Aircraft Altitude

Remember once hearing a Concorde flight northbound over Daventry at 410. Reckoned he could see the Clyde.

Not a chance!!! How could he see through the ever present rain clouds over the Clyde Valley :dev2::dev2:

And you won’t get above 41000 now Concorde has gone. 😡 Not on a commercial flight anyway.

The A380 service ceiling is listed as 43,000 FWIW so there’s still a chance.

As said above it’s variable on many things, but on a long-haul route, the weight is the biggest issue. An aircraft will obviously try and fly at it’s optimum level.

When flying East (001-180) you will be cruising at an odd level (usually), and when flying west (181-360) you will be cruising at an even level (usually).

And you won’t get above 41000 now Concorde has gone.

Remember once hearing a Concorde flight northbound over Daventry at 410. Reckoned he could see the Clyde.

Sorry to answer your question Conor it will depend on whether you plane is full or not.

It will start the flight at about FL290(29,000ft)/FL310(31,000ft) and finish at about FL370(37,000ft)/FL390(39,000ft).

The only slight influence weather would have would be if you were expected to meet a very strong headwind you might have extra fuel but will burn this off before landing and still make the same max level.

And you won’t get above 41000 now Concorde has gone. 😡 Not on a commercial flight anyway.

Routes do have set Max levels due to traffic volumes.

Routes from Dublin to airports within Manchester Acc’s airspace can only climb to max FL230 and on return FL220. Its roughly the same for flights from London Acc airports to short destinations in Europe. The further away you go the higher you can climb.

Within the UK you generally can’t go above FL240 as then you will be making work for the controllers who are controlling high level traffic going to the US and Southern Spain etc. As you go high the slower a plane climbs and therefore the more miles it takes to get a plane up so you will be in conflict with more traffic.

Flying east wards you have to fly at an odd level i.e 230/250/270/290 etc and westwards even levels 220/240/260/280/300 etc.

But generally the level you fly at is based on an aircrafts weight the higher the weight the lower the level but as you burn off fuel(weight) you can climb.

A 744 flying to Singapore will start off at FL290 but by the end of the trip may be at FL370/390 etc.

An A321 flying from Man to Southern Spain will start at FL320 roughly but may only make FL360 at the end.

Hope this helps.

Altitude will depend on certain things, like weather and how busy a certain route is. Certain routes dont have set Flight levels.