A British Airways flight from Las Vegas to London Heathrow hit an unusually strong jet stream over the Atlantic amid Storm Eowyn which forced flight BA274 to fly subsonic at 814mph, according to Flight Radar.
The BA 747 was as a result able to cut around an hour of its flight time due to the tailwind.
The Met Office issued a rare red weather warning for wind speeds of up to 100mph and a “danger to life” alert has been issued amid Storm Eowyn.
In September 2023 a flight from New York to Lisbon hit a groundspeed of 835mph due to the jet stream which is what airlines use to pick up speed and lessen journey times where possible.
Prof Liz Bentley, Chief Executive, Royal Meteorological Society, said, “The jetstream, which is a band of strong winds at the top of the atmosphere around 30,000ft above the ground, provides the mechanism for storms, like Storm Éowyn, to develop.
“The jetstream in winter is often stronger leading to more storms forming, and its position is often closer to the UK so those developing systems are directed towards our shores.
“The current maximum speed in the jetstream is more than 250mph and data from flightradar24 highlighted that a flight BA from Las Vegas to Heathrow hit a speed of 814mph thanks to the strong tailwind in the jetstream.
“The subsonic speed record currently stands at 835mph, so that record could well be broken in the coming hours.”
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