A British Airways (BA) flight has broken a historic record for the fastest-ever supersonic flight between New York and London, reaching a top speed of more than 800mph (1,287km/h).
What We Know:
- The particular aircraft used was a Boeing 747 which flew overnight from Saturday to Sunday and reached its destination merely four hours and 56 minutes, while essentially racing Storm Ciara which headed towards the United Kingdom.
- “The flight was riding a much stronger than usual jet stream, with winds over 200 mph propelling the aircraft,” says senior CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller.
- According to a tweet by the online flight-tracking service, Flightradar24, the aircraft arrived at the Heathrow airport around 4:43 a.m., almost two hours earlier than it should have landed. The top speed ended up being recorded at 825mph (1,327km/h).
Fastest across the Atlantic tonight from New York to London so far is #BA112 at 4hr56m. #VS4 in 4:57, and #VS46 in 4:59. https://t.co/gfYoHGV3Y6https://t.co/kMhjCqdEtt
If we're not mistaken, BA now retakes the fastest subsonic NY-London crossing from Norwegian. pic.twitter.com/Sr1GPeAjuh
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 9, 2020
- Although the British Airways plane was clocked apparently going faster than the speed of sound (767 mph), it could not have achieved breaking the sound barrier as a result of the strong winds pushing against the craft.
A company spokesperson for BA stated that like all other airlines operating flights in and out of the UK, they were all heavily affected by Storm Ciara, with many flights canceled or merged with others.
