Passenger plane rockets to 800 mph in screaming jet stream - The Weather Network (2024)

A flight near New York City recorded the strongest jet stream winds ever seen in the region on Monday, imbuing the plane with a scorching 801 mph (1289 km/h) ground speed.

Keep in mind this is the groundspeed; that is, the speed of an aircraft relative to the surface of the earth, or the 'true airspeed' of the plane, corrected for wind. Flying into the wind, you get a lower groundspeed, thanks to the headwind. Flying with the wind, you get a higher groundspeed, thanks to the tailwind.

And what a tailwind.

Planes are constantly recording weather conditions several kilometres above the surface, and -- with the help of with weather balloons -- the upper fringes of the part of the atmosphere we live in are sampled.

The super-powered jet stream sampled by this Los Angeles to London flight revealed a tailwind of nearly 200 knots, shortening the flight to just more than 9 hours -- about an hour and a half shorter than usual for a direct flight.

This speed measured by the instruments on-board comes very close to the record groundspeed observed by this particular type of aircraft.