Do aeroplanes wait in the sky,or stationery or suspended up there waiting for there turn to land?

Question

I believe I have often seen aeroplanes standing or being stationery probably waiting for further orders or clearances and always wondered whether it is true that such a huge machine is actually suspended in the air . my friend is not ready to accept that aeroplanes can stand still in mid air. It is possible for helicopters he says

Answer 1

With a little head-wind a lot of small planes can have 0MPH ground speed as well as helicopters can stand still. But I think you are talking about commercial airliners in holding patterns (stacks). They go into what is called "slow flying" which means the nose goes up and the angle of attack is increased so they can orbit as slow and efficiently as possible (as apposed to the "cruise" profile). They make these circles in the sky until they get sequenced to land.

Answer 2

Helicopters are called rotory-wing aircraft, while an airplane is called a fixed-wing aircraft. Both aircraft have wings and subject to aerodynamics laws. A rotory-wing moves through the air on top of the aircraft's fuselage in a circular motion and is capable of hovering or stationary flight. The drawback to rotory-wing design is the forward speed limitation. A fixed-wing aircraft can move faster through the air and also has longer range, but cannot hover. There are hybrid designs that bridge the gap, such as the Harrier Jump-Jet and the Tilt-Rotor.

If a fixed-wing aircraft is in flight and gets to it's destination only to find the traffic is congested, they can be asked to enter a holding pattern. Most of the time, holding patterns are used to handle weather problems, such as fog or storms.

When an aircraft is asked to hold, the pilot will have to slow to the proper holding speed, and typically fly a one or one and a half mile straight leg, correcting for wind-drift, in one direction, then making a standard rate turn of 3 degrees per second 180 degrees opposite, followed by the same distance straight and another turn to make a circuit. In U.S. airspace, the speed is limited to 200 knots up to 6,000 feet altitude, but increased up to 230 knots up to 14,000 feet. The aircraft waiting for landing clearance can be stacked at 1,000 foot intervals if necessary.

Extra fuel is carried in case holding is expected.

Answer 3

They are definately moving, or they would fall like a very big brick!

It is possible in theory that any plane COULD have a ground speed of 0 kts if the wind speed was sufficiant and the plane was flying directly into it. If the stall speed of your plane was 90 kts and windspeed was 91 kts, the plane would still be 'travelling' with an airspeed of 91 kts but the ground speed would be 0 kts - in real terms it would just not move.

Back in the real world, this never happens so the only aircraft that can hover are either VTOL (Harrier/X35), Helicoptors or hybrids (Osprey - half heli, half plane)

Answer 4

for an aircraft to be stationery in mid air, it could be; a) rotary wing aircraft, like what your friend said. b) a v/stol aircraft which only the military have. c) or a small aircraft with a slow relative speed with regards to the wind coming in front of it. ex. aircraft a is traveling at 80 miles per hour but going against a head wind going at 70 mile an hour. on the ground, you'll see the aircraft only traveling at 10 miles per hour.

when a commercial aircraft is waiting for clearance to land, it goes in circle at a designated spot, speed and level.

Answer 5

No, a fixed-wing aircraft CANNOT remain stationary in the air. Your friend is correct. You are not. Only a helicopter or a VTOL aircraft (such as the Harrier) can hover.

Answer 6

No, they have to keep moving otherwise they would just fall to the ground. When waiting to land etc, they normally fly round in large circles or spirals known as a 'holding pattern'. However, if the plane is quote high it can seem as though it is not moving.

Answer 7

Your friend is right, they do not stand still in mid air- they fly around the airport in a circle waiting to land.

Answer 8

This is a list of planes capable of Vertical Take-Off and landing arranged under manufacturer. The list excludes helicopters and rockets, because they are assumed to have this capability.

Almost there(commercial flights) but already in use.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VTOL_aircraft

Answer 9

Wow, NO Man, I've seen this before Man. Like WOW, it was in the 70's and we were all partying and like, WOW, we saw these planes floating over the airport, and WOW, we were going like, Gnarly MAN!!!

Of course, it could have been that we did too many mushrooms.

Answer 10

They can't stop completely, i thnk they just feel like wasting your time and flying around for a while longer.☼☼☼