Yes agree! One of our 747-400 the BCF recently flew from JNB to NBO at 45000 feet. I had never seen that before. But regularly at 43000 feet especially from EZE to UIO. Indeed 45000.
so if i understand correctly there are 4 limits: 1. max height company/flightplan 2. max height atc/faa 3. max height manufacturer 4. physical max Right??
As a Boeing engineer I witnessed a 747-400 flight test where the airplane climbed above the maneuver limit altitude (where the amber bands came together) and continued climbing until rate of climb came to zero (slowly wobbling between 50 fpm up and down). The condition was very comfortable and just felt like normal cruise. It was fascinating to see the mighty 747 reach its performance limit. Thanks, Joe, for reminding me of this experience (and many others)!
So, you cannot recover from a machdive/machtuck even if you cut the engine thrust to minimum? Does the dive just get steeper and steeper? Scary. So would that rip the wings off?
If you mean do we apply a particular setting to achieve a speed? Then no, the air is far too fluid also weight and trim changes would prevent that working, however like cruise control in your car our autothrottle system will change power to provide a constant speed/Mach. The only exception to this is final approach where gear down, flap25, top hat (3 degrees NU) and 1.15 EPR would have you at VREF+5.
B747-400 with RR RB211 G rated at 50,000lbs from after start the engine will settle at Ground idle with the thrust levers closed. The next setting will be Take off power and this is where a video would help because it’s not as straightforward as it sounds, there are four options to take off power, they are: 1 Rated power, in my case 50,000lbs 2 Assumed temp reduced thrust 3 Derated thrust 1 4 Derated thrust 2 The top two are the ones we use most as we are either going a long way in a heavy aeroplane or we are going for a flight of say 8 hrs or less even if we’re full, then assumed temp thrust reduction is the norm. The last two are pretty much only used in contaminated conditions so not very often and it’s just to artificially lower the minimum control speeds in the event of an engine failure so that you can either stop with degraded braking performance or get airborne at a lower speed than usual. Because it’s not used very much, some companies ban its use. Next is Climb power and again 3 options depending on aircraft weight or obstacles in the flight path, they are: 1 Rated CLB power virtually the same as MAX continuous thrust. 2 CLB 1 a fixed reduction from TO power. 3 CLB 2 see above but more. The rest of the flight will be in speed mode as I said in my earlier comment with CLB mode used for Step climbs that Joe talked about. During descent a combination of flight idle (higher idle setting than ground idle to reduce spool up times) VS mode or VNAV which combines all of the above owing to it taking note of altitude restrictions on route particularly in terminal areas. After flap extension (can’t remember how much and can’t be arsed to look it up) approach idle comes into force again to reduce spool up times to almost nothing should you have to use idle to control speed. After landing it is mandatory to use at least revers idle, again a high idle to avoid compressor stall, as the reverse levers are moved to the idle gate, the reverse shrouds deploy and the REVS display turns green then anything up to Max reverse can be used, there is a detent which we call partial reverse that is approximately half thrust most normally used on shorter or contaminated runways, as speed reduces so should reverse in order to be idle reverse by 80kts. When the reverse levers are stowed ground idle is back in force until you reach the gate and shut down.
The flight envelope of the SR-71 from the original flight manual has been posted online. It's extremely narrow. It is prevented from going supersonic below about 25,000 ft. due to aerodynamic stress. On the other hand is prevented from GOING SUBSONIC above 40,000 ft, and can't exceed Mach 2 below about 50,000.
I can confirm the outstanding performance of a B747-400! We started our flight in Frankfurt in December 1997 heading to Bangkok. The route we flew was over Moskow (we booked a flight to Thailand???) through half of Russia reaching a top speed because of the Jet Stream to 1230km/h for really some hours and the pilots ascended then to 43000ft 1500km before arriving to Bangkok. Great experience to fly 13100m above the earth with this speed! I'll always remember this flight! Sadly I don't have any photos from the inflight entertainmaint showing this experience...
I hope one day this legend here will get 4 lines and become a captain. truely deserved but ye, maybe he have to wait a bit more time before that happens
AFAIK Joe attained Captain before when he flew for Airberlin, but he went back to being FO after he went to Cargolux. Man's got about 5k hours on the A320 family though so he's absolutely experienced enough. Company seniority's a bitch, but it is what it is.
Hey Joe, very glad you’re still in an operational seat, alas my company have retired our 744’s so I’m seatless at the moment. Keep educating, you’re doing a great job.
Hi Captain Joe! I always love watching your videos, as I’m a student pilot and I plan to get a degree in aerospace engineering. Even though I’m at the PPL level I still love to learn about topics more relevant to commercial/ATPL ratings since I think it gives me a better understanding of aviation as a whole and helps my flying. I’ve always been interested in supersonic flight and I’d love to watch a video about how flight dynamics change In the transonic and supersonic range. I’ve also always wanted a good explanation of why hypersonic and supersonic are referred to separately. I’ve heard that at hypersonic speeds the air along the leading edges of the aircraft can chemically decompose and cause aerodynamic issues but I’ve never understood it well.
FYI altitude and attitude have the same sound. Do not make the first syllable in 'altitude' a Schwa (because it's stressed) and we get confused. The word 'altimeter' has an additional syllable which is why the word stress moves to the second syllable and the first syllable becomes an (unstressed) Schwa sound.
Also, I think it`s called "coffin corner" because of the shape of the graph( this curve and peak reminds the edge of the coffin) which illustrates relation of speed and altitude P.s. I lost my job as a commercial pilot because of the virus, it`s really shocking for me. But I really hope, the situation will recover)
Captain Joe,Hello,welcome back,Sir! Actually,you have Never left! I just have Always Loved and Enjoyed All your videos so far! They are Extremely interesting,qualit ative,quite explanatory,instructive and enlightening!THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your-Special-Presence in this channel,your Great work and offer.Please keep on transmitting your precious knowledge and experi ence to all the Aviation enthusiasts... In this unique way of unfolding and presenting chapters,and so flying us in-to this Amazing Realm of Art and Science!And,please supplying us with many such"dozes"of your warm- hearted,genuine,comforting and en couraging smile,and your subtle sen se of humor,so well-balanced with earnestness,adding a lot as a whole to your simple,unaffected,gentle and elegant friendly style!Yes,you Definit ely are such a rare and Needed pres ence here!THANK YOU AGAIN, MANY BEST WISHES,AND ALL MY RESPECTS!!😊👋♥️✈️🛬🛫🎶
Ha ha. 2,800,000 000 (are you sure that's right....) That's twice the distance of the moon from earth.... 2,800,000,000 ft = 530,303.0303 miles, more than twice the distance of the moon to earth. (The moon is only ~238,855 miles from earth (on average). In reality, the upper limits of the earth's atmosphere is about 47,520 ft. (that coffin corner thing....).....Unless of course you're Maverick in Top Gun, he'll try anything.
Sir I'm 12 years old and it's my dream to become a pilot. Your videos give me an inspiration to follow my passion and I promise that I'll study so hard and will become a successful pilot one day ❤️... I just find it so fascinating to be a pilot as Ive always had this curiousity about commercial planes and pilot... Sending you lots of best wishes From india ❤️🥰🙏
I love to fly .... It is my biggest wishes to fly one day. I always love to learn about plan. I wont sleep if one day i be on board . Thanks for the update
If you go from flight level 320 to flight level 360 that gives a total climb of 4000 feet and with a climb rate of 100 ft/min the equation looks like this: 4000/100=40. This means that it took you 40 minutes to do a slow continuous climb from fl 320 to fl 360 :)
Bought the book yesterday- finished taking notes and scheduled immediate steps. Every chapter in the 10 that i have read so far feels realistic to achieve{ planned to read less and implement immediately then start the next 10 }. Thanks Captain. And I have covered around 20 videos - experiencing this one today.
Thanks Captain Joe 👍 Could you possibly do a video one why there is no long flight engineers in an airliners cockpit. Maybe brief history, & what did the flight engineer used to to do?
I was actually pretty curious about absolute ceiling and it seems to be 45,000 ft for 747-8. The information on this is really scarce and the only actual mention of absolute ceiling was on doc8643.com/aircraft/B748 , but like you said, I'm not by any means sure if this is an official number or not.
Wing characteristics (delta shape), supersonic engines, afterburners, and being a relatively thin plane all helped it do some amazing things with height and speed.
Wind resistance goes up exponentially as speed increases and in order to fly the speeds that concord needed to fly and still maintain a respectable fuel range, they needed the air to be as thin as possible, hence the high altitudes. The rest of the plane was then designed to fly at those altitudes.
As a Canadian, I took a few flights in my life, from Montreal to Vancouver Island, and back!!! If I remember correctly, it was a 4 engines plane for the long haul, in 1984-85 ish (7-8 years old) era on Canadian Pacific (CP air), small airplane (bush style??) on the island and one back. I saw a Tv show (Mayday) on the Gimli glider, and I wonder if that manoeuver could get done in a coffin corner type of situation?
G,day Captain Joe from Sydney, Australia. Q1. 747 performance FL320 -360. @100 ft per min 4000 ft to climb = 40mins It took me quite some time deduce that answer. Nevertheless, great instructional with new terminology. Appreciation, thanks 🌏🇭🇲
There's been talk about a plane in the 90's that went too high and broke away from earth's orbit. It went up slowly and kept going, never to return. I heard that from a Navy Captain a long time ago.
Boeing 747-400 F Maximum Operating Altitude : 45,100 Feet or approximately 13750 meter The time taken for the slow continuous climb that has been driven by Captain Joe and the auto pilot : 40 min or half an hour and 10 min All question are responded that has been given by Joe sir : ✔️ Record and stored this video on my brain 🧠 : ✔️ And my request pls don't say I am a Robot I am human like auto pilot 😂🤣
I love reading about WW2 pilots.. there are many stories of Spitfires climbing to intercept high altitude Ju-86R reconnaissance aircraft which could climb over 40,000 feet.. A Spitfire MkIX did indeed intercept one at 44,000ft..unpressurised. They would describe this like literally ‘hanging on the prop’
Is there a maximum flight level ATC can clear you to? Or as long as you are within the limitations of your plane you can be cleared as high as you'd like?
4:11 I wonder if I should feel relaxed when I see that the good old unix tool a2ps is used to create the printouts of the flight plans or if I get the impression that flight security relies on 40 y/o tools.
I vaguely recall an accident report where the pilot used flaps to operate at higher altitude, and had to disable an automatic flap retraction system by pulling the breaker. When someone else reset the breaker, the flaps retracted and the aircraft stalled.
Joe, you should make a video about what exactly pilots do prior to a scheduled flight, i.e. how do they prepare for a flight - prior to entering the cockpit. Do they just show up to the airport, go through security and get on the plane, or do they do any kind of flight planning prior to being on the plane. You mentioned a lot of technical jargon from that flight computer that implies some flight planning needs to take place prior to even stepping into the cockpit. What is that flight planning?
FL360 means about 36000 ft (QNE). FL320 means about 32000 ft (also QNE). So delta (difference) is about 4000 feet. Divided by 100 feet per minute gives 40 minutes (4000 / 100). It can take plus minus couple seconds for little instability which can be found in every aircraft.
Joe, the Avro Vulcan (you covered previously) had a mechanical Mach Trimmer fitted to prevent pilots getting above the Mmo of 0.92. If they got to close the aircraft would trim up to stop the Mach tuck occurring. A big problem in experimental flying post war as the transonic flight regime understanding was being developed and test pilots were losing their lives.
You should do a video explaining why lift is produced when the top of the wing generates faster wind which lowers the pressure on top and causes lift. Like why does wind travel faster on top of the wing and how does the curve on top of the wing contribute to that. Like map it back to Newton's laws like go that basic .... dig in the physics and go super deep! thanks
45100 ft. I have a picture of myself in the cockpit left seat of a 747 coming back from Desert Storm 30 years ago this year. That was a party at flight level 390.
I just can never get over the fact planes exist! its crazy haha heavy af big massive bird can just glide through the sky full of people lol we are so smart
Mach Tuck sounds and looks similar to a deep stall, for underslung tail engined aircraft, I have 727 not sure if that's right. I was happily transported by a 727 Toronto Pearson from to Thunder Bay Ontario Canada. Back in the '80s long before I got my PPL, A 13 or so chap being allowed to look in wonder at the controls, I am sure it influenced me to achieve my PPL. We had and I quote " some of the most beautiful skies, I have ever seen, off our port side" you may be able to guess, I was on Starboard, my second flight in any aircraft. I loved it, and got the bug. All Air Canada, a 747-200 (I think) then a 727 unknown. The chat with the crew, was really nice. On my way back to UK there was the cargo plane, that had an incident that morning arriving caught fire. ..
Very well explained Joe. Would not know the ceilings for the B747 but in the B767 & B777 we would often cruise at or above FL400. Definitely would love to see a video about hi speed flight.
On all of my 747 flights, we actually began the cruise rather low, 29000, and only gradually climbed higher. The highest I’ve ever been in an airliner was on a 757 at 42000, on a very short route, PBI-ATL. I was very surprised that we climbed so high on such a quick segment.
could you tell the diffrence when you were 42,000 feet vs if you were lets say 36,000 feet. Because i cant tell the diffrence when flying at 36,000 feet looking out the window it looks no diffrence than 40,000 feet
Flight level 320 to fl360 32,000 ft to 36,000 ft 4000 ft climb Rate of climb- 100 ft per minute 4000/100= 40 minutes It took you 40 minutes to climb to that flight level
Altitude goes according capability. If a large wingspan aircraft can glide subsonic at high altitude, it can likely do 60-70K ft. Airbreathing aircraft: Mach 2 fighter aircraft can get to 60K ft. Mach 3 aircraft can get to 80K ft. Mach 4, 90K ft. Mach 6, 120K ft, and so on. Rocket aircraft: only limited by airframe heat handling capability.
Very good question! Air France 447 stalled and fell from 38000 feet in 3.18 minutes! I wonder if the passengers were aware of what happened? I still can't understand how they managed to crash that Airbus!
