Airtimes

I know airplanes fly all year around but I was just outside and it is freezing cold out there. I know it has to be cold in Detroit so what I’m asking is do the whether have an affect on airplanes and are runways kept up in the winter.

Winter time seems very cold to us, but winter temperatures are actually mild for an airplane.

After a plane takes off and reaches its cruising altitude, somewhere between 25,000 and maybe 40,000 feet, the temperature outside of the plane is MUCH colder than almost any winter temperature you usually see: in the range of about -30 to -50 degrees F (or lower). If you were to add in what we call wind chill, at 500 miles per hour, it would be unfathomably cold – but, don’t worry, planes don’t experience wind chill because there is no water on the outside of a plane to evaporate.

Wing ice and stronger winds are probably the most significant problems for winter aviation, but deicing chemicals applied on the ground, and deicing mechanisms built into the wing structures for use in flight deal with the worst of the problems.

Airports know that clear and clean runways are critical for operation, and they spend a great deal of time and money on keeping them that way. In winter where I am in upstate NY, the airports have enormous plow scoops mounted onto huge front end loader type equipment that can clear a 25 foot wide swath in one pass, and they run in teams up and down runways to keep them clear.

Airports operation managers take the job of runway safety very seriously. If the weather gets to the point where they no longer believe that aircraft can take off and land safely, then they will close the airport.

Technorati Tags: airplane, airplanes, Cruising Altitude, Deicing, Front End Loader, Miles Per Hour, Ny Airports, Operation Managers, Planes, Runway Safety, Runways, Time And Money, Weather, Wide Swath, Wind Chill, Wing Structures, Winter Temperature, Winter Temperatures, Winter Time, Winter Winter

and how often do they do it?

As the previous answer said, a cross-wind landing is when you have some amount of wind coming from the left or right. That is, when it’s not directly down the runway. airplanes like to land into the wind but it’s not always possible.

Virtually all landings are cross-wind landings. It’s unusual to have the wind coming right down the runway, though runways are usually built so they point into the predominant wind direction. Where I live that means almost every airport has a 13/31 runway because the winds are usually out of the northwest or somewhere between west and north.

Technorati Tags: airplane, airplanes, landings, Northwest, Runways, Wind Direction

I’m guessing a helicopter is useful for traveling short distances in safety + transporting cargo. Control.

How far can jet airplanes travel and is it far more dangerous than a chopper? and where would you use a jet airplane if you had hundreds of millions of dollars?

Helicopters are actually LESS safe than jets, although both are still relatively safe. The only advantage of a helicopter is flexibility: Whereas a jet can only operate from airports with long enough runways, a helicopter can land in any clearing large enough to fit the helicopter in (You usually want more space than that, but talk to a helicopter pilot who served in Vietnam. They had some pretty dicey experiences.).

However, jets are safer, cheaper, faster, more reliable, can carry thousands of tons of cargo, and can fly halfway around the world in less than a day, nonstop.

Why do you ask?

Technorati Tags: Advantage, Airports, Can Jet, Cargo Control, chopper, Distances, Experiences, Fit, Flexibility, Fly, Helicopter Pilot, Helicopters, jet airplane, Jet Airplanes, Jet Travel, jets, Runways, Traveling, Vietnam

What landmarks do you see when an airplane is landing at
1 JFK
2 LAX
3 SFO
4 SJU
5 YYZ
6 LHR
7POS
8 BGI
9 HAV
0 SDQ
airports.

I’ve landed at most of these, so here’s my take:

1.) Nothing! JFK is in the middle of Jamaica Bay. Since 9/11, it’s rare that you will fly over the city to JFK. However, If you’re landing on runways 22/4, and you have a window seat, then you can see the skyline of the city in the distance.

2.) LAX is another airport that you really can’t see any of the landmarks. The airport is about 10 miles from downtown, however, on a clear day, you should be able to see the HOLLYWOOD sign if you’re going to be approaching from the ocean. You would see it as you’re flying downwind.

3.) SFO is right on the Bay. You’ll see mountains as you land, and you may see the Golden Gate Bridge off in the distance.

4.) San Juan (SJU) just has nice beaches and townhouses in the nearby area.

5.) Haven’t landed in Toronto

6.) Heathrow is quite a ways from downtown London. However, when you’re in a holding pattern trying to land there, you may get lucky and see downtown if the weather is cooperating!

7.) Never been to Piarco, West Indies

8.) BGI – Flying into runway 9, you can see the south coast of Barbados as the airport is right on the beach.

9.) HAV – As a US citizen, I’m not risking it by going into Cuba.

10.) SDQ – Santo Domingo is another airpor that sits right on the beach. The only cool landmark here is if you approach on runway 35 and you’re on the left side of the airplane. There is an old Dominicana Airlines 707 parked on the ramp forever!

Technorati Tags: airplane, Golden Gate, Golden Gate Bridge, Heathrow, Hollywood Sign, Jamaica Bay, Jfk, Landmarks, Nearby Area, Ramp, Runways, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Sdq, Sfo, Skyline, South Coast, Townhouses, West Indies, Window Seat

At first I thought it was a blimp hanging up in the sky. But when I drove by I could clearly see it was a jet. Everyone in the car saw it. Nobody could explain what they were seeing. We are all mentally healthy.

It suspect it didn’t occur thou it well may have looked like it.
When I was a student I did some work at an airport and occasionally I noticed optical illusions giving the effect you describe. (The illusions were more likely if you were driving about.)

Often you would call co-workers to see the illusions. Most arose due to an interplay of parallax and the difficulty of Judging speed at distance (feature less skies made it even harder).

It is at least possible for a very small plane that the wind could stop forward progress at full throttle. However it would still move about due to the gusting of the wind. It wouldn’t be a good situation (an understatement) as only landing going forward is really safe. However if the wind isn’t as fast as the plane then landing into the wind makes the landing easier.

A commercial/business jet lands at well over 100mph so unless you drove through a hurricane the wind couldn’t hold the jet.

EDIT:
The vertical take of and landing planes (VTOL) like the harrier jumpjet can indeed hover. However they virtually never hover or take off vertically in practice (other than as demos in shows/displays) as it uses a hell of a lot of fuel. Normally jumpjets take of, and land, on runways pretty much like a normal plane (thou they can use a bit of upthrust to allow slower landing speeds and thus shorter runways as they do on some British aircraft carriers). And yes outside shows they wouldn’t be seen around civilian airport.

Technorati Tags: Blimp, British Aircraft Carriers, Business Jet, Co Workers, Commercial Business, Forward Progress, Full Throttle, Harrier Jumpjet, Hurricane, Interplay, jet airplane, Mid-Air, Optical Illusions, Parallax, Planes, Runways, Stl Airport, Understatement, Upthrust, Vtol

Has its top speed ever been declassified?

I assume you are referring to the SR-71.

The SR-71 leaks fuel on takeoff because the seals on the fuel tanks are purposely built a little bit too small in order to compensate for the fact that they will expand into place due to the heat of flying at high supersonic speeds (mach 3+).

Because of this, the SR-71 almost always will immediately refuel after takeoff and going on it’s merry way.

Technorati Tags: Airplane Jet, Fuel Tanks, jet airplane, Jet Fuel, Leaks, Little Bit, Merry Way, Runways, Seals, Sr 71, Supersonic Speeds, Takeoff, Top Speed, Worlds Fastest Jet