Passenger planes fly faster than sound due to enormous winds, but do not pass through the sound barrier | Bizarre

Both planes flew at one point at a speed of as much as 1,290 km/h and more, at least relative to the Earth’s surface. The ground speed is that, and it can differ greatly from the air speed. After all, the air speed is measured relative to the surrounding air and therefore depends on the wind at that moment. And those winds reached a near-record speed of 426 km/h at cruising altitude (somewhere between 10 and 11 kilometers) on Saturday. “Almost,” because it is the second-fastest speed at that altitude recorded in the region by the Baltimore/Washington National Weather Service since records began in 1948. On December 6, 2002, a wind gust of 430 km/h was recorded, still the record.

The weather service had warned of the strong winds in a message on And that was true. The Virgin Atlantic flight from Washington DC to London took 45 minutes less than usual. The Boeing 787 reached a maximum ground speed of 1,290 km/h. Faster than the speed of sound, which is approximately 1,224 km/h under standard conditions at sea level.

Another United Airlines Boeing 787 flying from Newark to Lisbon peaked at 810 mph (1,349 km/h), once again ground speed and once again faster than the speed of sound. The flight would ultimately arrive in the Portuguese capital twenty minutes faster than expected. Yet this plane, like the other Boeings, did not break the sound barrier because “it was still moving at its normal cruising speed through the surrounding air, which just happened to be moving unusually fast,” the Washington Post explains. These types of passenger aircraft normally reach a maximum speed of 900 to 1,000 km/h.

Last month, a China Airlines plane over the Pacific Ocean also reached a ground speed faster than that of sound. Thanks to a tailwind of 402 km/h, that passenger plane briefly flew at 1,329 km/h.

The last two speeds are among the fastest ever measured, even though there are no official record speeds for commercial flights. The fastest ever subsonic transatlantic flight was performed in early February 2020 by a British Airways Boeing 747, which flew from New York (JFK) to London Heathrow in just 4 hours and 56 minutes. Thanks to storm Ciara. Such a flight normally takes longer than six hours. Top speed, according to FlightRadar24.com, was 1,328 km/h.