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Commercial or passenger aircraft are usually designed for optimum performance around their cruise speed (VC) and cruise altitude. Factors affecting optimum cruise speed and altitude include payload, center of gravity, air temperature, and humidity. Cruise altitude is usually where the higher ground speed is balanced against the decrease in engine thrust and efficiency at higher altitudes.
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What Flight Level should I cruise at?
So again, there has to be a balance, which accounts for the altitudes generally used. IFR Cruising AltitudesIFR Pilots flying on a magnetic course (track) of 0 degrees through 179 degrees should fly on an odd thousand foot MSL altitude. Example IFR Cruising altitudes would be 5,000 feet, 7,000 feet, 9,000 feet etc.
Aircraft Cruise Altitude and Speed Profile Optimization in a Real Atmosphere
In addition, airlines will want to maximize winds aloft and the performance efficiencies gained by flying at higher altitudes, where the air is thinner and opposes less resistance, meaning less fuel can be used. Planes don't always fly at the same altitude, and that's for a very good reason that many of us wish we could do on the ground — avoiding traffic. Flying higher means planes can avoid birds (usually), drones, and light aircraft and helicopters, which fly at lower altitudes. According to Your Mileage May Vary, the direction in which your plane is traveling can also affect what altitude it will climb to. Planes flying eastward (including northeast and southeast) will fly at odd altitudes (i.e. 35,000 feet) and all other directions will fly at even altitudes. Routes going in the same direction are also often planned so that planes are 1,000 feet above or below each other to avoid a collision.
Why don’t small private planes or helicopters fly at the same height?
For example, when thunderstorms build up there can be hundreds of miles with only one or two suitable crossing points at specific altitudes. It's up to ATC to steer all the traffic through those limited windows. Again, airliners can generally cope with turbulence, but it is preferable to avoid it if possible. These altitudes are based on your course or ground track, and not necessarily your heading being flown because of variance caused by cross-wind effects.
I try to book a flight as late in the evening as possible so I’m already tired as we’re leaving. I do my best to stay awake through the first meal service, which typically happens within the first hour or two of the flight, and have dinner so I don’t wake up hungry midway through the journey. Then I take a dose of a well-known over-the-counter cough and cold medicine that makes you drowsy (in gel cap form) as I wait for the meal tray to get cleared. But when planes are at cruising altitude, experts say birds are no longer a threat. So once the seatbelt signs goes off, you can relax and enjoy the flight. “Most bird strikes occur during takeoff and landing,” says Kyrazis.
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Commercial aircraft depart airports through a standard procedure, where they are under positive control of ATC. These procedures instruct pilots when to make their turns in the direction of the destination and at what altitude they should expect. So next time you’re flying an especially long distance, pay attention to what you’re choosing to eat, and consider taking a sleep aid you know you can tolerate it well. We wanted to know, and asked three commercial pilots for the lowdown. “Ten thousand feet and above, you can go legally to a much higher speed,” says Dr. Thomas Carney, Professor of Aviation and Transportation Technology at Purdue University. This also explains why you feel the plane slowing down during landing.
You can see altitudes issued to other flights on flight planning services such as Fltplan.com. Those altitudes are accurate in that they were issued by center computer as an initial clearance. Lastly, flying high gives you more time to act in the unlikely event of an emergency in flight. Despite pilots being in control of the plane, they aren't the ones who decide on its altitude. Air dispatchers, instead, are in charge of planning and deciding a plane's route, including altitude, as well as tracking where an aircraft is in the air. This is because a heavier aircraft should fly faster to generate the required lift at the most efficient lift coefficient.
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On the Singapore trip, it was sheer exhaustion, but on most flights of 10 hours or more, I have a routine that helps me get down. McNeil said longer flights allow Singapore Airlines to offer more stretched-out delivery with every meal service. “The plane that the average guy can rent and fly, those tend to stay usually below 15,000 feet and that’s just a limit on what the plane can do,” Beckman says. Birds rarely fly that high, which is important, as bird strikes, though rare, can be disastrous if they happen. An extreme case of this sort of disaster was the US Airways aircraft which was forced to land on the Hudson river after a bird strike.
Just before leaving for Singapore, I also flew back from another assignment in Cape Town. On the nearly 16-hour flight to Atlanta, I again managed seven to eight hours of sleep. Antony McNeil, Singapore Airlines’ food and beverage director, told me that meal timing and composition make a big difference to passenger comfort on extra-long flights. I flew as a guest of Singapore Airlines to cover updates to its premium economy service offerings and to experience these flights while they’re still the longest in the world. Qantas, the Australian Airline, is set to claim that title from Singapore when it inaugurates nonstop round-trip flights from Sydney to New York and London in mid-2026.
This sort of thing is extremely unlikely, but it does happen occasionally. Remember, Cruising Altitudes are based on your course or ground track, and the pilot must consider cross-wind variances to their heading being flown. “The last thing we need is to evacuate an airplane in our bare feet,” he said. Leighton also said it’s smart to leave your shoes on at least for takeoff and landing. When you're checking the clouds, think about coverage and altitude.
Modern systems allow planes to pass as little as 1,000 feet above or below each other. Mark Vanhoenacker, British Airways pilot and author of Skyfaring, wrote that an airplane's altitude is "vertical wayfinding in the ocean of air." Aside from that beautiful turn of phrase, here's how that works. (NEW) VFR Mastery scenario #69 “Something’s Come Up” is now available. Passenger airsickness is an annoyance that almost every pilot has had to deal with at one time or another. Landing ASAP is the rule, but VFR above the clouds complicates the execution.
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Too-quick reclining can even land you in legal trouble in some places, like a case out of China when a rail passenger was fined for breaking the laptop screen of the traveler behind him when he reclined his seat. Contradicting my colleague Christopher Elliott, both Leighton and Grotts said it’s OK to push your seat back so long as you’re not too hasty about it. Contact our flight dispatcher school today to learn more from our experts. On this route from KGCY-KEHO, there's a 24-knot wind velocity difference between 3,000' and 6,000', with a nearly 50-degree wind direction difference. And if you're thinking things would be bumpy in that area, you're right.
Most of the time, the amount of wind change from say 3000 to 6000 feet is not so great that it will change our flight time by more than a few minutes. But if you can get a smooth ride by making that change, you and your passengers will enjoy the flight a lot more. One thing I’m very fortunate about is that I tend to sleep well on planes, even in the cheap seats. I wasn’t paying close attention, but on the way to Singapore I think I managed eight to 10 hours of sleep total.
If we take into account the relative velocity of the wind, we can determine the ground speed of a cruising aircraft. The ground speed is equal to the airspeed plus the wind speed using vector addition. With a constant ground speed, it is relatively easy to determine the aircraft range, the distance the airplane can fly with a given load of fuel. So unless there is a big wind penalty, my first choice is a cruise altitude of 7000 or 8000 feet to obtain the best true airspeed. If I need to climb or descend to keep the ride smooth, I will, unless I am over hostile territory.
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