Why bad weather could make your flight faster – and land up to an hour earlier than planned
A METEOROLOGIST has revealed why flying in bad weather could mean you arrive up to an hour earlier than expected.
Flights from the United States crossing the Atlantic have been arriving much earlier than scheduled recently.
Passengers on British Airways’ Flight 112 took off from JFK in New York to Heathrow and got some good news on Thursday morning as they were told it would arrive 50 minutes early.
Similarly, a United flight from Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris 58 minutes ahead of time, according to FlightAware, which tracks aviation traffic.
The cause has been put down to a jet stream blowing in their favour.
A jet stream is a band of strong winds which blow from west to east in the upper levels of the atmosphere at around 30,000 feet above ground, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Jennifer Stroozas, a meteorologist with the Aviation Weather Centre at the National Weather Service told the New York Times: “The atmosphere behaves a lot like a fluid.
“If the water is calm, a boat will also remain still. If the water has a strong current, it will naturally push a boat along.”
She added that when a plane flies within a jet stream the strong winds can push the plane along faster.
Aviation consultant Richard Levy, who previously used to fly commercial planes said that commercial flights usually fly at a speed equivalent to a ground speed of around 570 mph.
The jet stream currently over the Atlantic has been helping flights go faster than average.
The recent BA flight from New York to London reached a flying speed of 734mph.
The good news for flyers is that jet stream assisted flights aren’t rare, according to Kevin Kuhlmann, a professor of aviation and aerospace science at the Metropolitan State University of Denver.
During the summer, a jet stream can often be found further north while in winter the jet stream can move south.
Jet streams are not only found over the Atlantic but also the Pacific too.
However, it’s not all good news while a jet stream may reduce your travel time it can also create turbulence in some cases.
Levy said that to reduce the chances of turbulence, pilots will often reduce their speed and he compared flying through a jet stream to driving along a bumpy road.
Drivers when they hit a bumpy patch will often slow down to reduce the impact.
Another problem is that while travelling west to east can speed up a journey, going east to west can have the reverse effect.
Stroozas said: “The opposite is also true.
“If it flies into a strong wind, it would effectively slow it down, also like trying to paddle upstream.”
Levy said that on a westbound flight from London to NYC, it is possible to avoid the jet stream by flying north over Greenland.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that arriving early can also cause other problems.
While you may have arrived way ahead of time, that doesn’t mean there will be a gate available so you can actually get off the plane.
Passengers may have to stay sitting in their seats while the crew wait for a gate to become available.