Passengers crossing the Atlantic had early flights this weekend jet streams powered the planes but also caused turbulence
02/22/2024 12:03 p.m
(updated at 12:07 p.m.)
During the third weekend of February, anyone boarding a commercial flight may have experienced a very strange surprise from the air: several commercial aircraft were buffeted by unusual wind speeds of over 600 mph (1,000 km/h), bringing forward the arrival of some airlines.
Photo: moiseenkolina/envato / FreeGameGuide
Flights 22 from Virgin Atlantic Airways, 292 and 216 from British Airways, 64 from United Airlines and 120 from American Airlines reached speeds of over 1,280 km/h due to the jet streams blowing across the Atlantic. The phenomenon is characterized by particularly strong air currents.
Several aircraft were powered by jet streams and continued their journey (Image: Leaderofthewave/Wikimedia Commons)
Photo: Canaltech
Other flights, such as one with American Airlines that flew from Philadelphia in the USA to Doha in Qatar, reached speeds of more than 1,350 km/h. The average speed of a commercial aircraft at cruising speed is 925 km/h, much less than measured in recent days.
Jet streams of advancing flights
Jet streams occur in both hemispheres and always blow from west to east. They can, as reported, increase the speed of aircraft and forward movement, but are also responsible for turbulence, which can have serious consequences for passengers. In the United States, for example, wind speeds reached 420 km/h about 10.6 km above Washington, the altitude for commercial flights.
According to the country's National Weather Service, there were the second strongest winds since the middle of the century over the weekend. XX. The winds pushed passenger planes around the world, causing Virgin Atlantic flight 22 to London to arrive 45 minutes early, while British Airways flights 292 and 216 arrived 32 and 20 minutes early, respectively.
Fighter aircraft and jet aircraft generally break the sound barrier, but not commercial aircraft, with the exception of the Concorde (Image: Ensign John Gay, US Navy/Public Domain)
Photo: Canaltech
Passengers on Flight 22 reported that the phenomenon was shortlived but did not cause any other sensations in the cabin, while passengers on Flight 292 experienced some turbulence. The prepayment in some cases meant the need to circulate over the airports and wait for landing.
Have airplanes broken the sound barrier?
Interestingly, even though all of the planes flew over 700 mph (1,287 km/h) faster than the speed of sound of 740 mph (1,234 km/h) they didn't actually break the sound barrier.
It turned out that the planes had wind speeds of more than 320 km / h “within” and flew with the dynamics of the phenomenon. In order to overcome the sound barrier, you would have to drive 1,234 km/h faster than the surrounding area, but that didn't happen. The only airliner that could achieve this feat was the retired Concorde, which reached a speed of 2,172 km/h.
Source: The Washington Post, NWS with information from La Nacion
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