What was the highest altitude of any commercial plane was ever recorded?
Maximum altitude (and altitude records) are somewhat different things – Yes, you can dash many airplanes to high level to see how high they go – Establish record altitudes – Commercial airliners have a maximum certification flight level (FAR/JAR 25) – It is a function of mainly 2 things – – How high can you maintain cabin altitude at 8,000 feet with pressurization – – How fast (time) could you descent to safe altitude with loss of pressure – As an example the 747-200/300 is certificated to 45,100 feet – However in practice, we hardly flew it above 38 or 39,000 feet – I mostly never flew it above 41,000 feet – higher for fuel economy was not worth it – Bear also in mind that initially, at max weight, we started cruise at 29,000 feet – I flew a few times in a Lear 31 – certificated to 51,000 feet – The aircraft was empty and light – We finally reached 49,000 feet – thereafter rate of climb was about nil – So we remained at that level – then had to descent for arrival – Fuel savings were
