I was on a flight looking down at the cars on the highway and it hit me, like the higher you go the higher the radius is to cover the same distance as ground transportation. I’m sure there’s a cool reason and history. To make up for the extra fuel to get up that high and the extra miles added. Anyone? Does it have to do with less air pressure. And the efficiency aerodynamic wise? Or noise pollution? Visual pollution? I just always took it as a non ask, “We’re this high, cuz we’re in a plane. Duh”
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The amount that planes fly does not significantly change based on their altitude. The circumference of the Earth is about ~40,000km. The earth has a ~6370km radius. At a typical altitude of 40,000 feet (or 12km), you get up to ~40,100km in circumference. That’s a 0.25% increase.
The reason for their chosen altitude is ultimately money, but the reason for that is better fuel economy for the trip. This is a combination of higher speeds and lower drag from the lower air density at altitude. This is balanced against the amount of fuel spent on maintaining altitude versus fuel spent on maintaining speed.
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