'This increase in the temperature gradient is amplifying the speed of the jet stream, which is driven by temperature differences. These passenger flights, however speedy, didn't break the sound barrier. There's a difference between ground speed and speed in the air (indicated air speed, essentially the speed of the plane in relation to the air around it). That's a little over 200 miles per hour faster than normal cruising speeds.īut if you're thinking these flight times are a match for the much-missed Concorde, whose sonic booms used to mark it breaking the sound barrier, it's time to think again.
In the past 24 hours, passenger aircraft traveling east from the US across the Atlantic have reached up to 778 mph. Sound travels at about 761 mph or 1,100 feet per second in 'sea level standard conditions,' according to NASA - a little over 661 knots. Savior of many a cramped pair of legs, the jet stream is well known for lopping roughly an hour off long haul west-to-east flights.īut it's working especially hard for travelers in economy class right now, with the jet stream over the Atlantic so strong that flights heading from the US to Europe are reaching speeds equivalent to that of sound. The jet stream is so strong right now passenger planes are reaching speeds more than 200 mph faster than normal.
