Can a plane fly over a hurricane?
Jul 16, 2005, 7:19 pm
#1
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Can a plane fly over a hurricane?
I am not a great flier.... but I am scheduled to fly from Seattle to Leon Mexico on a CO redeye leaving late Tuesday night and getting into Leon after a connection in Houston on Wednesday morning... the same time that Hurricane Emily is supposed to cross the southern Texas border and plow into mainland Mexico....does this sound like a collision course for disaster for a nervous flier?.....
Last edited by david55; Jul 16, 2005 at 8:20 pm
Jul 16, 2005, 7:36 pm
#2
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Don't worry, they will fly around it.
That is a good question, though. Just a guess, but maybe the answer is no because 1) it might be quite turbulent above the storm even if you're not in the clouds, and 2) if you needed to divert quickly, you're up a creek!
That is a good question, though. Just a guess, but maybe the answer is no because 1) it might be quite turbulent above the storm even if you're not in the clouds, and 2) if you needed to divert quickly, you're up a creek!
Jul 16, 2005, 10:08 pm
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For all intents and purposes, commercial airliners cannot fly above and over a hurricane. Hurricane tops reach upwards of 50,000+ ft. Same holds true for supercell thunderstorms.
Jul 17, 2005, 1:11 am
#6
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Commercial aircraft fly around really bad weather, not over it. As noted above, you can't really overfly a hurricane in a commercial plane. Another important consideration is that in the event of an emergency (loss of engine, loss of cabin pressure, etc) the aircraft might have to decend rapidly....and you don't want to decend into horrible weather! @:-)
Jul 17, 2005, 8:55 pm
#7
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Originally Posted by PSUhorty
For all intents and purposes, commercial airliners cannot fly above and over a hurricane. Hurricane tops reach upwards of 50,000+ ft. Same holds true for supercell thunderstorms.
Jul 18, 2005, 12:09 am
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Then There are These People...
Jul 19, 2005, 8:35 pm
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Originally Posted by tlglenn