What is a safe altitude for planes?

One thing that pilots and prospective aircraft dispatchers need to understand is that there is not one universal safe altitude since some terrains or objects may be taller than others. Rather, the accepted metric is that this altitude needs to be at least 500 feet above the terrain or obstacle in question.



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An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.

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The most common reason is that there are no airstrips or airports on many of the small islands, so if a plane had to make an emergency landing, it would be difficult to find a place to land. Additionally, the Pacific Ocean is vast and remote, so if a plane were to go down, it would be very difficult to find.

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- It would be virtually impossible to survive ejection from an airplane at 30,000 feet. - A rapid drop in oxygen and extraordinarily cold conditions would be just two of the deadliest consequences. - People have been sucked through holes in airplanes before, but skilled pilots can often save the day.

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If a passenger jet flies too high, it reaches a point called 'Coffin Corner'. This is the point at which the aircraft's low speed stall and high-speed buffet meet and the plane can no longer maintain its altitude which forces it to descend.

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All airplanes will be exposed to drag during flight. They must overcome this aerodynamic force to achieve and maintain lift. Otherwise, airplanes would essentially fall out of the sky. Air brakes are control surfaces that increase drag so that airplanes slow down during flight.

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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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The highest verified altitude you can skydive from in the United States is 30,000 feet. For context, this is in the range of standard cruising altitude for a commercial airline and about 7 miles up. In other words, much higher than your average skydive at 10,000 feet or nearly 2 miles up!

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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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The spars run all the way through the wings, connecting in a “wing box” on the bottom of the fuselage, ensuring that the wings cannot snap off. The only possible way for an airplane wing to snap off would be “bad maintenance,” Rainer Groh, the writer behind the Aerospace Engineering Blog, told Fear of Flying School.

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During a belly landing, there is normally extensive damage to the airplane. Belly landings carry the risk that the aircraft may flip over, disintegrate, or catch fire if it lands too fast or too hard.

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Above about 8,000 meters (26,000 feet), the human body cannot survive at all, and starts to shut down. Mountaineers call this altitude the death zone. To prevent severe altitude sickness, mountaineers bring supplemental (extra) supplies of oxygen and limit their time in the death zone.

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Airplanes do not freeze because designers ensure sensitive components are heated or kept away from snow accumulation, low freezing points of jet fuels, thorough and robust de-icing protocols both on the ground and in the air, and during flight, the air is drier even at higher, sub-zero altitudes.

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Although forces of gravity are at play, you're technically weightless from the moment you leave the airplane until the parachute begins to open. This is why you feel a floating, as opposed to a falling, sensation. Physics proves it! An undisputed freefall sensation is wind speed strength.

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However, from the cruising altitude of a normal commercial aircraft (around 10km), and for the terminal velocity of a human (~55m/s**), it would only take around 3 minutes to hit the ground.

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