KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2024 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

How Hot Is Too Hot To Fly An Airplane?

Can hot temperatures really keep an airplane from flying? In the United States, yes.

That happened in Phoenix in June 1990 because most major U.S. airliners didn't have take off and landing calculations extrapolated past 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Things have changed since then. According to Ronald Carr, a professor at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, most airplane manufacturers have tested their products in conditions up to 150 degrees.

RELATED: Climate Change May Make Airplane Takeoffs More Difficult, Expensive

"When you’re selling an airplane around the world you have to cover the northwest territories in Canada in the middle of winter when the temperatures are really cold all the way to Dubai when the temperatures can get to 125, 130," he said.

The data is out there and most airlines have updated their calculations, Carr said. It’s just a matter of whether or not they want to pay for additional charts.

Carrie Jung was a senior field correspondent from 2014 to 2018.