Can planes fly 70000 feet?
Most commercial aircraft are approved to fly at a maximum of around 42,000 feet. This maximum is also known as a ‘service ceiling.
What was Chuck Yeager altitude record?
120,000 feet
Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager, famous for breaking the sound barrier 15 years earlier, was selected to set a new altitude record of 120,000 feet, with a modified Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.
Why does U-2 fly so high?
Flying High The U-2 has demonstrated that the sweet spot for an ISR platform is 70,000 feet, and today’s U-2 engine, an F118 GE 101, gets the U-2 there. This—combined with long, slender glider-like wings—enables the aircraft to fly at such high altitudes.
How high can the U-2 spy plane fly?
70,000 feet
How high can the U-2 aircraft fly? The U-2 aircraft, built of aluminum and limited to subsonic flight, can cruise for many hours above 70,000 feet (21,000 meters) with a payload weighing 3,000 pounds (1,350 kg). Its exact operational specifications are secret.
Why does U-2 only have 2 wheels?
The landing literally involves a speeding car That’s thanks to its long, glider-like wings, which span 105 feet across. One complicating factor when landing is the dearth of wheels on the plane: to save weight, its designer gave it just two sets of wheels, lined up like bicycle tires, front to back, under the fuselage.
What happens if a plane goes too high?
When the plane gets too high, there is insufficient oxygen to fuel the engines. “The air is less dense at altitude, so the engine can suck in less and less air per second as it goes higher and at some point the engine can no longer develop sufficient power to climb.” …
What is the highest a plane has ever flown?
Answer: The highest commercial airliner altitude was 60,000 feet by Concorde. The highest military air-breathing engine airplane was the SR-71 — about 90,000 feet. The highest airliner flying today reaches 45,000 feet.
Was the F 104 A good fighter?
The F-104 had good acceleration, rate of climb, and top speed, but its sustained turn performance was poor. A “clean” (no external weapons or fuel tanks) F-104 could sustain a 7-g turn below 5,000 feet with full afterburner.
Who was the best pilot ever?
Amen, we say.
- James H. Doolittle.
- Noel Wien. Thanks to Noel Wien, Alaska has a higher ratio of aircraft and pilots to residents than any other state.
- Robert A. Hoover.
- Charles A. Lindbergh.
- Charles E. Yeager.
- Scott Crossfield.
- Erich Hartmann.
- Anthony W.
How Fast Is Blackbird SR-71?
2,455 mphLockheed SR-71 Blackbird / Top speed
How high was Gary Powers when shot down?
CIA documents released in 2010 indicate that U.S. officials did not believe Powers’ account of the incident at the time, because it was contradicted by a classified National Security Agency (NSA) report which alleged that the U-2 had descended from 65,000 to 34,000 feet (20 to 10 km) before changing course and …
How Fast Is Blackbird SR 71?