Strong high-altitude winds over the Mid-Atlantic sped up sky traffic on Saturday night, getting passengers on at least two commercial planes to their destinations early, after both aircraft hit supersonic speeds topping 800 mph.
Winds at cruising altitude peaked at about 265 mph, according to the Washington, D.C., area National Weather Service office — the second-highest wind speed logged in the region since recordings began in 1948. The highest-ever wind speed recorded in the area at a similar altitude was 267 mph on Dec. 6, 2002.
“For those flying eastbound in this jet, there will be quite a tail wind,” the NWS warned in a tweet.
Sure enough, that tailwind helped cut down the flight time for passengers on a Virgin Atlantic flight from D.C. to London by 45 minutes, according to the tracker FlightAware.
The aircraft isn’t experiencing anything out of the ordinary. Its airspeed - which is the speed relative to the air it’s moving through - would be the same. It’s just that the air is moving relative to the ground along its direction of travel.
Think of it like a boat moving down a river. If you paddle your speed is added to the speed of the current, but the force on the boat is just from you paddling.
good analogy! If that’s the case, then I can paddle a canoe 10mph (downstream, with a “tail” wind).
I can fuck in a canoe.