Exceptionally strong wind currents in recent days have caused commercial planes flying over the Atlantic Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere to reach speeds greater than the speed of sound, according to US press reports.
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Where did this come from?
As a result, a Virgin Atlantic flight that took off from the city of Washington DC, in the USA, bound for London, in the United Kingdom, flew at almost 1,300 km/h.
According to information published in US vehicles attributed to the FlightAware tracker, the plane arrived 45 minutes ahead of schedule.
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With that, according to the National Public Radio Network (NPR), two other flights recorded even higher speeds, of almost 1,350 km/h.
It is more than the speed of sound, but as the winds were also very fast, the aircraft did not break the sound barrier.
It is good to remember that the Atlantic Current runs from west to east in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a fast current, and many flights use the wind flow to travel to save jet fuel.
Generally, winds are around 117 km/h, but it is common for them to be even faster in winter.
The Baltimore and Washington section of the US National Weather Service stated that the second fastest wind in history was recorded (records occurred in the middle of the 20th century).
“At an altitude of 10.5 kilometers, the winds reached 426 km/h! For those traveling towards the east, there will be a huge tailwind,” said the service on the social network X (Twitter).
The wind current becomes stronger if there is a large temperature difference. According to the newspaper “Washington Post”, on Saturday, it was very cold in the northeast region of the USA and warmer in the southeast of the country.9
