flight speed?

Question

are there any speed restrictions in the air like we have on our roads ie if a plane has a top speed of say 600mph would they be able to do that speed if they wanted too?

Answer 1

No, is the answer. But it all depends on whether they are civilian or military. Civilian planes are all sub-sonic (Except Concorde which does not fly any more) so top speed is around 500 knots or so. They do not fly at maximum speed for long, as they will burn too much fuel (Expensive and makes a long haul flight into a middle haul one). They will fly at economical cruise.

ATC (Air traffic control) will dictate the speed of an aircraft whilst transitting their own airspace. This does in effect give a speed limit, but it is not fixed - they will vary it depending on traffic etc. A plane can always request to go faster or slower if it wants or needs to.

Military planes can go super-sonic and often do, since they can refuel in flight. They fly above civilian air space a lot of the time, or in restricted military airspace, so can do what they like,

So, basically the answer is -no- there are no speed restrictions as such.

Hope that answers the question

Answer 2

If going as a Russian area vacationer that's greater than the traditional. Now there is not any concorde all flights perform at under the fee of sound, One kilometer in 3 secs,or I mile in 5 approx. The cruising speed of the plane at 35,000 ft is often around the late 900s km in line with hour might desire to get only over a million,000 with the wind at the back of it yet that's all as much as gas/value/distance calculations the Airline wish their Pilots perform at.

Answer 3

Once away from airports the flight speed is determined by the flight crew, who will be considering the timetable, fuel economy, and air turbulence conditions to set an appropriate speed. This may be REQUESTED to be changed by air traffic control, though they normally only intervene when the aircraft enters the destination ATC

Answer 4

Civilian aircraft aren't allowed to go 'super sonic' over land - but as Concorde has been grounded that's not a problem any more.

Apart from that the speed of an aircraft is determined by Air Traffic Control.

Answer 5

The airspace is one big maze of control and uncontrolled zones. So as the name suggest, in the uncontrolled zones, usuallly over international waters or expanse of land designated as suc, pilots can fly whatever speed they want and collision avoidance is at their own risk. However, there are flight rules to govern separation for aircraft at different altitude flying different heading. So, speed will be dependent on the type of aircraft concerned.

In controlled zone, some will stipulate a speed to fly while in this zone. This is usually for separation usually due to high traffic intensity, so the speed control is to effect safe separation between aircraft. This is usually near airports.

So for a pilot, he will have to plan his flight speed, from take-off, his departure route, enroute flight to destination and to his landing. The speed will be calculated to arrive at his departure and arrival time. There will be other considerations, but not under the context of your question.

So, yes and no, speed restrictions will depend on where you are flying in.

Answer 6

There's a lower level speed limit, I mean if a plane is flying low then they have to remain below the speed of sound. I'm not 100% sure if this is everywhere or just over areas of density.

Answer 7

in the usa, must be at or below 250 knots below 10000 feet. otherwise air traffic control will suggest speeds for proper spacing.

Answer 8

passenger planes do have a speed limit