At what altitudes do airplanes fly: detailed briefing

"Only in flights live airplanes" - do you remember these words from the famous song of Yuri Antonov? Life is in the air, and on earth, and underground, and under water. So at what altitudes do airplanes fly?

Further, higher, faster

In the days of the arms race this motto was applied in the domestic aircraft construction. And it should be noted that with great success. For example, such an exhibit, about which very few people remember how the Su-100, was designed as a strategic bomber, but could escape the pursuit of any fighter that existed at that time and a long time later. Unfortunately, due to bureaucratic delays, he remained an experienced model.

For military aviation technology, the speed and altitude of the flight are fundamentally important, since there is a need to remain difficult to achieve for ground-based air defense units. At what altitudes do airplanes of this category fly?

Flight Height

The maximum flight altitude, or ceiling, for each type of aircraft is calculated and laid based on its intended use. If this is a fighter, its flight altitude should be as high as possible. After all, he will have to "get" an opponent who can try to get away from the chase, gaining altitude. Some developed aircraft have a practical ceiling of up to 40 kilometers above sea level, although such heights are impractical. Most modern fighters are designed for use at altitudes of up to 20-22 kilometers.

Transport and passenger airliners

These planes have a different sphere of application, so the requirements for altitude and speed of their flight are different. There were individual developments of passenger airliners using supersonic speeds (such as "Concorde"), but they were abandoned because of impracticality of application in this area. However, the speed of flight of jet transport and passenger aircraft is quite impressive.

For example, the well-known military transport aircraft IL-76 has a cruising speed of 750-800 km / h. Hence, the maximum speed is very close to supersonic. And the practical ceiling reaches 12,000 meters above sea level. The estimated height for this type of aircraft is 8-9 km. The majority of modern large aircraft, designed to carry goods and passengers over long distances, have similar or close to their flight characteristics.

However, the usual speed measurement system for aircraft flying at high altitudes will not always be sufficiently informative. The speed of the aircraft at altitude is often measured by the number "M" corresponding to the speed of sound. For a large flight altitude, this indicator is of great importance, because at high altitude the density of air decreases, and hence the speed of sound, expressed in km / h or in m / s, also decreases. Therefore, at the same speed, expressed in kilometers per hour, with a change in altitude, the speed expressed in the number "M" will change. For an ordinary person, this seems unprincipled. But to overcome the speed of sound will require a significant increase in the strength of the structure, and consequently, the mass of the aircraft, as well as specific forms of the wing.

For example. An airplane flying at the surface of the earth at the speed of sound, over an hour, will cover a distance of about 1220 kilometers. The plane at an altitude of 10 km, flying at the speed of sound, will overcome only 1,076 kilometers per hour. For purely practical reasons, it will not be meaningful to disperse a non-military aircraft to the speed of sound and substantially increase the altitude of its flight.

Local airlines and other applications of aircraft

This sphere of aviation differs significantly from those considered above. The range of flight for aircraft flying on local airlines is measured by several hundred kilometers. Most often, such aircraft are equipped with screw engines, which have a significantly lower fuel consumption per kilometer.

At what altitude the airplanes fly, which we are talking about now, depends on their destination. In any case, here we are talking not about tens of kilometers and often not even about kilometers. For this category, low echelons are provided. Usually this is a height of 600, 900, 1200 meters for local airlines. Aircraft used in agriculture for cultivation of land rarely rise above a few hundred meters, and the immediate execution of tasks occurs from a height of several tens of meters. Such altitudes are prevailing in aircraft used to extinguish fires.

If you do not have serious problems with the vestibular apparatus, you will enjoy the flight. And during the control of the aircraft you will get an incomparable impression. And it does not matter at what heights fly planes. You will feel at the height.