Why Planes Don't Fly in Extreme Heat
514,777
Published 2019-11-01
In the summer of 2017, 50 flights were canceled at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The reason: temperatures were a brain-melting 120°F! In the age of super-advanced technology, it seems weird that air travel can be interrupted by an unusually hot day. The reason is actually in the nature of flight itself!
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TIMESTAMPS:
What makes planes fly 1:33
So can’t why planes fly in extreme heat? 3:07
Problems that extremely hot weather causes 4:17
What if a plane has to take off no matter what 4:50
What about the cold? 6:00
Can it be too windy to fly? 6:53
The riskiest situation that can happen in wet weather 8:05
#planes #aviation #brightside
SUMMARY:
- Before every departure, pilots get detailed information on the air temperature, humidity, elevation, runway length, and other important things.
- If there’s no lift, a plane won’t be able to take off and stay up in the air. It all has to do with wings and how they’re designed to redirect the movement of air.
- Since the air particles are resisting that change, the pressure on the underside of the wing is higher. Over the top of the wing, the pressure remains low.
- The atmosphere gets thinner the higher up you go. Here “thinner” simply means that the air molecules are further apart from each other.
- Hot weather has the same effect on air as higher altitudes do. That is, the higher the temperature, the less dense the air is.
- For some planes, mostly smaller ones, it gets to the point where it not only has to be reduced, but the flight must be rescheduled because it’d be too dangerous for it to even try to take off.
- Aircraft components like onboard electronics overheat, seals can get too soft or melt, brake temperatures increase during landings, there can be cabin cooling issues – a lot of things can break down in crazy hot temperatures.
- Leaving a few passengers on the ground is one of the possible solutions when the plane just has to take off no matter how hot it is outside.
- Is there such a thing as too cold to fly? Well, if anything, aircraft prefer when it’s chilly. After all, they’re designed to cruise at 35,000 feet, and such altitudes are known for their teeth-chattering temperatures of around -60°F.
- A plane is unlikely to start wigging out just because it’s going through some turbulence. Aviation engineers and manufacturers test their aircraft and specify limits for the ground-, air-, and cross speeds.
- Heavy rain is mostly a problem when it comes to landing. Runways are designed in such a way so that water doesn’t remain standing on them.
- However, if that happens, pilots have to adjust landing speed and distance depending on how much water is on the ground. Hydroplaning is the riskiest situation that can happen in wet weather.
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All Comments (21)
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Hey there BrightSiders! How hot is the place where you live?
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I am an aircraft mechanic, been doing it for 37 years. I have worked in extreme weather, from Arizona to Duluth MN. What happens when the weather won’t allow the aircraft to fly? We perform maintenance on them. Any upcoming inspections or cosmetic work is done so that they will be available later. Most of my career was working on medical aircraft. So that’s a 24/7 thing. I agree with this practice, but it wasn’t easy, 128 degrees in the shade at Lake Havasu City, and there isn’t any shade. Or -25 and blowing snow. We are working on the helicopter tuning it while it’s running. Also it has to do with certification and testing. When a new model is getting test flights they collect data. It’s not easy for a manufacturer to find these conditions.
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TIMESTAMPS: What makes planes fly 1:33 So can’t why planes fly in extreme heat? 3:07 Problems that extremely hot weather causes 4:17 What if a plane has to take off no matter what 4:50 What about the cold? 6:00 Can it be too windy to fly? 6:53 The riskiest situation that can happen in wet weather 8:05
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8:10 - Can't fly because your engines are backwards.
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Hey Bright Side your 10 min analysis is better than watching 10hrs of other youtube videos.
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I live in Phoenix and can attest to this, I book my summer flight early in the am out of PHX.
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0:38 ”48 degrees...” Don’t worry... as a matter of fact, the Concorde can still fly in that weather
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It's so hot at Phoenix Sky Harbor that my former company replaced an asphalt taxiway with concrete several years ago. Tires were sinking into the asphalt... 😜
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Landed in Vegas once...pilot said the temp was 115, everyone groaned.
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BRIGHT SIDE - As a retired airline pilot, you got the basic concepts right, but placed the emphasis in the wrong place. The primary effect of increased heat is decreased engine performance. Additionally, airlines, and therefore their pilots, are not allowed to extrapolate performance charts beyond what the manufacturer has provided. Example: Several years ago, Alaska experienced extremely high air pressure, meaning that the air was more dense, improving performance, but because the charts did not include that level of high barometric air pressure, the airlines were forced by regulation to cancel flights until that area of extremely high pressure moved on or reduced its pressure! Thanks for your efforts at explaining our problems to the non-pilot!
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From pakistan and here we get spring / summer / winter / autumn, i prefer spring it's not too cold nor too hot just perfectly balanced!
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'It takes a pro pilot to land in windshear' Nah, it takes a trash pilot to land in windshear, because you should go around in windshear
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Bright side : Why planes don't fly in extreme heat? Me- Uh........Why Ships don't sail at extremely iced sea water ? :-∆
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It is not that they can't fly in extreme heat, it just takes a LOT longer for them to get off the ground. The reason is simple when you know it. Hot air is 'thinner' than cold air and does not generate as much lift. It sounds crazy, but it is true. Now to watch the video and see what bright side has to say for itself. :P
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I was in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm and the planes flew just fine at temps close to 130. We had to wear gloves to work on them even at night when it cooled to 85-90 Degrees.
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Brightside taught me more than my professors 😂😛
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Why does it take nearly 10 minutes to explain one simple concept: Heat=loose air molecules which mean little lift for airplanes.
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Thank you for info even though I'm not a traveler. 😅😅
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My cousins were flying home from Olsztyn to Minneapolis but they landed in Amsterdam due to hot weather and didn’t take back off until 6 hours later! I always thought that was weird.
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of course its PHOENIX, i got on a plane leaving phoenix at THAT time and it got delayed LOL
