How long can a plane last in the air on a single tank of gas?

Question

How long can a plane last in the air on a single tank of gas?

Answer 1

It depends on the aircraft; but some large passenger jets make 12 hour flights across the ocean without needing to refuel.

Answer 2

Depends how big the gas tank is...

Answer 3

a good ballpark for typical general aviation planes would probably be somewhere around 5 hours endurance with full fuel  

Answer 4

Depends on the plane, and fuel type.  

Answer 5

Depends on the weight, passenger number, etc.  

Answer 6

As long as the tank dose not run out.

Answer 7

That's like asking how far can a car drive on a single tank, or how long can a human run without passing out.  Depends on the plane.

Answer 8

All the way to the scene of the crash.

Answer 9

Id say 12-14 hours.

Answer 10

it won't be able to get off the ground

Answer 11

General aviation aircraft carry enough fuel for about 4-5 hours of flying. That said; there are two aircraft to date that have circumnavigated the world on a single fill up.

Answer 12

How long can a person breathe in a sealed room before running out of oxygen?

Answer 13

Yes yes yes, it does depend on the size of the tanks, the weight of the aircraft, and the type of engines used. It also depends on the temp outside, the pressure altitude and the winds. The burn rate for a turbo prop engine is somewhere around 2000 lbs/hour/engine give or take a few hundred with a gross weight 120,000 lbs around 24,000 ft PA and about -10 degrees outside with 1010 degrees turbine inlet temp set. As the weight of the aircraft decreases from the fuel burnt over time the aircraft will speed up allowing the pilot to climb even higher where the temp is lower. This requires less fuel to go the same speed or even faster than before depending on the winds (as the temp decreases the engine becomes more efficient). Getting high up into the jet stream could have favorable winds of over 100mph which could also allow the pilot to go faster or pull back power to keep the same speed as before which saves more fuel. If there is atmospheric moisture and outside temp is below 10 degrees celcius there could be the potential for icing. If a pilot encounters icing he must use the aircraft anti-icing systems and sometimes the systems use bleed air from the aircraft JET engines to deice the aircraft. In this situation the engine become less efficient due to the fact the the pilot is removing compressed air (which is hot) from the diffussor (highest point of pressure from the compressor). In this case he would have to add more power to maintain the same speed. Many things affect fuel flow with aircraft engines.

Answer 14

It really depends on the plane. There are some experimental planes that can stay up for days....some passenger planes that fly overseas stay up for over 14 hours. You need to be a little more specific of the type of plane.