Supercharged by El Niño weather patterns, the flight was powered by a roaring Pacific jet stream moving at speeds of more than 250 miles per hour.
There are no official records of commercial flight speeds, but a recent article in Simple Flying notes that a British Air Boeing 747 flying near Greenland reached speeds of 1,250 mph in February 2020. It is said that he achieved this and set a record.
Other flights were also blown away by this week’s extremely strong high-altitude winds. For example, China Airlines Flight 6, which flew the same route as Flight 5116 on Friday, reached speeds of 822 mph.
The jet stream winds also allowed these planes to exceed the speed of sound (1,260 miles per hour). China Airlines 5116 (Boeing 777) has a cruising speed of 564 miles per hour, but the jet stream accelerated it to more than 800 miles per hour. It’s like walking on a moving sidewalk increases the speed of a pedestrian.
But the plane wasn’t like that. Breaking the sound barrier.parable Ground Although its speed exceeded the speed of sound, it was still moving through the surrounding air at normal cruising speed. It just so happened that the air around me was also moving.
China Airlines Flight 5116 flew the 7,205-mile route in just 10 hours and 18 minutes. This translates to an average speed of 1,200 miles per hour. This includes takeoff, landing, and all slow points during the trip. (Due to the jet stream, the average westbound flight time from Los Angeles to Taipei is typically 14 hours and 40 minutes.)
Extra fast flights were added on Thursdays and Fridays. among them:
- Philippine Airlines Flight 112 from Manila to Los Angeles reached a speed of 819 mph.
- Delta Flight 276 from Tokyo to Detroit reached speeds of 817 mph.
- Delta Air Lines Flight 26 from Seoul to Atlanta reached a speed of 1,314 miles per hour.
- China Airlines Flight 5382 from Taipei to Los Angeles reached a speed of 812 mph.
How did the jet stream become so fast? Typically, water streams have peaks and valleys that limit how fast they flow. Imagine a twisted hose. Even if the water is flowing through the hose, it will slow down until you straighten it out. The fluid then flows rapidly through the hose. Same premise here.
Jet streams are typically faster in the winter, and the world’s fastest jet streams tend to occur over the Pacific Ocean. It’s easy for a river of violent winds to roar eastward unless land or terrain (such as mountains) slows it down through friction.
Additionally, the jet stream is facilitated by temperature contrasts. The tropical Pacific Ocean is warmer than normal due to the El Niño phenomenon, which increases the temperature difference between the southern and northern ends of the ocean in the Northern Hemisphere, and strengthens the jet stream between them.
The same active Pacific jet stream will bring storms to California and the Pacific Northwest. A series of atmospheric rivers will flood the region, bringing heavy snow to the mountains and rain to low-lying areas.
Given the right conditions, planes can reach similar speeds over the North Atlantic Ocean. On February 7, 2020, a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines plane reached a ground speed of 1,319 mph over Newfoundland. It was a Boeing 747. The pilot took a photo of the instrument panel; After the flight, I contacted the Washington Post..
Jason Samenow contributed to this report.