Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
From the brains behind Brains On, this is the Moment of Um. Um, um, um, um, um. Moment of Um comes to you from APM Studios. I'm Mark Sanchez. Um.
Folks, this is Captain Sanchez, and I'll be your pilot for this episode. On behalf of the entire crew, welcome aboard Moment of Air Flight 105. Nonstop service from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. We will be flying at an altitude of 36,000 feet at a ground speed of 570 miles per hour.
At this time, let's make sure your seat backs and listening ears are in their full upright position. And that your seat belts are correctly fastened. I'm sorry, what? But wait, no, that's only if you're below 10,000 feet. Barry, no! Well, I guess that's true. Okay, will you just let me get to my announcements? Yes.
I'm Mira from St. Paul, Minnesota. My question is, do airplanes have a speed limit?
The short answer is yes and no. Under 10,000 feet, airplanes must not exceed 250 knots, and that's about 287 miles per hour. But above 10,000 feet, technically there is no speed restriction, but there are several factors that go into determining an airplane's speed. Well, hello, my name is Bobby Sharp. I'm an air traffic controller at Atlanta Center. So, okay, the whole thing about the 10,000 feet thing.
The reason that you have a different restriction for speed under 2,000 feet is because you're getting into those terminal areas near airports. You got a lot of planes coming in and leaving out. You got a lot of planes that are just flying around sightseeing kind of low to the ground. You want to kind of slow down your speed just to make sure that those planes that are seeing and avoiding have adequate time to see and avoid. So once you get above that, when it's a little bit less traffic, then those speed restrictions are, you know, removed.
For most of your passenger jets, the average cruising speed is going to be about 575 miles per hour. So you can go a little bit faster once you get a little bit higher and there's less planes that you have to encounter. Below 10,000 feet is kind of like, you know, city streets where it's kind of like slower traffic. But above 10,000 feet, it's kind of like the highway wide open. Everybody's going fast and you got more room to actually get up to speed. Um, uh,
Okay, so we definitely have a handle on airplanes and speed limits now. But that got me wondering about another fast-flying thing in the sky. Birds! I looked up the fastest bird in the world, and it's the peregrine falcon, who, when swooping, can reach speeds of up to 242 miles per hour. Can you believe that? What do you have to say for yourself, parrots? And guess what? The gals are larger than the males.
So don't make a female peregrine falcon mad. She might just swoop down on you and you won't even have time to react. If you like this episode, take a second to subscribe to Moment of Um wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you feel like it's about to rain, don't worry. Check out the Forever Ago podcast where we have a whole episode on the history of umbrellas. If you have a Moment of Um question, we'd love to help you answer it. Drop us a line by going to brainson.org slash contact.
See you tomorrow and the next day and every weekday. And until then, this is your captain saying it's been a pleasure serving you. And, uh...