British Airways Boeing 747 Hits a Record 825 MPH During NYC-London Trip

The Drive ^ | 9 Feb 2020 | CALEB JACOBS

[DUMBGRUNT]

With a little help from a massive tailwind, of course.

British Airways Boeing 747 traveled from New York to London in just four hours and 56 minutes, hitting a top ground speed of 825 miles per hour and setting a subsonic flight record for the route.

That 250+ mph tailwind meant that the 747’s true airspeed was still below the speed of sound, but that doesn’t take away from how incredible it is to get across the Atlantic in just over four hours.

It should be mentioned that while flight BA112 smashed the subsonic record, the fastest time from NYC to London was set by the engineering marvel, Concorde. The aircraft's top commercial flight hit speeds of 1,350 mph and accomplished the route in just two hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds.

[Tucker39]

With a strong headwind in an old Aeronca you can turn into the wind and “hover”, or even move backwards.

[dsrtsage]

Of course arriving that early caused the passengers to wait on the tarmac for 2 hours

[entropy12]

That was certainly lot faster than the Titanic which still has not made it to New York.

[rktman]

:-)

[steve86]

Sure, it would be equivalent to the SOS over the ground. But no sonic boom in the cockpit, just a sub-sonic bang against the cockpit door.

[VeniVidiVici]

Like so many of the stories circulating on the Internet, this is supposed to be a true story. Maybe you’ll believe that.... This story was originally cribbed from USENET by Norman Yarvin’s yarchive.net.

The German controllers at Frankfurt Airport were a short-tempered lot. They not only expected you to know your parking location but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (PanAm 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground and a British Airways 747 (radio call Speedbird 206) after landing:

Speedbird 206: Good morning Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of the active runway.

Ground: Guten morgen, taxi to your gate.

[The British Airways 747 pulls onto the main taxiway and stops.]

Ground: Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?

Speedbird 206: Stand by, ground, I’m looking up the gate location now.

Ground: [mit impatience] Speedbird 206, have you never flown to Frankfurt before?

Speedbird 206: [coolly] Yes, in 1944. But I didn’t stop.

[Calvin Locke]

So did pests, such as the aphid that eats grapevine roots.

Shorter, “fossil-fuel” powered crossings allowed them to survive until dry land.

Japanese beetles? Zebra mussels? Etc.

[Calvin Locke]

Oops.

Forgot the coronavirus.

[DAC21]

If Wiki is to be believed there are still 499 747’s still in service.

[heavy metal]

eric swalwell was probably on board to give it that extra boost...

[FtrPilot]

Was there any ground reference to the ground speed?

I am not sure this is an answer to your question. However, at cruising altitude (50,000 ft+) it is difficult to sense how fast you are flying. It is not like driving a car where 100MPH is fast and 60MPH is slow.

I can assure you, from experience, that flying 600 knots at 100 feet AGL takes 100% of your attention to keep from killing yourself.

The pilots have multiple readouts of airspeed in the cockpit which include:

indicated airspeed

true airspeed

ground speed

GPS provides ground speed. Prior to GPS, ground speed was provided by INS (inertial navigation system). Prior to INS, ground speed was provided by navigators using winds (direction and velocity) and a whiz wheel (picture below).

Personally, I have been mach 2 one time. Very uneventful.

[shanover]

Our battalion went to Gulf War I in 747s and during Gulf War II my unit deployed on a C-5. I guess it was no different than when the boys took luxury ocean liners to Europe in WWII.

[Uncle Lonny]

And Gretta wants us to take three weeks to cross the Atlantic in a sailboat as she did in her publicity stunt.

Personally, I prefer the 4 hours on an airliner.

[FtrPilot]

I should have included in my previous post:

Unfortunately, the mach 2 club is not as fun as the mile high club.

[SunkenCiv]

That anecdote can be seen being recounted on YT vids here and there. What a ride! I've also read it, maybe it was in "Sled Driver"? I've seen so many different numbers on tkhe bird's max speed, all that is certain is the general claim, that it was the only aircraft ever made capable of sustained flight above Mach 3.

[Redcitizen]

my 747 ride was for gulf war 1. Not my planning but that’s how it came out.

[Bonemaker]

The piano bar USED to be very enjoyable. It was like an actual bar! I had the pleasure of flying a United 747 from Chicago to Denver (the Air Force made me) in Oct 1970 4 months after their inaugural flight. I was a mile "high" before we landed!😎

[Bonemaker]

“With a little help from a massive tailwind, of course.”

Jet stream...always favors west to east.

[FreedomPoster]

Unless you’re on the London-NYC flight at the same time, and it takes an extra hour to get to NYC.

[FreedomPoster]

Unless you’re on the London-NYC flight at the same time, and it takes an extra hour to get to NYC.