Weekend jet stream winds in the eastern US and Atlantic topped 265 mph. As a result, eastbound passenger flights have been riding them and topping 800 mph. Flights from Dulles to London were arriving 45 min early. Technically, though, they didn't break the sound barrier which is usually around 770 mph. That requires a faster air speed, not ground speed. The 800 mph is ground speed. Their air speed is 500 to 600. No sonic boom for these guys.
At that altitude there is very little air (as it is on the surface) to travel through. Wind resistance at 50,000 feet is nothing like what your car pushes against on a highway. With the jetstream flowing as it does, you’re always gonna make better time headed east, and since you’re going against it, it’s gonna take longer to go west. Don’t they teach this in high school sience anymore? 😳 Serious question. I know we learned about this, I think in 10th grade! I’m no Guinness, and this is pretty basic stuff. Reon
Last edited by 7mmbuster; 02/20/24.
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
The Concorde was too expensive to operate and they were running out of spare parts. After 30 years, nobody was making the needed parts any more. Because of the high cost of operation, their ticket prices were extortionately high. It was also very noisy and cramped. It's only virtue was speed. After the crash, they decided to just eat their loses and shut it down. It did have an excellent safety record - 1 fatal crash in 30 years, but that wasn't the reason for ending it. That was an entirely different plane. It flew at more than double the speed of subsonic passenger planes.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
Wind and airplanes are a fun combo. Back when I was in the ATC business it wasn’t difficult to put slow planes in front of the fast ones if the jet stream was utilized. When I was flying for a living there was one evening when my little piston powered craft was making over 350 mph ground speed whilst indicating about 200 mph. Heck, one day in a single engine Cessna I was making about 250 mph ground speed. 🤣
In the ATC business I was working a Concorde that descended too quickly and overtemped the airframe. Emergency landing at Orlando International Airport followed.
I am..........disturbed.
Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain
![[Linked Image from upload.wikimedia.org]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/British_Airways_Concorde_G-BOAC_03.jpg/640px-British_Airways_Concorde_G-BOAC_03.jpg)
