Storm Ciara Helps New York To London British Airways Flight Break Speed Record
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A flight has broken the subsonic (slower than the speed of sound) record for travel between New York and London thanks to Storm Ciara.
British Airways flight BA112 left JFK airport and crossed the Atlantic overnight, touching down at Heathrow in just 4hrs 56mins, according to online flight tracking service Flight Radar 24.
The Boeing 747 was just two minutes faster than a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350 flight, which landed at Heathrow shortly afterwards.
To put these times into perspective, the average flight from New York to London takes 6hrs 13mins.
Prior to these flights, the record was held by Norwegian, which reached London Gatwick from JFK in 5hrs 13mins in January 2018.
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
The record-breaking flights were aided in no small part by Storm Ciara and its 200mph jet stream, with the BA flight reaching a peak ground speed of 825mph at the eastern edge of Newfoundland, at about 35,000ft.
The speed displayed is ground speed. Mach is a function of airspeed. As the air around the aircraft moves faster in the same direction as the aircraft, its speed relative to the ground increases, but its speed relative to the air does not and it stays below Mach 1.
- Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 9, 2020
Speaking to The Independent, a BA spokesperson said: "We always prioritise safety over speed records, but our highly trained pilots made the most of the conditions to get customers back to London well ahead of time."
A BA spokesperson added on Twitter that the company didn't know yet if the crew were aware of their record-breaking feat.
But of course, while the storm helped people travelling from west to east over the Atlantic to save time, it had the opposite impact for those travelling from east to west, with some flights from London to New York taking one and a half hours longer.
While the plaudits go to #BA112 for the fastest sub sonic crossing, feel sorry for those going the other way! It's going to take 7hrs 30 (that's an additional 2hrs 30) while avoiding the worst of the jetstream and flying a faster mach. #avgeek #StormCiara pic.twitter.com/9MJKeyS2H7
- Mib (@BT77W) February 9, 2020
Indeed, passengers on the record-breaking flight can consider themselves very lucky indeed, as they're about the only people in the world who've had their travel plans improved by Storm Ciara.
Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: UK News, british airways, travel, record
