How high is high enough

smurfjed

Had the pleasure of flying between two countries who have just made peace with each other. We were quite likely the first aircraft to be allowed fly in a direct line between the two capitals as there are no airways between the capitals due to their war.

It for me thinking about how high we should fly to avoid the majority of man held missiles. I know that MANPADS go up to 12-15000 feet, and the BUK missile system up to 80,000 feet, what exists in the middle of these two ?

In our case we climbed to 45,000 feet over the departure airport and headed south.

Any ideas ?

sparrowcar

smurfjed wrote: »

Had the pleasure of flying between two countries who have just made peace with each other. We were quite likely the first aircraft to be allowed fly in a direct line between the two capitals as there are no airways between the capitals due to their war.

It for me thinking about how high we should fly to avoid the majority of man held missiles. I know that MANPADS go up to 12-15000 feet, and the BUK missile system up to 80,000 feet, what exists in the middle of these two ?

In our case we climbed to 45,000 feet over the departure airport and headed south.

Any ideas ?

I was about to report this post for trolling and then I realised it was you smurfjed.

Were you nervous at all?
I can't actually answer your question just intrigued.

Victor

Note that absolute maximum altitude will be somewhat range dependent - expecting maximum altitude at maximum range is unrealistic, especially against maneuvering aircraft.

smurfjed wrote: »

what exists in the middle of these two ?

There are dozens of types of SAM, with many variants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surface-to-air_missiles

Kub was the predecessor of Buk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2K12_Kub 14,000 metres
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotale_(missile) 9,000 m
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_(missile) 5,500 m
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MICA_(missile) 9,000 m
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBS_70 5,000 m
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBS_23 15,000 m
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K33_Osa 12,000 m
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantsir_missile_system (variety of missiles) 15,000 m

cml387

I would say quite simply, as high as you could possibly go. Which would be about 45,000 feet I guess.

Noo

Ooh ooh was it Erithrea and Ethiopia?? The one news item i remember from listening to the radio today. The videos look like a very historic moment, must have been quite a trip.

Brennus335

smurfjed wrote: »

Had the pleasure of flying between two countries who have just made peace with each other. We were quite likely the first aircraft to be allowed fly in a direct line between the two capitals as there are no airways between the capitals due to their war.

It for me thinking about how high we should fly to avoid the majority of man held missiles. I know that MANPADS go up to 12-15000 feet, and the BUK missile system up to 80,000 feet, what exists in the middle of these two ?

In our case we climbed to 45,000 feet over the departure airport and headed south.

Any ideas ?

I'd be more worried about a stray scud inbound from Yemen!
Wasn't you over jeddah on Monday afternoon? Irish accent on atc.

smurfjed

@sparrowcar, I sometimes lead an interesting life, but as Brennus335 pointed out I should be more concerned about scuds.
@Noo, good guess, I read the same report after I got back, first commercial flights operated the same day.
@Brennus335, there is only one real paddy using our airline callsign, but it wasn't me on Monday as I was on the other side of the red sea. You are right about scuds, or even flying drones, I know of one lovely corporate ACJ that was badly damaged (destroyed??) by a drone.
The difference between the two airports is staggering, Asmara has nothing more than a large shed and very few flights. Addis on the other hand appears to be an aircraft salesman delight with B737 Max, B777, B787, A330 and A350s littering the ramp of a massive terminal building, there are many signs announcing Chinese funding. 
I hope that this present peace brings prosperity north of the border.

Victor

smurfjed wrote: »

@sparrowcar, I sometimes lead an interesting life, but as Brennus335 pointed out I should be more concerned about scuds.

Realise that the SAM threat from Yemen isn't zero. They've shot down some Saudi aircraft. They may also have older Soviet SAMs like SA-2, which while never very successful against combat aircraft, are perfectly capable of ruining someone's civilian aircraft cruising along at altitude. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-75_Dvina

smurfjed

Wow, in service since 1959 and renowned for the Francis Gary Power U2 shoot down. We don't overfly their border, but we have missiles coming across the border every couple of days, or drones.