What is the cruising altitude of a jet?
Commercial aircraft typically fly between 31,000 and 38,000 feet — about 5.9 to 7.2 miles — high and usually reach their cruising altitudes in the first 10 minutes of a flight, according to Beckman. Planes can fly much higher than this altitude, but that can present safety issues.
What is the cruising altitude of a 737?
The advanced wing airfoil design provides an economical cruise speed of . 789 Mach (530 mph) – compared to . 745 Mach for earlier 737 models. The Next-Generation 737 airplanes are capable of cruising to a maximum altitude of 41,000 feet, compared to 39,000 feet for the competition.
Which plane has crashed the most?
JAL Flight 123 520: The crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 on August 12, 1985, is the single-aircraft disaster with the highest number of fatalities: 520 people died on board a Boeing 747.
Has a plane ever crashed into an airport?
United Airlines Flight 859 crashed during landing at Stapleton International Airport, Denver, Colorado, on July 11, 1961. The aircraft slammed into several airport vehicles, including construction equipment, and caught fire, killing 18 (including one on the ground) and injuring 104 from a total of 122 people on board.
Why do jets fly at 35000 feet?
A balance between operating costs and fuel efficiency is achieved somewhere around 35,000 feet, which is why commercial airplanes usually fly at that altitude. Most commercial airplanes cruise at an altitude of nearly 35,000 feet—around 6.62 miles (10,600 meters) in the air!
Can pilots see other planes?
Answer: No, the pilots and air traffic controllers know when airplanes will pass each other. While a passing airplane may look close, it is actually distant. Remember that airplanes can be separated vertically as well as laterally.
What is the cabin pressure at cruising altitude?
At the normal stratospheric cruising altitudes of 30,000–38,000 ft, the outside pressure is 0.3–0.2 atm, respectively, while the cabin pressure is maintained at a level equal to that found at altitudes between about 5500 ft and 8000 ft, or between about 0.8 and 0.7 atm.
What happens to blood oxygen levels at cruising altitude?
O’Connor (2012) described studies of volunteers subjected to simulated flights with different levels of cabin pressure. As the pressure in the cabin was decreased to levels corresponding to altitudes between 7000 ft and 8000 ft, blood oxygen levels were found to decrease as much as 4.4%.
What’s the maximum altitude an airplane can fly at?
Federal Aviation Regulations state that aircraft must be equipped to provide a cabin alti- tude of no more than 8000 ft (cabin pressure is no lower than 565 mmHg) at the maximum cruise altitude, or maximum operating altitude under normal operating conditions ( 15 ).