At the end of last month, February 2024, abnormal winds caused passenger planes flying from the United States to the United Kingdom and Europe to move much more quickly than expected. A commercial airliner accidentally reached supersonic speeds. What will happen?
The speed of sound in air is about 343 meters per second at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius
The very strong winds of the Atlantic Jet Stream gave huge tailwinds to the flights, much stronger than usual, bringing their speed to values that were completely unexpected.
In fact, a Virgin Atlantic flight from Washington to London It will reach a top speed of more than 1,290 km/hIt is faster than the speed of sound (about 1,235.88 km/h). It's a speed not seen in passenger aircraft since the retirement of the Concorde fleet in 2003.
It may sound a bit scary, but it was good news for the passengers – not only did they arrive safe and sound, they arrived 45 minutes ahead of schedule.
In fact, although the plane exceeds the speed of sound, experts say that, Technically, the plane did not break the sound barrier. This scale is actually relative, and the air surrounding the plane was moving very quickly as well, meaning the plane itself was, in fact, moving at its normal cruising speed.
According to the US National Weather Service, some of these winds reached an insane speed of 426 kilometers per hour, so the thrust given to the planes was great.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said
At Virgin Atlantic, we evaluate all meteorological factors, including the jet stream. Using the strong tailwinds associated with the jet stream increases aircraft fuel efficiency, reduces emissions and can benefit our customers by arriving earlier at their destination. When planning the aircraft's route and flight level, the safety and comfort of our customers and crew is always our top priority and is never compromised.
Of course, wind is often a factor that affects travel times and aircraft fuel consumption, which is why round trips over the Atlantic do not generally have identical flight times, despite similar very long travel distances.
Climate change could change the way we fly
The jet stream is often included in flight plans to reduce fuel and energy consumption - but this shows that the weather can sometimes be unpredictable.
Perhaps it is not surprising that there are many scientists who analyze A widespread increase in average wind speed in the Atlantic jet stream Right now, there's a very prominent theory that it has to do with climate change.
Winds are strongly linked to the interaction between cold air and warm air, so as Earth's atmosphere warms, these winds appear to Strong winds could become more normal.
In fact, it could get denser, for all we know, which doesn't bode well for turbulence-free travel, but could be good for flight times.
