![]() ![]() This means the aircraft has to travel faster to take off and therefore needs a longer runway to do so. The “thin air” at high elevations results in less lift on the aircraft. As wind flows over the wing, the air pressure on the bottom of the wing is greater than on top, thereby creating lift (known as Bernoulli’s principle). The higher the elevation, the lower the atmosphere pressure or air density. ![]() And the higher the aircraft’s engine thrust, the faster the aircraft can reach its take-off speed, and the shorter the runway required.Įnvironmental factors also play a role. The more people and cargo on an aircraft, the longer the runway required. For the same reason, an aircraft’s maximum takeoff weight is also a factor. This makes sense when you consider that a typical commercial jetliner needs to reach 150 to 180 mph (240 to 285 km/h) to take off, and the larger the aircraft, the longer it takes to reach these speeds. The larger the aircraft, the longer the runway required. Its lone coastal runway is all of 2,900 feet-just over a half mile and 116 meters shy of a kilometer.Īirport runway length is contingent on a number of factors, including aircraft type. Contrast that with an airport near my neck of the woods: Machias Valley Airport along the coast of Maine. ![]() The longest commercial service runway in the world when initially constructed was 18,045 feet long-that’s 3.4 miles or 5.5 kilometers-at the Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX) in the mountains of Tibet. ![]()
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