Is there a speed limit on planes?

I think you are allowed two wraps per passenger

ardinn wrote: »

Sitting here in the aiport an hr delayed because the plane im going on arrived late! Do planes have a speed limit? If the planes late can captain careful not 'drive er on' so to speak. Put the foot down ye spa I have a session in Portugal thats waiting on me!!!

Air traffic control can set limits where needed, my only knowledge of this being watching 'Pushing Tin'.

This is a good explanation: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-pilots-make-up-time-in-the-air

i would be more worried about the violent thunderstorms you will be flying into tonight

If you put one on the M1, yes.

And, presumably, on the runway.

Supersonic military aircraft are probably limited in where they can go BOOM. Think Concorde could only go supersonic over the Atlantic.

Amirani wrote: »

Nah not really. Flying faster uses more fuel though, and fuel is the largest variable cost to commercial airlines.

Yeah but but but, if you fly fast enough you can get there before the fuel runs out!

Yes, though to a very limited extent. Pilots almost never do the in-flight equivalent of foot to the floor. Each commercial jet has a Flight Management System (FMS) that calculates its most efficient air speed given certain variables such as the number of passengers aboard and the cruising altitude. If a pilot wanted to accelerate past this sweet spot of efficiency, even by a little bit, he could end up burning substantially more fuel and adding thousands of yoyo's to the overall flight expense. So while it’s theoretically possible for a pilot to floor it, that only happens under special circumstances, almost always under direction from a superior, such as when air traffic control needs to clear up a scheduling conflict.

Or a good tail wind will help and save the JetA1.

Car99 wrote: »

Yes, though to a very limited extent. Pilots almost never do the in-flight equivalent of foot to the floor. Each commercial jet has a Flight Management System (FMS) that calculates its most efficient air speed given certain variables such as the number of passengers aboard and the cruising altitude. If a pilot wanted to accelerate past this sweet spot of efficiency, even by a little bit, he could end up burning substantially more fuel and adding thousands of yoyo's to the overall flight expense. So while it’s theoretically possible for a pilot to floor it, that only happens under special circumstances, almost always under direction from a superior, such as when air traffic control needs to clear up a scheduling conflict.

Or a good tail wind will help and save the JetA1.

They also put the foot down if they have a lot of transfer passengers on board, fuel costs less than hotels.

Hammer89 wrote: »

If a plane is too close to the one ahead does it stop for five minutes like the Dart?

Absolutely, it pulls in to a lay by, or a sky by as it is known and hovers for a few minutes.

DMcL1971 wrote: »

Planes fly along specific routes. If you fly too fast you will catch up the plane ahead of you on that route. So you have to stay at a specific speed.

A week or so ago I watched two planes overhead, with the larger one rapidly catching up to the smaller one and then overhauling it smartly. They were probably on slightly different flight levels but they were still physically very close.

Rented Mule wrote: »

Everyone seems to be missing the point of this thread.

If you take a step back it becomes much clearer.

This is a thinly veiled "Look at me!! I'm on my way to Portugal" thread.

I think we should all be dissapointed with ourselves. Its taken two pages and a few brief discussions on aerodynamics before anyone used the 'thinly veiled' meme.

What happened to you, after hours?

There are multiple limits, some are based on the aircraft itself such as VMO/MMO, these are how fast the aircraft is designed to fly and may be significantly higher than the economical speed which they usually fly at, so a pilot may increase the speed above the economical speed if he has a good reason.

Then there are airspace restricted speeds that are general 250 kts and 200 kts, or specific to an published arrival or departure procedure where it will say may speed XXXX.

Then there are ATC restrictions based on traffic flow patterns, where they can tell an aircraft to speed up or slow down at specific points.

So as usual in aviation, there are multiple answers to your question