs to be moving supersonic speeds in relation to the air not the ground.
Also just to make life more fun supersonic is not a transition that happens at a set speed. It is actually pressure dependent. At standard pressure and temperature it is 786mph, but it will go up and down with changes to pressure and temperature.
The true definition of supersonic is when the air the plane is pushing is no longer able to flow around the plane and instead is compressed in front of it. But that definition is hard to put on an air speed indicator so they just use 786mph better known as Mach 1.0.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Spelling
Ah so that's how aliens fly supersonic without breaking the sound barrier. Just move the air around the craft in the direction they're going! Problem solved.
I’d guess passenger jets would tear apart.
Not initially. Supersonic flows disrupt the airflow around the wings, control surfaces and the fuselage in general, so the plane just gets out of control. Since gravity exists, that means the plane will begin to drop, accelerating even more. At some point, the airflow will tear the fuselage apart, but if not, the collision with the ground surely will.
Look up the coffin corner for some interesting explanations of the problems around there.
What about planes going the opposite direction
if they fly a bit higher or lower, they will avoid the worst of it.
To shreds you say?
At some point, depending on the distance to the destination and the speed of the Jetstream, it makes more sense to fly around the world with the Jetstream than directly towards your destination without it. The faster it gets, the closer that point gets.
Getting off a flight 45 minutes early would feel a bit like time traveling.
That sounds very fun and exciting ngl
Oh look, all the ocean receded. It's so cool. Let's go out and look at all the stuff that's usually underwater.
In case anyone is wondering, there are actually subsonic aircraft that can handle going mach.
The F-86 Sabre had a max speed of 687 mph at sea level which is about mach 0.9
But the Sabre could enter a dive from a higher altitude and safely reach past Mach 1 with help from gravity (or another additional source like rockets).
Comparatively, the MiG-15 had poor control authority reaching mach 0.9 and would subsequently break apart if it reached past mach 0.92.
Modern airliners obviously aren't fast enough to reach mach under their own power, but they also can't handle the pressure if they used something like a dive so they would also break apart like the MiG.