The wind pushed the plane to fly faster than the speed of sound.

With the help of strong winds, some commercial planes can reach a maximum speed of 1,200 - 1,300 km/h and arrive ahead of schedule.

Virgin Atlantic plane arrives early thanks to strong winds. Photo: AOL — Virgin Atlantic plane arrives early thanks to strong winds. Photo: *AOL*

Winds of up to 260 mph (426 km/h) blew across Washington at an altitude of about 35,000 feet (10,668 m) above ground level (cruising altitude) as the jet stream surged through the area on the evening of February 17. This allowed at least three commercial aircraft to reach speeds of more than 800 mph (1,287 km/h), according to the Washington Post . The National Weather Service in the Washington-Baltimore area said the 260 mph (426 km/h) wind speed was the second-highest on record since the 1950s. The highest wind speed at the same altitude was 260 mph (430 km/h) on December 6, 2002.

Virgin Atlantic Flight 22 from Washington Dulles International Airport to London took off at 10:45 p.m. local time on February 17 and landed 45 minutes ahead of schedule. Accelerated by strong tailwinds, the Virgin Atlantic jet reached its top speed of 800 mph at 11:20 p.m. on February 17, according to data from online tracking site Flight Aware. The plane reached that speed while traveling over the Atlantic Ocean east of Long Island during its ascent and entry into the jet stream. After exiting the jet stream to the north, the plane maintained a speed of 600 to 700 mph, slightly faster than its normal cruising speed.

While the maximum flight speed is above the speed of sound (1,234 km/h), the aircraft does not break the sound barrier. Although the aircraft's runway speed (a combination of its actual speed and the force of the wind) is greater than the speed of sound, the vehicle still moves through the surrounding air at normal cruising speed.

United Airlines Flight 64 from Newark to Lisbon, departing at 8:35 p.m. local time on February 17, reached a runway speed of 830 mph (1,343 km/h), according to Flight Aware. The flight arrived in Lisbon 20 minutes early. Similarly, American Airlines Flight 120 from Philadelphia to Doha, Qatar, reached a speed of 850 mph (1,352 km/h), among the highest in history.

The high-speed flights come less than a month after a China Airlines plane reached a speed of 1,329 km/h (820 mph) over the Pacific Ocean . The craft was also propelled by tailwinds blowing at 402 km/h.

The strong winds in the mid-Atlantic on the evening of February 17 were detected by weather balloons released from the National Weather Service office in Sterling, Virginia. The office launches weather balloons every 12 hours and the data from the balloons is fed into computer models that help predict the storm. The winds were still blowing strongly in Washington the next morning. At 7 a.m. on February 18, the weather balloon from Sterling recorded wind speeds of 240 mph at an altitude of 37,000 feet, said Tom Niziol, a weather expert.

The strong winds developed thanks to the difference between extremely cold air blowing over the northeast and mild air blowing over the southeast. By 7 p.m. on February 17, temperatures were below freezing in Maine but in the high 20s in South Florida.

An Khang (According to Washington Post )

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