How High can Fighter jets go and what happens if they try to go higher?

Question

How high can fighter planes go ? and at what happens if they try to go higher then they are allowed to ?

Answer 1

Another factor in this discussion is temperature.  A lower temperature means greater air density.  Greater air density means more oxygen. But at high altitude the atmosphere is so thin temperature makes only a minuscule difference.  When a fighter is 'pushing the envelope'  it may mean it is being flown close to or exceeding it's service limits.  The thin atmosphere not only affects the fuel ignition but also the control surfaces.  The rudders and ailerons depend on airflow to steer the craft.    Thin atmosphere means a degradation of control characteristics.  The higher one flies the greater the danger is of departing controlled flight.  What a pilot may get away with on one day, he may not be successful the next all due to subtle changes in the variables ie: temperature, slight variation in fuel formulation, weapons load, fuel load, etc. This is the reason that space vehicles rely on attitudinal rocket thrusters to control spacecraft outside the atmosphere.  That is one thing that makes the Space Shuttle so unique, it has control surfaces for suborbital maneuvering, and thrusters for steering while in orbit!

Answer 2

If a fighter plane goes higher than it was designed.

When the "altitude pressure" becomes to much.

It will explode. It is not designed for space flight. <}:-})

Answer 3

The altitude depends on the model.  As altitude increases and air pressure falls, the indicated airspeed will drop -- and eventually fall below the stalling speed of the aircraft.  At that point, you are going to descend.  Recovery from stalls is a routine part of pilot training.

Answer 4

Different fighter jets have different maximum altitudes, depending on their design & purpose. The highly versatile F-22 Raptor, for example, has a service ceiling of about 65,000 feet, which is over 12 miles.

If a jet engine exceeds it's designed altitude the engine will stall due to lack of oxygen, forcing the plane to yield to the law of gravity and head back toward Mother Earth. The pilot, in this situation, would point the nose down to take advantage of the airflow going into the engine intake and execute an engine restart procedure.

Answer 5

Some planes can actually go higher than they can fly.  Sounds contradictory, but at high speed, a plane becomes a missile.  So even though the service ceiling may be, say, 65,000 ft, if the plane can attain a vertical speed of 1000mph at 40,000 ft, it may travel ballistically to 80,000ft or more.  At that altitude, it is essentially as aerodynamic as a rock, and it falls until it returns to a low enough altitude to fly again - if the attitude allows it.  Or it burns in and crashes.

Answer 6

A jet engine requires Oxygen to function. Above 70,000 ft, the engine will struggle to "turn and burn".

Answer 7

About 85  to 90 thousand ft is max if it has a powerful enough engine and can get up that high, most don`t. After that they fall because there is not enough thrust and they are just hanging with no control. The engine will often flame out.

The spy plane SR71 blackbird, aka Habu, cruised at 85,000 ft set a record of 164,900 ft and traveled faster than a 30.06 bullet.

One can`t just go straight up to reach max you have to go up and then a short dive to get velocity to climb again and repeat this maneuver.

Glad you asked

Answer 8

Normal fighter jets can " fly " I.E. level flight at about 65000 to 80000 feet, newer classified aircraft though can fly much higher and therefore much faster. A normal jet engine requires oxygen to combine with the fuel, the higher they go, the less oxygen and therefore the engine quits.

Also at very altitudes there is less atmospheric pressure meaning less airflow over the control surfaces of the aircraft and the aircraft becomes uncontrollable. New aircraft engine designs though actually burn two types of fuel and since they can travel much faster at greater altitudes their fuel doesn't require oxygen to burn any longer and the control surfaces become useless so a complex system of control jets are used to keep the aircraft fly level. You won't see those at your local air force base, at least not for awhile anyway.

Answer 9

they can go high. in fact they can fly where there is no oxygen and then you have to have it on and that is why sometimes they black out ofr minutes. but you would have to ask flier and not sure they would really answer you since i am sure this is classified.

Answer 10

I'm sure the actual service ceiling is classified, but most fighters will go well above 50,000, if they try to go higher it would just not fly well in the thin air and have little flight control effectiveness and the engine could flame out.

Answer 11

Depends on teh plane.. Anywhere from about 45000 feet to 65000 feet.  If a jet tries to go too high the engine wont be able to get enough oxygen to ignite the fuel on and it will cut off... Then it will start to fall.  This can be dangerous and hopefully the pilot will be able to get the engines going again.

Answer 12

Many fighters can fly in level flight 60,000 feet and higher but there's a cost. Engines become starved for oxygen eventually and they stall, and the plane begins descending until the denser air allows the engine to operate again. However, thanks to afterburners, it is possible to climb almost straight up and exceed 100,000 feet in altitude flying a plane like the F-15, or the F-22. The momentum from two immensely powerful after-burning turbofan engines would carry the aircraft up so high the pilot will see stars in broad daylight and the curvature of the Earth. The plane will reach the top of it's arc, then descend again like a ballistic missile or artillery shell. The pilot would likely exhaust most of his fuel so he would either have to land or meet a tanker for refueling. However, there is at least one U.S. aircraft that can fly higher than that all the time, at up to 5 times the speed of sound. That aircraft is the SR-71 Blackbird, and I had the privilege to actually see the fasted jet powered airplane ever built in the U.S. It's top speed and altitude are still state secrets but it's acknowledged to be capable of flying at 100,000 feet at speeds up to Mach 5. Doubtlessly there are others in existence in the U.S. and other countries, but they're still kept secret from the public.

Answer 13

the service ceiling for an F117 is 20,000m (69,000').

the service ceiling isn't necessarily a limit.  it is reached by a tapering off of the rate of climb; typically when it reaches less than a few hundred feet per minute.

Answer 14

go to,

1.http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/figh...

2.http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/2008/04/13/f...

3.http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/59/p...

4.http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArtic...

5.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:4th_ge...

6.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:4th_ge...

7.http://www.metacafe.com/watch/25116/figh...

i know that this is not what u r looking for but still these r nformation about fighter jets. there is a video too.