Flight times between New York and London slashed by jet stream's power

Status
Not open for further replies.

Glider_

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2014
Posts
492
Flight times between New York and London slashed by jet stream's power - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

A jet stream is propelling commercial planes between New York and London to high speeds across the North Atlantic slashing flight times by almost an hour.
The jet stream, which is a fast flowing narrow air current, has sent wild storms across the United Kingdom and has resulted in planes leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York late and arriving ahead of schedule at Heathrow Airport.
Flight Aware, a website which tracks plane locations, showed British Airways flight 114 made the crossing in five hours and 16 minutes on Wednesday, January 7.
The journey usually takes more than six hours.
According to Flight Aware data, the Boeing 777 travelled at a groundspeed, which is the speed at which the plane is travelling relative to ground level, of 1,204 kilometres per hour.
The speed of sound at sea level is 1,225 kilometres per hour.
Another speedy flight occurred on December 31 when the same flight took four hours and 46 minutes, according to Flight Aware.
The North Atlantic jet stream usually reaches its peak intensity during winter.
While speedy trips between JFK and Heathrow often happen this time of year, trips in the reverse direction can be longer due to strong headwinds.

US to EU in under 5 hours? W.O.W.
I had no idea passenger jets could/would fly so close to the speed of sound. It boggles my mind.
 
Flight times between New York and London slashed by jet stream's power - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)



US to EU in under 5 hours? W.O.W.
I had no idea passenger jets could/would fly so close to the speed of sound. It boggles my mind.
They are not flying any closer to the speed of sound than normal. They are flying at the same Airspeed/Mach number as always. ie relative to the air mass nothing has changed.
The only real difference is that the the air mass is also moving much quicker than normal and in the same direction as they are travelling.
 
Flew VIE-HAJ yesterday and the flight time was 30 minutes longer than my previous HAJ-VIE sector. (It's only a 1.5 hour flight, so that's quite a difference.) From memory the pilot said the longer flight time had something to do with 150 knot headwinds.
 
US to EU in under 5 hours? W.O.W.
I had no idea passenger jets could/would fly so close to the speed of sound. It boggles my mind.
I've been on AU-US flights where the ground speed has been mach 1.2 for short periods while the airspeed remains the same.
 
Supersonic B777 - Almost

The Boeing 777-200 jet reached a ground speed of 1200km/h as it rode winds of more than 320km/h across the Atlantic. At ground level, the speed of sound is 1225km/h.

The happy result was a flight time of just five hours and 16 minutes for BA114, which arrived an hour and half before schedule, according to the tracking website, FlightAware.

Wednesday's weather charts show the jet stream was running at 220 knots (410km/h) and was unusually wide, he added, making it easier for pilots and their passengers to benefit.

British Airways Boeing 777 approaches supersonic speed

Cool :)
 
Re: Supersonic B777 - Almost

Certainly a quick trip.

I wonder how much leeway ATC will give a pilot why tries to stay in a jet stream.
 
Re: Supersonic B777 - Almost

The speed of sound is 1080km/h at 10Km ;)
 
Re: Supersonic B777 - Almost

... The happy result was a flight time of just five hours and 16 minutes for BA114, which arrived an hour and half before schedule, according to the tracking website, FlightAware ....



Sounds good for them. I wonder how those felt, who were flying in the opposite direction. No happy ending there, I expect.
 
Re: Supersonic B777 - Almost

Took a flight PER-MEL a couple of months ago and once we were up, the captain came on and announced a flight time of 2hrs 38mins!!! There were gasps around the cabin as the regular flyers took in this info. Sadly, we were slowed a fair way out of MEL so it was three hours in the end but still a pretty fast trip.
 
Re: Supersonic B777 - Almost

Sounds good for them. I wonder how those felt, who were flying in the opposite direction. No happy ending there, I expect.
BA115 (LHR-JFK) took 8 hours 23 minutes on the 9th. 40 minutes longer then scheduled
 
Re: Supersonic B777 - Almost

Supersonic...not even close. The 777 would have been chugging along at around .84, as usual.

Strong jets are common, and as already mentioned, high groundspeeds are often experienced out of Perth.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Re: Supersonic B777 - Almost

Strong jets are common, and as already mentioned, high groundspeeds are often experienced out of Perth.

Surprised no smart comments about this........

In and out of jetstreams are there any protocols you have to use?
 
Supersonic B777 - Almost

Ahh physics. Relativity and frames of reference. Traveling faster than sound when observed from the ground frame of reference. But not supersonic compared to the air around it.

I found the reference to the speed of sound to be rather strange.
 
Re: Supersonic B777 - Almost

Previously, I have idly held my old Garmin Nuvi GPS at the window while airborne to see if it would operate with restricted satellites. It did and displayed a groundspeed of 970kmh between BNE-CNS!

I always kept this speed logged in the Nuvi "fastest speed" box in the hope that one day an officer may pull me over and say "do you know how fast you were going Sir?". Sadly this never happened ...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top