The speed of an airplane can vary significantly depending on various factors such as the type of aircraft, its purpose, altitude, weather conditions, and the phase of flight (takeoff, cruising, landing, etc.). However, I can provide you with some approximate values for typical commercial jet airliners during cruising.
On average, commercial jet airliners, such as Boeing 737 or Airbus A320, typically cruise at speeds between 450 and 550 knots (nautical miles per hour) or approximately 518 to 632 miles per hour (mph). These speeds can vary based on the specific aircraft model and its configuration.
To convert these speeds to per second, we can divide them by the number of seconds in an hour (60 minutes × 60 seconds = 3,600 seconds):
- At a cruising speed of 450 knots, the airplane would travel approximately 0.128 nautical miles per second (nmi/s).
- At a cruising speed of 550 knots, the airplane would travel approximately 0.154 nautical miles per second (nmi/s).
- In terms of statute miles per second, the approximate values would be around 0.147 miles per second (mi/s) for 450 knots and 0.178 miles per second (mi/s) for 550 knots.
Keep in mind that these are rough estimates and the actual speed can vary based on the specific aircraft, its configuration, and the operational conditions.