Flight altitudes?

Question

I'm curious about altitude capabilities of aircraft over the years. I mean, I know that with power plant improvements came the ability to climb higher. But "high" for 1928 surely wouldn't be the same as high for 1998. Does anyone know off hand stats like that, or is there a table somewhere/some aviation buff who's listed it on a page maybe? I've had no luck in finding an answer for that one.

Answer 1

Here are some good links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_altitude_records_reached_by_different_aircraft_types
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_altitude_record

I think the second link is more what you were looking for.

Answer 2

You've had several people here talking about pressurization. The first breakthrough in higher altitudes came as a direct result of the supercharger. A normally aspirated engine has to breathe air just like you do. Somewhere around 15,000 feet, the engine no longer produces enough power to climb anymore. My 421 has turbo superchargers on the engines, and they think they're still at sea level when we're at 18,000 feet. The B-17 of WW II was capable of climbing into the 30s, and it most certainly was NOT pressurized.

Answer 3

Well you can look at the engines as a means to find the altitudes for the day.. Or you could look at the REAL restriction. Pressurized aircraft was the problem keeping pilots low. I know currently the rule is no more than 30 min above 12,500 MSL.

Here is some good info about pressurization advances, and altitudes...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressurized_cabin

Answer 4

You didn't specify if you were referring to military planes, or civil planes. Civil planes are governed by many things, such as efficiency, passenger comfort, certification requirements, and other operating rules. Military planes are not under such restrictions, and so can fly much higher. The U-2 flies at/above 60,000 feet. Most airliners don't exceed 41,000, although business jets often go higher than that.

(By the way, the Cessna 206T is a non-pressurized piston single-engine plane that is certified, and flies quite well, above 25,000 feet.)

Answer 5

"HIGH" is a very general term for avaition, hell i consider 10,000 FT AGL "high" but in regards to your question, most airliners will cruise right around FL350 or 35,000 ft MSL (median sea level). However, flying learjets, we go quite a bit higher, this is possible because the pressure in a cabin is easer to maintain if it is a small cabin. Recently, we had a final cruise altitude of FL430 on a flight from DSM-APF.

Answer 6

the real change in flight altitudes came with the pressurized cabins. You could have a load of passengers that didn't have to be provided with oxygen.
Even during WWI the pilots would occasionally get up to 12-15,000 feet, but would be tempting blacking out if they stayed too long. I've been to 16,000 without oxygen, and it becomes quite apparent that your system doesn't like it.

Answer 7

Widebody jets usually fly at or above 35,000 feet.
Turboprop aircraft usually fly around 25,000 feet.
Pressurized recip aircraft fly in the mid teens,
General aviation unpressurized usally around 5-10,000
helicopters are usually 300-1000 feet.

Answer 8

I've had the Piper Cherokee (pa-28-180) up to 12,500+