How high can a plane fly?

The maximum height that a commercial airplane is allowed to reach when they fly is 42,000 feet, as this is the universally approved maximum altitude. This max altitude for airplanes is known as the “service ceiling.” Most commercial air jets fly at such a high altitude because it is known to optimize efficiency.



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The highest certified altitude of an airliner was Concorde's 60,000 feet. Today some of the corporate jets can fly at 51,000 feet. Q: What is the highest cruising altitude allowed? A: Most airliners are limited to 45,000 feet or less.

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Commercial jetliners have a limited elevation ceiling of about 45,000 feet. While corporate aircraft can fly higher, slightly above 50,000 feet, they are specifically designed for such purposes. However, reaching an altitude of 60,000 feet would require super-efficient engines and glider-like wings.

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Aerodynamic altitude: If a commercial airliner flies too high, it will encounter less dense air passing over the wings to create lift. This can cause the plane to stall and fall out of control. Depending on the weather conditions and aircraft weight, this can occur anywhere between 40,000 and 45,000 feet.

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Aircraft with fixed wings cannot stand still in the air, unless we are talking about VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) aircraft. Lift is created by air flowing around the wing. Too little forward speed, and the wing will stall (loose lift).

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Most scheduled airlines avoid taking fly routes over Mount Everest. Jet aircraft fly at an altitude from 35000 to 40000 feet; the height of Mt. Everest is inside the jet plane's cruising altitude. To ensure a safe distance above the Himalayas, the pilots are required to fly into the lower portion of the stratosphere.

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A series of Navy and Air Force programs in the 1950s and 1960s used pressure vessels or pressure suits to get balloonists higher, some to above 100,000 feet. Skydiver Nicholas Piantanida set an unofficial record—123,500 feet—in 1966, but a later attempt went awry when his helmet depressurized.

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By 2050, pilots around the world can expect to encounter at least twice as much severe clear-air turbulence, Williams found in his research. Clear-air turbulence is what caused a Lufthansa flight traveling from Texas to Germany to unexpectedly drop 1,000 feet this past week.

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Severe turbulence, he added, is “quite rare — only 0.1% of the atmosphere at 40,000 feet has severe turbulence in it, so if you're on a plane it's very unlikely that your plane will hit that 0.1%.” “However, given the number of planes in the skies, one of them will.

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Whether flying at night or during the day, pilots need to see some kind of horizon. They use this to determine the airplane's attitude. At night pilots will turn their gaze from outside to inside and use the artificial horizon. The artificial horizon is normally a simply globe split into two hemispheres.

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Most commercial airplanes have a certified maximum altitude of about 40,000 to 45,000 feet. Regardless of its certified maximum altitude, if an airplane flies too high, it may fail in one or more ways. For starters, the engine may suffocate from a lack of oxygen.

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When the altitude of an airplane is less than 12,500 feet, there is no supplemental oxygen required for anyone in a private plane. From 12,500 feet to 14,000 feet, supplemental oxygen must be used by the required flight crew for any portion of the flight that is more than 30 minutes.

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Commercial jets, however, have more sensors and control measures to prevent midair collisions, meaning they generally aren't affected by traffic. Private jets lack the high-tech sensors and controls of commercial jets, so pilots operating them typically fly at a higher altitude where there's less traffic.

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Most flights are intended to spend as little time as possible over water, since storms are more common over the ocean than on land. An aircraft would not be safe to fly over the Pacific Ocean due to the stormy weather and frequent lightning strikes that occur there.

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Most flights are intended to spend as little time as possible over water, since storms are more common over the ocean than on land. An aircraft would not be safe to fly over the Pacific Ocean due to the stormy weather and frequent lightning strikes that occur there.

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