How big are the chances that you can fly the speed you put in the flight plan during the wholte trip?

Question

I mean, when doing a longer flight, and you plan mach .80, it is very likely that you will have slower planes in front of you.....And therefore you have to fly at slower speeds.

Answer 1

depends how acurate you calculated the density altitude at the true altitude you will be flying at, and how acurate you calculated wind speed,,,,   if all these calculations were done 100 percent right and your aircrafts engines are at there best conditions you will be flying the exact ground speed you have calculated,,  which is nearly impossible by the way,,  but  + or - 5 knots is a realy good job.......

Answer 2

Your flight plan shows only INITIAL cruise  true airspeed in KNOTS, not a  mach number.

A 727 doing mach .84 might find you in the way, but faster traffic overtakes all the time.

Answer 3

That's almost impossible to say.   .80 is not an unreasonable number, so you may very well do most of the trip at that speed.  Of course if you are inbound to a major terminal, once you get into the area where sequencing begins, vectors and speed adjustments are almost a given.  

Headwinds and such have no bearing on this, as all traffic at your flight level will be experiencing the same effects.  If you're flight planning in the .76 to .80 range adjustments should be minimal.

Answer 4

Maybe 1%. If you get lucky!

Answer 5

The primary factor is winds aloft. Headwinds slow you down, tailwinds speed you up.

Answer 6

A lot of it depends on your location.  If you are flying transontinental, most of your enroute portion could be done at M.80.  If you are flying into a more congested area, there is a higher chance you will get slowed down before your destination.  Time of day and altitude play a big part.

At one regional carrier I worked for we were not RVSM certified so were stuck down at FL280 going into the NY Metros.  The whole flight was a speed restriction.

Now I work for a private jet company.  We are routinely flying FL410 and have the sky pretty much to ourselves so until we get close to the destination, we can fly for several hours at our planned mach number.

Answer 7

It depends mostly on where you are flying. For example, long overwater routes (Pacific) are usually conducted at a constant Mach number, so most of the flight will be held to that speed.

On domestic routes, however, speed can vary according to the flow of traffic along your planned route. Flying the lengthy jet routes from coast to coast, you can often maintain a constant speed most of the way.

Put up a bit of weather along the route, though, and all bets are off.

Answer 8

There are two chances... slim and none... that is where the fudge factor comes in... the ETA is ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL... that says it all.