Near-Record Winds Over the Northeast Push Passenger Planes to Speeds Over 800 mph (1300 km/hr)
Freeman writes:
Strong high-altitude winds over the Mid-Atlantic sped up sky traffic on Saturday night, getting passengers on at least two commercial planes to their destinations early, after both aircraft hit supersonic speeds topping 800 mph.
[...]
"Although its ground speed - a measure that combines the plane's actual speed and the additional push from the wind - was greater than the speed of sound, it was still moving through the surrounding air at its ordinary cruise speed. It just so happened that the surrounding air was moving unusually fast," the Post reported.Another 787, a United Airlines flight from Newark, N.J., to Lisbon, Portugal, that took off at 8:35 p.m. on Saturday, reached a peak ground speed of 838 mph, shaving 20 minutes off the scheduled flight time.
Certainly not the first time as Wired's UK site reported on a similar event in 2019.
Wired UK article: The wild physics of the passenger plane that just hit 800 mph - 20190221
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