The adventure of transatlantic flight

Published on March 21, 2019.

What could be easier today than traveling from Paris to New York or from London to Rio? Transatlantic flights have become commonplace. A few clicks and you will find plane tickets easily and at all prices. In fact, more than 400 daily flights connect the two sides of the Atlantic.

The first transatlantic flight dates from May 1919, it lasted 3 days and will be carried out in a Type 33 Airship. In July 1919 the American Albert Cushing Read made the crossing on a Curtis NC-4 seaplane in twenty-three days with several stopovers, followed a few weeks later by John Alcock and Arthur Brown on Vickers Vimy IV, with a flight of 16 hours and 28 minutes non-stop. It was not until 1938 and Lufthansa to see the first transatlantic commercial flight that will link Berlin to New York. The plane, a Focke-Wulf Fw 200, will take 24 hours and 55 minutes to make the crossing.

 Today it takes an average of 7h50 to make a flight from Paris to New York. The record being a time of 2h 59 minutes and 40 seconds established thanks to the supersonic flight of the concorde. However, the subsonic flight record for the Atlantic crossing goes to a Norwegian Boeing 787 which linked New York to London in 5 hours 13 minutes, ie an average speed of 1071 km / h.

What will the transatlantic flights of tomorrow look like?

Travel across the ocean will be more eventful. In fact, following global warming, the flight turbulence linked to the jetstream should increase in number and intensity.

Aircraft manufacturers are also preparing ever faster and more efficient planes for us. With this in mind, Airbus filed in 2015 a patent for an ultra-fast aircraft. This plane, equipped with 3 different types of engines, will be able to fly at Mach 5. This speed would allow it to cross the Atlantic in 60 minutes. What bring even closer all the inhabitants of the Earth. Perhaps we will also have unmanned planes, veritable air taxis that will take us around the world.

 One thing is certain, in the future, traveling will be easier, more enjoyable and faster than anything else.