Winter may have made a statement for many of us in the US, but it’s also had a profound effect in other areas in the Northern Hemisphere. A Boeing 777-200 jet, flying from New York’s JFK Airport to Heathrow International in London reached near-supersonic speeds Thursday as it traveled eastward across the Atlantic. During its peak flight, ground-relative aircraft speed measurements topped off at 745 mph (333 m/s). This comes close to the speed of sound at sea level, which is 761 mph (340 m/s)!
While this is a great testament to the power that Mother Nature can provide, it still doesn’t come close to the Concorde passenger airliner speed record of 1,350 mph (603 m/s). If only Thursday’s event resulted in a sonic boom….