What is the lowest altitude a plane can fly?

An aircraft can legally fly as low as 500ft above the ground & if in sparsely populated areas or over water there is no minimum height limit but must remain at least 500 feet from any vessel, structure, or person. Aircraft can also fly lower than 500ft when landing and taking off.
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How low are planes allowed to fly UK?

Low flying

In general, except when necessary for take-off or landing, an aircraft should be 1,000 ft over a built-up area or otherwise 500ft from people, vehicles, vessels and structures. Note that the legislation does not mention animals.
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At what altitude can planes no longer fly?

Limits set for commercial aircraft

Although, of course, air traffic control in each airspace has ultimate authority over an aircraft's precise altitude. Most commercial aircraft are approved to fly at a maximum of around 42,000 feet. This maximum is also known as a 'service ceiling.
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HOW LOW CAN military planes fly?

The military uses some airspace below 10,000 feet for training operations and frequently flies at speeds of more than 250 knots.
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How Low Can private helicopters fly?

An altitude of 500 feet above the surface except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In that case, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure. (d) ·Helicopters.
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What Will Happen If Planes Fly Almost to Space



Can you fly over Antarctica?

There are no commercial flight routes over Antarctica due to the continent's lack of infrastructure and virtually non-existent population. Antarctica also has extreme weather that makes it difficult to fly and land on the continent.
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HOW HIGH CAN military jets fly?

Military Jets

What is this? Most fighter jets fly at an altitude between 45,000-51,000 feet, but some like the F-22 Raptor can fly as high as 65,000 feet by being able to ascend vertically.
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Do planes fly over Mount Everest?

Tim Morgan, a commercial pilot writing for Quora says aircraft can fly above 40,000 feet, and hence it is possible to fly over Mount Everest which stands at 29,031.69 feet. However, typical flight routes do not travel above Mount Everest as the mountains create unforgiving weather.
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What happens if a plane keeps going up?

If a passenger jet flies too high, it reaches a point called 'Coffin Corner'. This is the point at which the aircraft's low speed stall and high-speed buffet meet and the plane can no longer maintain its altitude which forces it to descend.
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Why do fighter planes fly low?

Low flying military training involves military aircraft flying at low altitude to prepare their aircrew, and other military personnel (e.g. air defence troops), for nap-of-the-earth flying in wartime. The aircraft types can include advanced trainers, ground-attack aircraft, transports and helicopters.
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How do I complain about a low flying plane?

If outside the Washington DC FSDO area, please contact the Flight Standards Office that has jurisdiction over that area. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the government agency responsible for aviation safety.
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Why there are no parachutes on passenger planes?

Short answer: There are a few reasons, including the lack of parachute training of passengers, high speed of the airplane, cold temperatures at that altitude, non-conducive design of commercial planes and the cost spike, which make putting parachutes onboard commercial airplanes unviable.
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Can you break a plane window?

Even though it is considered a rare case, it has happened multiple times during commercial airline history. Breaking a window in an airplane is something that might seams not dangerous to many, but in reality, it is.
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Can a plane fly with one wing?

The F-15 has endured because its design was years ahead of its time, and a great data point behind that fact is the time Israeli pilot Zivi Nedivi landed his jet with only one wing. Nedivi had one of his wings sheared off in a midair collision with an A-4 Skyhawk during a training event.
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Why planes do not fly over Pacific Ocean?

Most flights are planned to minimize the time spent over bodies of water, since storms are more likely to occur over water than land. The weather over the Pacific Ocean is often turbulent, and there are many thunderstorms in parts of the Pacific, so it's not a safe environment to fly a plane.
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Why do flights to Japan go over Alaska?

Commercial airlines typically fly a Northern curved route that goes over Canada and Alaska. Therefore, they spend less time over the Pacific Ocean, allowing for emergency landings if needed.
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Can birds fly over Mount Everest?

In 1953, a mountain climber reported seeing a bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) soar over the peak of Mount Everest. The nearly 9-kilometer feat—2 kilometers higher than any other animal has been known to fly—was thought physiologically impossible.
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What is the highest a plane has ever flown?

It doesn't seem fair. On July 17, 1962, American test pilot Robert White took the X-15 to an altitude of 314,688 feet. But it's Russian pilot Alexandr Fedotov who holds the world altitude record, set on August 31, 1977, when his MiG E-266M reached a mere 123,523 feet.
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How slow can a plane fly?

Aeroplanes, or airplanes if you're American, need to maintain a certain speed to allow flight. Technically this is the so-called 'stall speed', where air passes over the wings fast enough to sustain altitude, and for small planes this can be less than 50km/h (31mph).
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How high can a helicopter fly?

Turbine-engined helicopters can reach around 25,000 feet. But the maximum height at which a helicopter can hover is much lower - a high performance helicopter like the Agusta A109E can hover at 10,400 feet.
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Why planes do not fly over Tibet?

The leading reason for aircraft avoiding the region is the high average height of the terrain. This is over 14,000 feet. Aircraft, of course, cruise much higher than this. But the procedure in the event of an emergency such as cabin depressurization is to descend to 10,000 feet before diverting to an airport.
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Why don't planes fly over the Atlantic?

Early aircraft engines did not have the reliability needed for the crossing, nor the power to lift the required fuel. There are difficulties navigating over featureless expanses of water for thousands of miles, and the weather, especially in the North Atlantic, is unpredictable.
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Why don't we fly over the North Pole?

The polar regions have special navigation concerns in the form of the magnetic fields which permeate them. These can make it difficult for planes to navigate because the polar areas interfere with magnetic navigational tools.
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Are airplane windows bulletproof?

Since the windows are essentially made from plexiglass, they aren't bulletproof. However, they rarely fail. And even if they do, modern airliners such as the Boeing 737 used to operate Flight 1380 can survive and land after most depressurization events. Sign up for notifications from Insider!
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Why are lights turned off during landing?

The "dimming of cabin lights" only happens when it is dusk, dawn or dark outside the aircraft. This is a safety measure, and is to ensure your eyes are adjusted to the gloom enough to see the floor lights leading you to safety along the aisle in the event of a crash or emergency evacuation.
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