Why do planes fly close together?

Why do planes fly close together?

Fighters flying close to passenger planes adds a risk factor to passenger safety. Fighters can fly close to each other as they are more maneuverable than passenger planes, and can evade each other in case of an accident.

Do planes pass each other in the sky?

It may come as a surprise, but airliners jetting across the sky are separated vertically by as little as 1,000 feet. And that’s perfectly normal. Here, the aircraft filming is behind and below the higher aircraft traveling in the same direction. 2,000 feet separates the two vertically.

Why do fighter jets fly in formation?

Additionally, close formation flying of fighter jets helps in confusing enemy ground radars so that they are unable to detect the total number of planes in a formation. During air-to-air combat, various combat formations help military planes avoid detection and radar lock by enemy aircraft.

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How do fighter pilots fly so far away from each other?

Flying within the distance of two wingspans from another military pilot, where it may seem like a collision is on the cards, is achieved through intense practice so much so that it becomes muscle memory for the fighter pilots.

What is formation flying of military planes?

Formation flying of military planes has been around since World War-I. At that time, strike packages including formations of fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance aircraft would fly together towards the target. Militaries around the world have experimented with different formations and attach strategies to minimize their losses.

Why don’t planes fly in formation anymore?

The Aircraft Collision Avoidance Systems (ACAS), a common feature of modern commercial planes, warns a pilot in case there is traffic nearby and this system has the ability to take-over in case it senses that a collision is imminent. Therefore, formation flying goes against the basic DNA of commercial flying.

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