British Airways JFK-LHR Flight Nears Supersonic Speed

British Airways JFK-LHR flight nears supersonic speed.

British Airways Flight 114, a Boeing 777-200, hit supersonic speeds on Thursday, after it flew into a super speed jet stream.  This jet stream made the usually-no-shorter than 6 hour flight last only 5 hours and and 16 minutes, a pretty amazing feat.

The flight departed JFK at 10:50pm EST and arrived London Heathrow at 9:06am London time.  Usually it is said that this flight cannot be made any quicker than 6 hours.

The aircraft reached speeds of 745mph relative to ground speed, just twenty three miles short of the speed of sound at 768mph, according to NASA.  A few flights have been said to make the same journey in 5 hours and 20 minutes.  They were also able to make that quick flight time using the powerful jet stream, which travels at 200 miles per hour.

According to Daily Mail:

It is not unexpected for the jet stream to intensify during the winter months, with flight times in January and February between the US and the UK shortening in duration.

The temperature contrast between the equator and the North Pole is at its greatest during these months, and as well as leading to polar-vortex related climate experienced by the US currently, air pressure and wind increases.

Sadly, however, the strength of the jet stream is heavily weighted in one direction; that is to say flights heading to the US from Europe will see an increase in duration.

While this may sound great, it still doesn’t come anywhere close to making the time that the Concorde was able to make on this same route!  In 1996, a Concorde was able to make the New York to London journey in just 2 hours and 53 minutes, hitting speeds of up to 1,350mph during the journey.

This still is pretty amazing that the 777 was able to make such a quick journey across this pond.  If only this jet stream came in both directions and was this strong all of the time!  It isn’t too bad to be able to make the journey across the Atlantic in less than six hours!