On February 18, a Virgin Atlantic flight traveling from Los Angeles to London reached a record-breaking speed of 801 mph—and it was all due to a helpful boost from Mother Nature. The plane was propelled by a jet stream about 35,000 feet over central Pennsylvania, and while the insanely fast speed wasn't maintained for long, it was still enough to help the flight reach its destination 48 minutes early.
To better understand the awesomeness of this news, consider the fact that Virgin's Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner planes typically "only" reach cruising speeds of 561 mph—that's a speed bump of 240 mph, for you non-math nerds. Now, you might be thinking that the plane's speed of 801 mph is faster than the speed of sound (which is 767 mph), and that's...sort of true. The recorded number reflects the flight's ground speed, but its airspeed is an entirely different measurement altogether. NASA defines "airspeed" as the difference between ground speed and wind speed (airspeed = ground speed – wind speed), so the two speeds can only be equal if there's absolutely zero wind movement. In the case of the Virgin Atlantic flight, the jet stream obviously contributed to the plane's speed—therefore, the plane did not fly fast enough to break the sound barrier up in the sky. Still, pretty cool!
If you've reached this point in the article and are still wondering, but what's a jet stream, fear not—we've got you covered. As Tyler Moss previously reported for Traveler, "Jet streams are, at their most basic, high-altitude air currents caused by atmospheric heating and the inertia of the earth’s rotation." The streams blow from west to east just below the stratosphere, around around the height where commercial airlines reach cruising altitudes—which helps explain why flying east is quicker than flying west. (This particular Virgin Atlantic flight had the wind in its favor; if it had been flying from London to Los Angeles, it probably would have been delayed.) The natural wind tunnels blow hardest in winter, when the degree difference between cold air and warm air is the most dramatic.
To put this all in Disney terms, it's basically the East Australian Current scene in Finding Nemo, only with planes in the sky instead of turtles in the ocean. And the current is way more dramatic than usual right now over the United States, reports The Washington Post, thanks to abnormally hot air in the southern U.S. converging with abnormally cold air in the north. While jet streams typically range in speed from 80 to 140 mph, the river of air clocked in at a whopping 230 mph over Long Island on Monday. There are no reports of injuries on this particular flight, but jet streams can come with their own set of hazards—the biggest being clear-air turbulence. This particular type of turbulence cannot be detected by radar and is therefore extremely difficult to predict. It can even be fatal, Moss points out, as in the case of United Airlines Flight 826 in 1997.
In addition to the record-breaking Virgin Atlantic flight on Monday, several other flights recorded abnormally high speeds in the northeastern parts of the country, according to The Washington Post. A Delta flight from Los Angeles to New York City hit a ground speed of 678 mph at 39,000 feet over Ohio, while a flight from Chicago to New York City passed the 700 mph mark early Tuesday morning. Hey, who says winter weather only leads to flight delays?