Flight length

In aviation, the flight length or flight distance refers to the distance of a flight. Aircraft do not necessarily follow the great-circle distance, but may opt for a longer route due to weather, traffic, the use of jet streams, or to refuel. Commercial flights are often categorized into long-, medium- or short-haul by commercial airlines based on flight length, although there is no international standard definition. The related term flight time is defined by ICAO as "The total time from the moment an aeroplane first moves for the purpose of taking off until the moment it finally comes to rest at the end of the flight", and is referred to colloquially as "blocks to blocks" or "chocks to chocks" time. In commercial aviation, this means the time from pushing back at the departure gate to arriving at the destination gate. Flight time is measured in hours and minutes as it is independent of geographic distance travelled. Flight time can be affected by wind, traffic, taxiing time, and aircraft used.

In aviation, the flight length or flight distance refers to the distance of a flight. Aircraft do not necessarily follow the great-circle distance, but may opt for a longer route due to weather, traffic, the use of jet streams, or to refuel. Commercial flights are often categorized into long-, medium- or short-haul by commercial airlines based on flight length, although there is no international standard definition. The related term flight time is defined by ICAO as "The total time from the moment an aeroplane first moves for the purpose of taking off until the moment it finally comes to rest at the end of the flight", and is referred to colloquially as "blocks to blocks" or "chocks to chocks" time. In commercial aviation, this means the time from pushing back at the departure gate to arriving at the destination gate. Flight time is measured in hours and minutes as it is independent of geographic distance travelled. Flight time can be affected by wind, traffic, taxiing time, and aircraft used.

Short-haul and long-haul

A flight's length can also be described using the aviation term of "Flight Haul Type", such as "short-haul" or "long-haul". Flight haul types can be defined using either flight distance or flight time.

Time-based definitions

Distance-based definitions

a short-haul airliner.]] a medium-haul airliner.]] as a long-haul airliner.]] David W. Wragg classifies air services as medium-haul being between ; short-haul as being shorter and long-haul as being longer. David Crocker defines short-haul flights as shorter than , and long-haul as the opposite.

Shortest and longest commercial flights

Shortest

The Westray to Papa Westray flight in Orkney, operated by Loganair, is the shortest commercial flight in the world, covering 2.8 km (1.7 mi) in two minutes scheduled flight time including taxiing.

Distinctions

Great-circle distance versus flight length

and Tokyo following the most direct great circle (top) westward, and following a longer-distance jet stream route (bottom) when heading eastward]] The shortest distance between two geographical points is the great-circle distance. In the example (right), the aircraft travelling westward from North America to Japan is following a great-circle route extending northward towards the Arctic region. The apparent curve of the route is a result of distortion when plotted onto a conventional map projection and makes the route appear to be longer than it really is. Stretching a string between North America and Japan on a globe will demonstrate why this really is the shortest route despite appearances. The actual flight length is the length of the track flown across the ground in practice, which is usually longer than the ideal great-circle and is influenced by a number of factors such as the need to avoid bad weather, wind direction and speed, fuel economy, navigational restrictions and other requirements. In the example, easterly flights from Japan to North America are shown taking a longer, more southerly, route than the shorter great-circle; this is to take advantage of the favourable jet stream, a fast high-altitude tail-wind that assists the aircraft along its ground track that can save more time or fuel than the geographically shortest route.

See also

Endurance (aeronautics) Flight distance record Fuel economy in aircraft International flight List of regional airliners Longest flights Non-stop flight Range (aeronautics) Short-haul flight ban Ultra long haul flight

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364979668 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.