Appears To Have Reached A Speed Of 801 Miles Per Hour

A roaring jet stream traveling at more than 230 mph over the eastern U.S. on Monday appears to have helped push a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 to a record speed for the airplane ... 801 miles per hour.

The Washington Post reports that the flight was traveling from Los Angeles to London and was at about 35,000 feet over Pennsylvania when it encountered the "jet streak". And while it didn't stay in the zone for long, it did help the flight arrive at its destination about 48 minutes early.

it's important to note that yes, 801 miles per hour is above the speed of sound. However, that benchmark is determined by airspeed, not groundspeed.

The Virgin Atlantic flight was not the only one to turn in some impressive speeds on Monday. A Delta flight from KLAX to KJFK it a ground speed of 678 mph at 39,000 feet over the Ohio Valley, and a Boeing 737 flying from Chicago to New York exceeded 700 mph on Tuesday morning. An Embraer ERJ-190 clocked in at 739 mph in the jet streak.

Of course, the phenomenon has just the opposite effect on airliners flying from east to west ... adding as much as 20 to 30 extra minutes to flight times.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report