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So, the question of why we can’t often get the altitudes we want on shorter trips isn’t a mystery at all. The airspace in many parts of the country is so complex, that an arriving or departing flight a hundred or more miles away matters. To find out what altitude works on a short flight, all I can suggest is trial and error, or maybe ask the controller if the frequency quiets down so you can plan for the next time. On the other hand, flying too high could have negative safety issues. In some emergencies, such as a rapid decompression, pilots want to return to a lower altitude as quickly as possibe.
Drone Training in Canada
Commercial or passenger aircraft are usually designed for optimum performance around their cruise speed (VC) and cruise altitude. Factors affecting optimum cruise speed and altitude include payload, center of gravity, air temperature, and humidity. Cruise altitude is usually where the higher ground speed is balanced against the decrease in engine thrust and efficiency at higher altitudes.
How High Do Planes Fly? Airplane Flight Altitude
At this altitude, 737 jets can still have great fuel efficiency and safety standards thanks to avoiding powerful winds and bad weather. Curiously, the altitude displayed at the flight levels and on your seatback display is not the actual, true altitude above the ground. Planes flying below 18,000 feet set their altimeter to a reported pressure setting.
A Word About Light Aircraft
The paper considers optimizing the fuel consumption of a medium-haul aircraft during the cruise phase using sample data set on temperature, pressure, and wind speed. The proposed approach achieves a decrease in fuel consumption of 1.2% when optimizing with regard to real atmosphere. When it comes to aviation, airplanes, and flight dispatching, a key consideration for the career is understanding what the ideal cruising altitude for airplanes is.
Vertical SeparationThese VFR Cruising Altitudes provides a minimum of 1,000 feet clearance or vertical separation from other VFR airplanes heading in opposing directions. VFR Cruising AltitudesVFR Pilots flying on a magnetic course (track) of 0 degrees through 179 degrees should fly any odd thousand foot MSL (Mean Sea Level) altitude plus 500 feet. Example VFR Cruising altitudes would be 3,500 feet, 5,500 feet, 7,500 feet etc. Have you ever wondered why the view outside your plane window can be sunny one moment and rainy the next upon descending into your destination airport? Most planes are flying above the troposphere, where weather events usually happen, according to Traveller.
How high do planes actually fly?
Most airline passengers simply accept the fact that passenger jets fly very high. You fasten your seat belt, listen to the pre-flight safety demonstration (we hope), and prepare yourself for takeoff. After a few moments, the pilot comes on the overhead, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are now at our cruising altitude of 36,000 feet." If you know your feet don’t smell and you know that your feet are going to stay in your bubble and you’re not going to use the whole airplane as an ottoman, then OK, fine,” he said. But he added he always tells people to leave their socks on, “unless there’s a health and safety reason to do otherwise. We don’t want to shake and bake our passengers by being down low in the bumps when we could have climbed a few thousand feet and kept them cool and smooth, and had only a little more headwind.
Modern systems allow planes to pass as little as 1,000 feet above or below each other. Mark Vanhoenacker, British Airways pilot and author of Skyfaring, wrote that an airplane's altitude is "vertical wayfinding in the ocean of air." Aside from that beautiful turn of phrase, here's how that works. (NEW) VFR Mastery scenario #69 “Something’s Come Up” is now available. Passenger airsickness is an annoyance that almost every pilot has had to deal with at one time or another. Landing ASAP is the rule, but VFR above the clouds complicates the execution.
John Cox is a retired airline captain with US Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems. Outside the U.S., or in case of no radar coverage, the flight plan contains the appropriate low altitude airways, or more likely the transition to the Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR). This cold medicine routine has helped me log nearly a full night’s sleep on most 10-plus-hour flights I’ve taken in recent years, and I now pass my professional traveler wisdom onto you.
Commercial planes are one of the most common types of airplanes, which is why we will be focusing on them during this portion of the article. The normal cruising altitude for commercial airplanes is between 33,000 and 42,000 feet. This high altitude gives commercial flights the ability to have maximum fuel efficiency and reach high speeds because of the thin air.
So again, there has to be a balance, which accounts for the altitudes generally used. IFR Cruising AltitudesIFR Pilots flying on a magnetic course (track) of 0 degrees through 179 degrees should fly on an odd thousand foot MSL altitude. Example IFR Cruising altitudes would be 5,000 feet, 7,000 feet, 9,000 feet etc.
These recreational airplanes are not designed to be flown as high or at the same high speeds as commercial airplanes, such as some of the Boeing or Airbus models. These recreational airplanes are less powerful and designed for shorter flights. Most Cessna 172s have a maximum altitude of 13,000 to 15,000 feet, which is much lower than the previously discussed models.
These “roads” or “airways” in the sky are similar to traffic lanes to separate converging traffic. According to Thrillist, a plane's altitude is determined by its current weight and the atmospheric conditions at the time of flight. A flight's direction (as mentioned above), the amount of turbulence (based on reports by other pilots in the air), and flight duration are also factors. There's a lot to consider when you're picking your cruise altitude. But if you're thinking about obstacles, your plane's performance, and the weather and winds along your route, you'll have a smooth flight, and hopefully some happy passengers as well.
The Risks Of Flying Too High - Simple Flying
The Risks Of Flying Too High.
Posted: Mon, 18 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
But as we flew south into the busy arrival and departure corridors for O’Hare, we were sent down. Over 42,000 flights take place every day, with 5,000 planes in the sky at any one time, according to the FAA. With this much traffic, there has to be some official arrangement to make sure collisions do not happen, and there is.
In addition, airlines will want to maximize winds aloft and the performance efficiencies gained by flying at higher altitudes, where the air is thinner and opposes less resistance, meaning less fuel can be used. Planes don't always fly at the same altitude, and that's for a very good reason that many of us wish we could do on the ground — avoiding traffic. Flying higher means planes can avoid birds (usually), drones, and light aircraft and helicopters, which fly at lower altitudes. According to Your Mileage May Vary, the direction in which your plane is traveling can also affect what altitude it will climb to. Planes flying eastward (including northeast and southeast) will fly at odd altitudes (i.e. 35,000 feet) and all other directions will fly at even altitudes. Routes going in the same direction are also often planned so that planes are 1,000 feet above or below each other to avoid a collision.
Also, being that high in the air gives airplanes and pilots the ability to safely navigate air traffic and maximize their safety while in the air and completing their normal traffic. A commercial aircraft on a so-called IFR flight, i.e. all passenger planes, will cruise eastbound at so-called "odd" flight levels. That means for example at 33,000 feet (which pilots and air traffic control will refer to as FL330) or 35,000 feet (FL350) in increments of 2,000 feet. A westbound flight will cruise at even numbered flight levels—say 32,000 feet (FL320) or 34,000 feet (FL340)—again in increments of 2,000 feet.
There are certain rules for exactly where airliners can fly, and the direction of travel can affect what altitude they will climb to. Planes flying eastward, including northeast and southeast, will fly at odd altitudes, such as 35,000 feet. Planes flying in approximately westerly directions have to fly at even altitudes.
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