It's Too Hot For Some Planes To Fly In Phoenix (npr.org)

In Phoenix on Tuesday, temperatures were forecast to climb as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit, causing more than 40 American Eagle regional flights out of Phoenix's international airport to be canceled. NPR reports: American Airlines said in a statement that the Bombardier CRJ aircraft used on some shorter routes have a maximum operating temperature of 118 degrees. For bigger jets, the threshold is higher. The carrier says that, for example, Airbus aircraft have a maximum operating temperature of 127 degrees and that for Boeing, it is 126 degrees. As USA Today reports: "Extreme heat affects a plane's ability to take off. Hot air is less dense than cold air, and the hotter the temperature, the more speed a plane needs to lift off. A runway might not be long enough to allow a plane to achieve the necessary extra speed." Bianca Hernandez, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, tells NPR that Phoenix is seeing an unusually strong high-pressure system, which is causing the soaring temperatures.

Comments

Coal Powered Steam Catapults

[Camel Pilot]

Time for the city of Phoenix to submit a federal DOE grant to install “goddamn steam” catapults to solve this problem and specify it to be coal fired will be a sure fire way to get approval.

I'd Rather

[sexconker]

I'd rather be dead in California than alive in Arizona.

-Lucille Bluth

Re:Too Hot, too Heavy

[Anonymous Coward]

Planes full of big fat sweaty Walmart shoppers, oozing grease instead of perspiration.

Re:120 whatchyamacallit

[Quirkz]

To be honest, it mostly doesn't.

Re:its because...

[Mr D from 63]

If they can't fly at those temperatures, then they must not be soaring temperatures.

Re:More than Air Density?

[dryeo]

On the radio today, they said this heatwave (7 days of 49C IIRC) is a one in 200 year thing and hasn't happened since last year.