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TIL a Boeing 747 uses ~4 litres (~1 gallon) of fuel every second
https://www.flightdeckfriend.com/ask-a-pilot/how-much-fuel-does-a-jum...
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|u/pastrufazio - 22 hours
|
|Damn I need more fuel to carry all this fuel


  |u/Damnmorrisdancer - 21 hours
  |
  |That’s Tyranny!


    |u/g-rizzle84 - 20 hours
    |
    |For those that don't get it: [The Tyranny of the
    |Rocket](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation)


      |u/Blake_Bosten - 20 hours
      |
      |Thanks, I still don't get it


        |u/7MileSavan - 19 hours
        |
        |A rocket has a point of diminishing returns, where it will only
        |become exponentially heavier for very little gain in power.


          |u/Blake_Bosten - 19 hours
          |
          |Thanks, I get it!


            |u/g-rizzle84 - 19 hours
            |
            |My bad, I could have added a tldr/eli5


              |u/gefahr - 18 hours
              |
              |Nah people gotta learn to learn.


          |u/Akilestar - 19 hours
          |
          |This applies to modern day electric vehicles as well. It's why
          |we don't have EVs with a 1000 mile range. At some point you're
          |just adding batteries to have enough energy to carry more
          |batteries. Solid state batteries are the answer and are
          |currently the only thing that really makes a world with an ICE
          |vehicle a possibility. Stop these ridiculous EVs subsidies and
          |put the money into that research and we'd be much better off.


            |u/speculatrix - 16 hours
            |
            |Many people talk of range anxiety. What we have is really
            |charging anxiety.   All you need is enough range to
            |guarantee you can drive a comfortable distance to the next
            |toilet and coffee/snack break


              |u/Akilestar - 15 hours
              |
              |Solid state batteries solve this problem as well. While
              |having almost double the energy density, they can charge
              |4x faster. 500 miles (800 km) in 10 minutes solves a lot
              |of EV problems. Range, charge time, number of charges
              |required per station, and the number of stations.


                |u/speculatrix - 15 hours
                |
                |But how often do you need to drive nonstop? Really? And,
                |eventually you'll have to charge.


                  |u/Akilestar - 14 hours
                  |
                  |I'll just go ahead and say I disagree with your
                  |statement about range anxiety. Everyone complains
                  |about charge times, if they were faster and less often
                  |then range is moot. So again, let's stop subsiding
                  |crappy technology that's no better for the planet than
                  |ICE vehicles and subsidize a far superior technology
                  |that's significantly better than both lithium powered
                  |EVs and ICE vehicles.


            |u/TheDaysComeAndGone - 18 hours
            |
            |Cars are not the solution, no matter the drivetrain. Modern
            |EVs also have ~400km range which is plenty.  Edit: Oh, and
            |we could probably make them go much further if we were
            |willing to sacrifice on speed and size and maybe safety
            |features.


              |u/Akilestar - 15 hours
              |
              |Considering roughly 20% of the US population live in rural
              |areas, cars are absolutely necessary. I'm not discounting
              |public transportation but you can't discount the 60
              |million people in the US that need reliable transportation
              |and for the foreseeable future, cars are absolutely their
              |best, if not only option.


                |u/TheDaysComeAndGone - 15 hours
                |
                |Even in the US lots of journeys could be done on bike or
                |foot with little to no change/investment into
                |infrastructure. Mid-term you could probably add a lot of
                |bus lines, if the willingness to use them were there.
                |Long term of course you’d need a change in how villages
                |and cities are built and how far away people *choose* to
                |live from their workplace, supermarkets and other daily
                |destinations. It would also help a lot if your typical
                |car would be more like a Fiat 500 than a Ford F150. If
                |the willingness were there, things could change quite
                |quickly and drastically with comparably little cost.


                  |u/Akilestar - 14 hours
                  |
                  |You've clearly never lived in rural America. Maybe you
                  |should change your views of rural America instead of
                  |making them fit in your box of how they should live.
                  |Not everyone wants to live stacked on top of each
                  |other. You can't walk, bike, or even bus 5-10 miles in
                  |a foot of snow. You're welcome to figure out how a
                  |city of 1000 people can bus everyone to work when the
                  |weather cooperates. And I guess they're just supposed
                  |to sit at home the rest of the time. You're pipe dream
                  |of a civilization with no cars is absolutely
                  |ridiculous. You're typical car is just that, a car.
                  |Trucks make up less than 20% of "cars" on the road. A
                  |Fiat 500 costs more than my pickup and I get 20 mpg,
                  |in the city. A Fiat of the same year gets a whopping
                  |24 mpg.


            |u/bongoissomewhatnifty - 12 hours
            |
            |Did Shell write this?   Counterpoint: modern EVs as they
            |work right now today are an acceptable substitute with some
            |minor inconveniences for longer trips. They’re not a great
            |substitute because the best answer tells us to get rid of
            |the fucking cars, but hey.  “But they’re still bad for the
            |environment!!”   Fuck yeah they are champ, good job.   The
            |selling point is that they’re much *less* bad for the
            |environment over their complete life cycle. The selling
            |point is not that they will magically heal nature and fix
            |everything.   “The mining process for lithium is terrible
            |and wrecks the earth and uses slave labor in developing
            |countries!!!”  No it doesn’t. You’re thinking of cobalt;
            |which was used in earlier lithium ion batteries but has
            |largely fallen out of use in modern batteries - Tesla for
            |instance uses cobalt free batteries and has transitioned to
            |lithium iron phosphates. Lithium in comparison is not a rare
            |earth metal that can only be found in exploitive mining
            |practices using slave labor.   “There isn’t enough
            |lithium!!!”   This shit is fucking everywhere. It’s so
            |common nobody really ever bothered looking for it before.
            |Since its popularity for use in EVs has skyrocketed, huge
            |amounts of it are being found all over the world.   “Well
            |lithium mines are still terrible for the environment!!!”  As
            |opposed to what? The cleanliness we get from oil drilling,
            |fracking, extracting, and transportation and refining? Fun
            |fact: that math has already been done, and you will be
            |shocked to know that the petroleum industry was not the most
            |environmentally friendly option.   “Put that money towards
            |better battery research instead!!!”  Bro…. Just like. Bruh.
            |You understand that basically all of the huge battery
            |advancements that we’ve been making in the last few decades
            |have come from increased spending in these areas right? Like
            |where do you think the subsidies are going? If there’s no
            |demand for the EVs because they’re too expensive, then
            |there’s nobody researching new battery technology.   The
            |market has been driving advancements in battery research.
            |Those subsidies have been supporting that market so that it
            |can do it.  If there is a collapse in the market for EVs,
            |there will be a collapse in battery research and the
            |subsidies will in no way come even close to providing a
            |stopgap to make up for that loss of funding.   Brains. We
            |use em for thinking. You should try taking yours out for a
            |spin some time and see what that puppy can do instead of
            |leaving it parked in the garage idling away.


              |u/Akilestar - 11 hours
              |
              |You made a lot of  assumptions off a simple comment. It's
              |100% factual that more weight reduces vehicle range,
              |batteries are very heavy. At some point you are getting
              |less range for the same weight of batteries. Exactly the
              |same law from the OP. I never endorsed ICE over Lithium
              |batteries. I'm not even sure how you came to that
              |conclusion, I guess use your brain next time? I stand by
              |my endorsement of solid state batteries over lithium
              |batteries, as does science.   Since you brought up cobalt,
              |you do realize that's the "C" in an LCO battery right?
              |Well it is, and it's the most common type of battery in an
              |EV.   Lithium is absolutely terrible for the environment.
              |Over 65% of lithium comes from brine. One tonne of lithium
              |from brine emits 15 tonnes of CO2. It pollutes and
              |depletes local water sources. They create a massive amount
              |of salt waste, it's the same problem desalinization plants
              |experience except they just leave it in the lake and
              |destroy everything around them.   So once again, solid
              |state batteries are far superior to lithium batteries in
              |every single way except their complexity to be
              |manufactured. Why do we need lithium cars for a better
              |battery to exist? Last I checked batteries are used in
              |thousands of devices. We didn't EVs with lead acid
              |batteries for lithium batteries to be invented.   And no,
              |I don't work for Shell, you'd probably lose your shit if
              |you found out my employer.


                |u/this1willdo - 6 hours
                |
                |SS batteries are imaginary. Show me a link where I can
                |buy one that matches what you say for a reasonable
                |price. “Coming soon” means 10 years of ramp up.


              |u/Wendals87 - 10 hours
              |
              |Basically it boils down to many people not wanting change
              |unless it's 100% better in every way  I agree with all
              |your points after owning my EV for a year and doing a few
              |big road trips


              |u/retro-embarassment - 1 hour
              |
              |> The market has been **driving** advancements in battery
              |research.  I see what you did there


            |u/Wendals87 - 10 hours
            |
            |We don't need EVs with 1000 mile range. (And what ice car
            |has that range?)  250 miles (400km) is plenty for the
            |majority of people. The average is 13,5000 miles per year
            |(21,700km). In Australia, it's only 15,000km a year   One
            |full charge a week on average is enough


        |u/zombiphylax - 20 hours
        |
        |You need more fuel to go farther up, but then you need more fuel
        |to lift that more fuel, and then you need more fuel to lift that
        |more fuel, and then...


  |u/RocketCello - 19 hours
  |
  |Ah, the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation and it's tyranny. Change in
  |velocity is the effective exhaust velocity times the natural logarithm
  |of the mass fraction (wet mass/dry mass). Very nasty exponential
  |growth there.


    |u/pokethat - 7 hours
    |
    |That's why I like all the startup companies that try ideas that
    |Short circuit the rocket equation by yeeting stuff into space, or at
    |least getting them going pretty darn fast before the rocket actually
    |needs to use propellant


  |u/moogly2 - 19 hours
  |
  |Yo dawg, I heard u like carrying fuel...


  |u/thephantom1492 - 16 hours
  |
  |Joking appart, this is one of the reason why an airplane may carry
  |more fuel out of some airports. They consume so much fuel that if the
  |fuel is significantly cheaper in one airport they may fuel up more,
  |even if they will consume more fuel, because in the end the extra
  |burned is still less expensive than if they would fuel in the
  |destination airport.


  |u/Asleep_Management900 - 18 hours
  |
  |that's why planes often don't fly direct because it's much cheaper to
  |stop and refuel. Like, Newark to South America might stop in Florida
  |and refuel. Flying direct is expensive for that reason.


  |u/are2deetwo - 20 hours
  |
  |Let me introduce you to Emirates airline. The pioneer of more fuel to
  |carry more fuel.


  |u/Fr3akwave - 19 hours
  |
  |Rocket science!


|u/OneSalientOversight - 1 day
|
|That's 1 litre every second for each engine.  Source: Maths


  |u/spakattak - 1 day
  |
  |Going to need to see the working out on that one.


    |u/OneSalientOversight - 1 day
    |
    |https://i.imgur.com/e2ae6pK.gif


      |u/Cosmiccomie - 23 hours
      |
      |Sorry I see the equation but I'll need you to write out the proof.


        |u/UniqueIndividual3579 - 19 hours
        |
        |Proof: I read it on the internet.


    |u/johnthedruid - 18 hours
    |
    |For real, how many seconds does it take to get anywhere far across
    |the world? And there's that many gallons in the plane, per engine?
    |Hard to believe but only care just enough to type this and not
    |enough to look into it.


      |u/doomgiver98 - 18 hours
      |
      |Just looked it up, OZ283 from San Francisco to Seoul has 11h 14m
      |scheduled travel time. That is 40440 seconds. 4L/s is 161760
      |Liters of fuel. A Googling says a modern 747 holds over 216,000
      |liters.


        |u/johnthedruid - 17 hours
        |
        |Sheeeesh r/theydidthemath


        |u/manondorf - 8 hours
        |
        |ok but what is that in olympic swimming pools?


          |u/ModernMuse - 7 hours
          |
          |0.0647 olympic swimming pools


  |u/Impossible_Angle752 - 11 hours
  |
  |Probably why only Lufthansa flies them any more.


  |u/xspiderdude - 19 hours
  |
  |Source: because I say so


|u/pohl - 1 day
|
|Cruising speed is Mach .85 or around 647 mph. At that speed a 747 gets
|just about 0.18 mpg.  But there are 366 passengers aboard. If each of
|them were driving a car, the cars would need to get 65 mpg to be more
|efficient than the 747. If you figure the average passenger is traveling
|in a party of 2, you still need the equivalent of a sub compact to match
|the fuel efficiency of a 50yr old mega plane.   I think I did the math
|correctly, maybe not.  If so, that is a pretty surprising result to me.
|Edit: couple thoughts after reading some replies: -jets encourage long
|haul travel that would not be done by car. Noted -some 747 configs hold
|up to 660 passengers which nearly doubles the efficiency  -nobody drives
|across the Atlantic. Noted  I didn’t post this to justify jets. The same
|reason that buses are more efficient than cars also applies to planes.
|It’s not that planes are the solution to carbon pollution, it’s just
|that cars are REALLY wasteful.  A quick google shows that passenger cars
|account for 4x the total CO2 emissions of aviation. Cars suck!


  |u/Edward_TH - 23 hours
  |
  |Take into account that a plane also fly almost always full of cargo.
  |You would need to account for a full trunk for a car to match the
  |math. A 787-9 uses 5600 kg an hour at 903 km/h, so 6.2 kg/100km (1.9
  |L/s, about 30.3 mpg) and at 290 seats that's 0.025 L/100km/seat which
  |is impossible to match for a car. An A380 would be a better comparison
  |so... 12000 kg/h at M0.85 it's ~16.2 L/100km (14.6 mpg) seems quite
  |underwhelming, but at the typical 570 seats that's an impressive 0.028
  |L/100km/seat, barely over the much more efficient 787-9 but MUCH
  |better than the 747 which uses 75% more fuel per km per seat!   Planes
  |environmental impact is not the fuel efficiency, which is great, but
  |the fact that their fuel cycle is much more polluting and it's
  |released high into the troposphere. But as always, mass transportation
  |is vastly more efficient than personal transportation.


    |u/LeptonField - 21 hours
    |
    |I wonder if discussing a plane’s environmental impact is just a
    |thought experiment. It really feels like a technology that is too
    |highly prized to ever attempt to curb for environmental reasons.


      |u/paranoid_giraffe - 20 hours
      |
      |That’s because it is. One of my aero professors always used to say
      |that if we didn’t end up working in aero then we need to work in
      |automotive so we could push non-gas based designs. Making electric
      |planes is orders of magnitude more difficult than making electric
      |cars, so he’d always say we need to save petroleum based fuel for
      |aircraft. The fuel efficiency of a fully loaded aircraft beats
      |ground vehicles easily when you consider cargo and passengers, and
      |we don’t have anything combustible with the energy density of
      |petroleum fuels (yet).  That was over ten years ago and obviously
      |still hasn’t changed.  Also it’s been a while since I did that
      |math but I’m pretty sure aircraft ten years ago were more
      |environmentally conservative than vehicles of the same time with
      |the same passengers and cargo going the same distance. The
      |comparison wasn’t even close


        |u/Ein_Fachidiot - 17 hours
        |
        |I'm sure buses, trains, and ships beat airplanes in terms of
        |environmental efficiency. They're just slower.


          |u/paranoid_giraffe - 15 hours
          |
          |Trains were close - either barely more or barely less
          |efficient but like I said, it’s been a decade since I looked
          |at the numbers. I think they were better but not by much. I’d
          |have to look at it all again but it’s likely you’re right to
          |some extent since vehicles have gotten much more efficient
          |just over the last ten years even. Funny thing with big
          |vehicles though is that they don’t change much so I really
          |don’t know.


            |u/fuzzy11287 - 9 hours
            |
            |You can also electrify train tracks rather than use diesel.
            |Idk how well that works for cargo but plenty of passenger
            |trains are electric.


      |u/AbbaFuckingZabba - 18 hours
      |
      |The problem isn't the planes, it's the people.  It's somewhat
      |disingenuous to compare the 747 emissions with all of the
      |passengers driving instead, since if planes were not an option
      |many of those trips simply wouldn't be taken.  Air travel is
      |essentially a market based efficient approach to burning fuel to
      |go to far places.  Like it or not, we have (and continue to)
      |artificially subsidize this cost of this fuel and we of course do
      |not account for the environmental damage that occurs from it's
      |use.    It would be much better if the cost of the fuel included
      |the environmental effects of it's use and was uniform around the
      |world.  This would cause a huge reduction in air travel demand and
      |increase in costs that would have a positive impact on everyone
      |breathing the air.


        |u/LeptonField - 18 hours
        |
        |I don’t share the presumption that the harm of aviation
        |pollution outweighs the benefit to humanity. Maybe it does, but
        |I don’t expect people to take action on such as presumption
        |without extraordinary persuasion.


        |u/eairy - 16 hours
        |
        |> artificially subsidize this cost of this fuel  You don't seem
        |to understand what the word 'subsidize' means.  There is no
        |subsidy on air fuel.


          |u/FriendlyDespot - 8 hours
          |
          |Plenty of countries subsidise jet fuel directly in some
          |fashion. The United States is directly subsidising SAF to
          |encourage migration from Jet-A, and the SAF itself is further
          |subsidised through agriculture subsidies for the corn
          |feedstock.


          |u/AbbaFuckingZabba - 16 hours
          |
          |Sure there is.  Nearly all of the middle eastern countries
          |heavily subsidize fuel.  It's also common in se Asian and
          |Latin America.


            |u/eairy - 15 hours
            |
            |Are you sure you aren't confusing fuel for cars and fuel for
            |aeroplanes?  I can't find any source that says jet fuel is
            |subsidised in any country.


              |u/Stingray88 - 14 hours
              |
              |To play devils advocate… jet fuel comes from oil the same
              |way automotive fuel does. And the oil industry is
              |absolutely subsidized all over the place. If it weren’t
              |for subsidies in oil, the price of jet fuel would surely
              |be a lot higher.


        |u/China_Lover2 - 2 hours
        |
        |When are we getting electric planes?


      |u/Ein_Fachidiot - 17 hours
      |
      |I'm an engineering student. We just don't have the technology yet
      |for renewable-fuel passenger planes to be feasible. Aircraft are
      |very sensitive to weight. None of our batteries can come close to
      |the energy density provided by fossil fuels. The intense heating
      |of the air provided by combustion engines also helps provide more
      |thrust when the air expands out of the back of the plane.  I truly
      |believe we will get there one day. Perhaps we will have passenger
      |airplanes with small modular fusion reactors or highly efficient
      |batteries. The tech just isn't read yet.


      |u/KingOfLosses - 15 hours
      |
      |The problem isn’t how inefficient it is. Cars are quite a bit
      |worse. But rather how easily we fly a 10000 mile round trip. It’s
      |just 2 flight say from chicago to Rome.  That’s a yearly car
      |useage for just a vacation. That’s where the issue lies.
      |Especially for people who do this type of flight several times a
      |year either for vacation or business.


      |u/SuperFluffyArmadillo - 8 hours
      |
      |It's not! The international commercial aviation industry is very
      |interested in finding ways to reduce its environmental impact.
      |https://cascade.boeing.com/


      |u/mybeatsarebollocks - 19 hours
      |
      |And that is why we are still accelerating towards ecological
      |collapse......every aspect of our lives and technology are too
      |highly prized to attempt to curb for environmental reasons.  "We
      |need drastic change to avoid hitting 1.5°c warming of the planet!"
      |"We've reached 1.5°c of warming....we need drastic action to avoid
      |hitting 3°c......."  Still nothing.......perhaps cut down on meat?
      |We're so fucked.


        |u/LeptonField - 18 hours
        |
        |What in the false equivalence are you yapping about. Obviously
        |all technology is not equally important.


      |u/cheesenachos12 - 18 hours
      |
      |Yeah, but like... trains could easily replace a lot of
      |short/medium length flights at 1/20th the emissions or so


      |u/thetimsterr - 18 hours
      |
      |You should take a look at JetZero. Their new plane design is
      |supposed to be 50% more fuel efficient, which could be a huge game
      |changer. Part of the problem is we're using the same plane design
      |from 70 years ago. JetZero is trying to rethink that.


        |u/LeptonField - 18 hours
        |
        |It’s a nice thought but, I try not to get my hopes up on things
        |still at that stage. Too many grifters out there.


    |u/soulsssx3 - 19 hours
    |
    |That's assuming full cargo, though. I think criticism comes in from
    |people when the 1% are using private jets by themselves.   It's
    |probably a drop in the bucket compared to industrial impacts, but
    |the optics don't look good 


    |u/AFineDayForScience - 21 hours
    |
    |We could also take into account that if we didn't have planes, most
    |of the people decide the drive isn't worth it and stay home lol


    |u/swaminasibami - 16 hours
    |
    |Just pointing out some of your calculation seems off. 12000 kg/hr at
    |900 km/hr equals 12000 kgs per 900 km, ergo 13,3Kg/km for the plane,
    |or 1330Kg/100km which is a few orders of magnitude greater than your
    |calculation. With 570 seats this makes 2,34 kg/100km/pax. Which is
    |still better than a car, but at the same order of magnitude.


    |u/3MATX - 19 hours
    |
    |The contrails have a big effect too on the atmosphere. The change in
    |US temp daily fluctuation is seen in the days following 9/11 with
    |zero civil planes over US. 


    |u/TheDaysComeAndGone - 18 hours
    |
    |> Planes environmental impact is not the fuel efficiency, which is
    |great  The problem is that planes travel long distances. Few people
    |drive 10Mm to their holiday vacation, but take a flight from Vienna
    |to Tokyo and you are covering more than 9Mm and emitting ~200g CO2e
    |for every kilometre travelled.  Cars are still bad, many people
    |drive more than 20Mm per year and making a car emits several tons of
    |CO2e on its own.


      |u/doomgiver98 - 18 hours
      |
      |Are you using M as the shorthand for thousand?  Edit: Megameters?


        |u/TheDaysComeAndGone - 17 hours
        |
        |SI-Prefix Mega. Just like kilo, milli, micro, nano …


  |u/really_random_user - 1 day
  |
  |Did the math for an a320 And came to about 4l/100km /pax Which is also
  |close to what a car with a single passenger uses


    |u/beirch - 1 day
    |
    |4L/100km is a very economic car, not exactly average.


      |u/RexPerpetuus - 1 day
      |
      |In Europe, cars like that aren't as uncommon. My 17 year old
      |diesel car does 5L/100km


        |u/DiddlyDumb - 23 hours
        |
        |Europe has passed a lot of strict emission rules in the early
        |2000s, to the point where manufacturers complained it was
        |physically impossible to make cars that reach those numbers.
        |Now every car matches those demands with ease. Apart from a few
        |Volkswagens of course…


          |u/RexPerpetuus - 23 hours
          |
          |Yea, my car was a victim of that. Engines with DPFs and EGRa
          |and other devices that choked em out, essentially. Also just
          |putting more points of maintenance and reliability issues on
          |the end consumer.


            |u/AVgreencup - 22 hours
            |
            |Yes, but before it was the consumer putting the stinking
            |soot filled air on other people. I'm ok with diesel drivers
            |losing a bit of efficiency for the sake of emissions


              |u/RexPerpetuus - 22 hours
              |
              |Besides the underestimation of "losing a bit of
              |efficiency" (it completely ruined some car
              |engines/required super costly maintenance so you might as
              |well toss the car), the shift to diesel came about when
              |governments created incentives to buy these cars as "more
              |environmentally friendly". The crappy end of the stick
              |would rear it's ugly head a few years later, again,
              |hurting the end consumer


                |u/AVgreencup - 21 hours
                |
                |Anyone who thought they were environmentally friendly
                |was so naive it's unfathomable. One smell of the air
                |behind an untreated diesel vehicle, one look at the
                |black smoke it makes, should be enough to know. Plus,
                |we've known about NOx emissions causing smog for over 40
                |years, no excuses.   Don't think of it like they lost
                |efficiency by adding emissions equipment. Think of it
                |like that's the only way it's supposed to be. Just like
                |catalytic converters on gasoline cars. They add cost and
                |complexity and initially they were terrible, bogging
                |down efficiency and plugging. Now they're essential to
                |us having the clean air we do have


                  |u/FiddlerOnThePotato - 20 hours
                  |
                  |The major issue I take with how diesel emissions
                  |controls are implemented is mostly with EGR. It's hell
                  |on the engines. It cakes everything in the intake path
                  |with that nasty soot that used to come out the back.
                  |The reason I take so much issue with it is that it's
                  |possible with modern tech to design an engine without
                  |EGR that still meets emissions, but it's my
                  |understanding that EGR is legally required. And if it
                  |were like cats where we improved them to where you can
                  |have a super high flow cat that's barely a
                  |restriction, that'd be one thing, but brand new
                  |diesels are dying by 100k due to EGR gasses depositing
                  |coke and destroying turbos and intake valves. And I
                  |don't think it's farfetched to say we should consider
                  |the lifetime of a vehicle into its environmental
                  |effect. If a truck is built that lasts 400k miles and
                  |pollutes more, that might still offset the
                  |improvements made with a new truck if you have to
                  |build four of them to make it the same distance.
                  |That's materials, labor hours, shipping, and those all
                  |have an effect too.


                  |u/RexPerpetuus - 20 hours
                  |
                  |> Anyone who thought they were environmentally
                  |friendly was so naive it's unfathomable. One smell of
                  |the air behind an untreated diesel vehicle, one look
                  |at the black smoke it makes, should be enough to know.
                  |Plus, we've known about NOx emissions causing smog for
                  |over 40 years, no excuses.  People bought them because
                  |they were cheaper, they were *incentivized*
                  |economically by the government and this "new"
                  |generation of diesel vehicles were touted as an
                  |environmentally friendly alternative. I wasn't trying
                  |to convince anyone that the people as a whole was very
                  |environmenttally friendly, and none of my comments
                  |suggest that  > Don't think of it like they lost
                  |efficiency by adding emissions equipment. Think of it
                  |like that's the only way it's supposed to be. Just
                  |like catalytic converters on gasoline cars. They add
                  |cost and complexity and initially they were terrible,
                  |bogging down efficiency and plugging. Now they're
                  |essential to us having the clean air we do have
                  |Again, they didn't simply "lose efficiency". They gave
                  |many of the cars limited lifetimes, almost planned
                  |obsolescence in a sense. That's *not* environmentally
                  |friendly or friendly to the working class who were
                  |buying these vehicles.  EDIT: /u/FiddlerOnThePotato
                  |has honestly put the technical aspect of this as
                  |succinctly as possible [in his comment](https://www.re
                  |ddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1gskvah/til_a_boeing
                  |_747_uses_4_litres_1_gallon_of_fuel/lxg248d/)


                  |u/LikesBallsDeep - 20 hours
                  |
                  |It's almost like governments make lots of mistakes and
                  |them trying to put their thumbs on the scale to push
                  |certain technologies is bad.


          |u/Daefish - 23 hours
          |
          |As an American, I can’t relate. I can however offer you a 3
          |meter tall truck that belches black smoke and goes no less
          |than 12 yee-haws per kilometer. It’s an up charge though for
          |the giant bolt on American flag


            |u/DiddlyDumb - 22 hours
            |
            |Wtf is a kilometer?


              |u/koosley - 22 hours
              |
              |I think OP meant kill-o-meter. It just measures the gun
              |deaths in the US. For some reason ours is high and we
              |can't figure it out.


                |u/PFirefly - 20 hours
                |
                |Gangs mostly. Its not a mystery.


                  |u/ZAJPER - 16 hours
                  |
                  |Or guns


              |u/SenTedStevens - 14 hours
              |
              |That's what drug dealers use to measure narcotics.


              |u/Captain3leg-s - 21 hours
              |
              |Opposite of a freedom unit.   (i.e. Imperial) A mile.


                |u/treefox - 20 hours
                |
                |> a freedom unit  A penis?


            |u/rtothewin - 21 hours
            |
            |Us planet conscious truck bros with our lifted 3.5 eco boost
            |can’t relate to the smoke. Tsk tsk


          |u/SaltyBalty98 - 23 hours
          |
          |I wouldn't say with ease. Nowadays they drink more oil, wear
          |out faster, require more maintenance and parts replacement,
          |and are somewhat underpowered for the platforms they're put
          |on, this is especially true with the 3 cylinder engines being
          |used in the larger and heavier compacts.


          |u/mobettastan60 - 21 hours
          |
          |but those few VWs you speak of got great mileage...lol


        |u/Leemesee - 21 hours
        |
        |My 2015 golf does 4,5l/100km. When driving sith wife, 2,25l per
        |person per 100km.  It’s half the cost of taking a public
        |transport and 3 times as fast where I live.


        |u/h1nds - 21 hours
        |
        |Apart from Smart FroTwo’s diesel cars and some very old diesel
        |natural aspirated diesels(namely PSA engines) there is no car in
        |Europe today equipped solely with an internal combustion engine
        |that gets 4L/100kms.   Hybrids can do it in city driving but the
        |long term average on normal usage will be higher than that(the
        |average will rise a lot with highway driving, the hybrid
        |Achilles hill).


          |u/liberovento - 21 hours
          |
          |My v40 did that, my ford fiesta still doing that, my grande
          |punto was really close to that before falling to pieces xD


            |u/h1nds - 21 hours
            |
            |No they didn’t. Maybe the onboard computer showed those
            |numbers, but in real numbers the fuel consumption was
            |probably 0,5 to 1 L higher.


              |u/liberovento - 21 hours
              |
              |Mate, i was uaing sprintmotor and registering every fuel
              |and every km at the time, If you dont go aleays 130km/h
              |and just go to 110 you will see an enourmous difference in
              |fuel consumptio


                |u/h1nds - 21 hours
                |
                |You know that when we talk about average numbers like
                |the ones we are talking about in this post is always
                |with the “median” in mind, of the normal use of most of
                |the users.   A plane could also consume less fuel if
                |they turned their engines “100kms” before arriving at
                |the destination and just free fly the rest of the way
                |and save tons of fuel, it’s possible to fly this way and
                |to get better fuel mileage this way but is it the normal
                |use? No.  Is it the norm for people to go 20kph slower
                |than the limit on highways? It is not. Is it the norm
                |for people to coast into a stop sign or red light
                |instead of being on the gas up until the last moment
                |they need to start breaking? No it is not.  Is it normal
                |for people to not use the A/C to save fuel? Also not.
                |This are three examples of fuel saving practices that
                |work but don’t make it into the normal routine of most
                |people and therefore should not be taken into account
                |when talking about fuel average.   The same way a dude
                |that is flat out all of the time and gets 10L/100kmh
                |doesn’t matter to the average fuel consumption of said
                |model.   I’m not trying to get you in the specifics, but
                |talking about average mileage and pointing out you do a
                |very specific thing that isn’t at all apart of the
                |average driver’s practices doesn’t make sense.


          |u/RexPerpetuus - 21 hours
          |
          |I will not argue, my point was really about that being an
          |achievable consumption and seen as less "impossible" over
          |here. and we've had cars for years with close to that
          |consumption. Hybrids, as you say, depends entirely on how you
          |drive it. My mother drives her hybrid to and from work 90% of
          |the time, and only has to fuel when she deviates.   That said,
          |with a very quick Google search I was able to find that in
          |2017 at least the Peugeot 208 and 308 and Ctroen C4 platofrms
          |(constituuting about 6 models, including Volvo, Nissan and
          |Renault branded cars were sold in my country with claimed
          |~0.33L/100km. Those are VW Golf sized cars


            |u/h1nds - 21 hours
            |
            |That’s the thing, claimed fuel consumption values always
            |come out way too optimistic (for marketing reasons of
            |course). In normal circumstances, for 99% of drivers, the
            |fuel consumption will be way higher that the advertised
            |value. And we can’t trust our onboard consumption values
            |neither, they are usually wrong at least 0,5L to 1L if you
            |do the math from refill to refill quantity compared to
            |driven distance.


              |u/RexPerpetuus - 19 hours
              |
              |They usually aren't that overblown, in my experience. I'm
              |sure they won't do 0.33, but 0.4x? Wouldn't surprise me in
              |the slightest. The sources I saw after a quick googling
              |(self reporting databases, obviously not perfect) are
              |looking like ~60mpg+/~0.4 l/100km.  Also found a [test
              |drive](https://youtu.be/oNhHASzJLd4?si=hENkgrxb_3ik1hbQ)
              |of a Peugeot of a larger variety (3008) from 2022 with a
              |1.5 liter diesel engine and a result of 0.43l/100km from
              |combined driving. The power train should be either the
              |same or a related one.  Edit: forgot a word


          |u/waxstaff - 16 hours
          |
          |The smaller engined diesels can do that. My mates golf gets
          |over 70mpg if he chills at 55mph no problem.   My shitty old
          |1.9tdi would get 50mpg at 60-70mph with no 6th gear


        |u/Rinaldi363 - 6 hours
        |
        |My pickup does 15l/100km


        |u/heffeque - 23 hours
        |
        |You'll have to explain that diesel engines have been used in
        |Europe for normal cars, such as a VW Golf.  People in the States
        |think of trucks and tractors when they think of diesel engines.


          |u/GooginTheBirdsFan - 23 hours
          |
          |Acting like Americans don’t know what a TDI is has me weak


            |u/jeepsaintchaos - 23 hours
            |
            |Sounds like a disease, but the doctors too expensive for
            |that.


              |u/sh1boleth - 21 hours
              |
              |There was a whole scandal here involving a certain German
              |car company for the people cheating on their diesel
              |emissions, diesel was effectively dead in the US for
              |compact cars after that


      |u/beachedwhale1945 - 21 hours
      |
      |For Americans, that’s 58.8 miles per gallon, which in my
      |experience is extremely economical. My car gets about 31.5 mpg
      |(7.5 l/100 km), which is a bit above average in the US.


      |u/kinky-proton - 20 hours
      |
      |4/5 is normal for most cars unless bad driver or huge engine


        |u/beirch - 20 hours
        |
        |Exactly, you managed 3.6L in a *very* economical car. I live in
        |Europe as well, and 4L/100km is not realistic for most cars.
        |Even if you're *only* driving on highways, something like 6 or
        |7L/100km is more realistic.


          |u/Edward_TH - 18 hours
          |
          |Nah, most new cars can hover just below 5 with really minimal
          |effort. If you go for a slow run you can go below 4 with most
          |cars from the last 5 years. My SO has an hybrid Panda and she
          |drives very aggressively, yet she is at 4.1 average; when I
          |drive it I'm very relaxed and hover around 3.6. My 2018 model
          |Sandero has a comfortable 4.7...


    |u/ToineMP - 23 hours
    |
    |And if that car went anywhere close to 500mph it would burn much
    |more fuel


      |u/Unumbotte - 16 hours
      |
      |You'd probably get a ticket too.


    |u/old_righty - 22 hours
    |
    |You responded to a post using freedom units with some kind of alien
    |measurement system.


    |u/newstenographer - 20 hours
    |
    |Fuel efficiency is going to scale non-linearly with pax capacity,
    |because the extra weight doesn’t slow the plane very much.  Ie, a
    |large plane is always going to be more efficient than a small plane
    |per passenger because most of the work is acceleration not lift
    |(lift is basically free).


    |u/SinkHoleDeMayo - 19 hours
    |
    |I've done thr math for the A320/A321 (but have been the newer neo)
    |and it's roughly 100mpg per seat. That's triple the efficiency of a
    |smaller car.


      |u/BrainOfMush - 18 hours
      |
      |The A321XLR is even more efficient (+ longer range, bigger fuel
      |tanks).


    |u/Tommich - 17 hours
    |
    |But it stays roughly the same for 5 people. So it would be around
    |1.5l/100km for a full car. With electric cars, it’s around 5-10
    |kWh/100km/pax, which equals around 0.5l/100km/pax


    |u/RustyWinger - 11 hours
    |
    |It’s amazing how relatable this is when you change it From mpg to
    |l/100


  |u/Benyed123 - 23 hours
  |
  |Also planes take more direct routes so end up travelling a shorter
  |distance.


    |u/eatingpotatochips - 20 hours
    |
    |Planes are cheaters and travel in an extra dimension. 


    |u/TheDaysComeAndGone - 18 hours
    |
    |Lots of time they don’t go in a straight line. Plus, they go up and
    |down which adds vertical distance. Usually the airport is also quite
    |a bit away from your actual source/destination.


  |u/ComradeGibbon - 1 day
  |
  |You're basically correct. Aircraft are actually really efficient. The
  |problem is it's way easier to travel vast distances in an aircraft
  |than driving a car. For about ten years in the 80 and 90's I flew
  |every two months. Probably 400,000 miles. And average of 100 miles a
  |day. Just flying.


  |u/muyapuya - 22 hours
  |
  |The industry metric you may be interested in is Cost per Available
  |Seat Mile (CASM). It's the cost to fly 1 seat 1 mile. It's usually
  |less than 10 cents.


  |u/FiTZnMiCK - 1 day
  |
  |But if they all carpooled in groups of at least two they’d only have
  |to get a good, but totally achievable 33 mpg with this math.  I think
  |the car option breaks down once you consider time savings though.
  |Electric planes when?


    |u/RexPerpetuus - 1 day
    |
    |It also breaks down when you have to cross the Atlantic or something


      |u/FiTZnMiCK - 1 day
      |
      |Just get an [amphibious exploring
      |vehicle](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dNc7FEJmBZ0).


      |u/shartonista - 22 hours
      |
      |Somebody please do the math for a sea passenger ship and an
      |airship. 


      |u/amcrambler - 20 hours
      |
      |Flying with or against that jet stream greatly affects those
      |figures.


      |u/RockDoveEnthusiast - 21 hours
      |
      |But Musk said Teslas would work as a boat!


    |u/thiney49 - 1 day
    |
    |>Electric planes when?  Probably never, at least for long haul
    |flight like this. Not unless battery energy density skyrockets. IMO
    |hydrogen fuel cells make more sense for jets.


      |u/koosley - 21 hours
      |
      |Hydrogen has the same energy per kg as regular gasoline, so it
      |probably comes down to being able to store it at a reasonable
      |weight.  These alternate fuels to me seem ideal to replace the
      |45-90 minute flights connecting 2nd tier cities to the
      |international hub. There are a few small electric planes in
      |testing phases right now and it seems more practical to transport
      |50 people a few hundred miles than 300+ people 6000 miles. We may
      |get there but it seems a bit early to ever consider that.


      |u/Unumbotte - 16 hours
      |
      |Just put in overhead catenary wires.


      |u/ToeKnail - 1 day
      |
      |Don't count out new battery tech just yet:
      |[https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/03/next-gen-battery-tech-
      |reimagining-every-aspect-of-
      |batteries/](https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/03/next-gen-
      |battery-tech-reimagining-every-aspect-of-batteries/)


        |u/thiney49 - 1 day
        |
        |I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not optimistic. There have been
        |thousands of breakthroughs that never left the lab. Once we get
        |something to production, then I'll start to believe.


          |u/ToeKnail - 1 day
          |
          |The incentives for breakthru battery tech are really at their
          |peak right now. Solving storage solutions to pair with solar
          |and wind power is where the R&D money is going and once that
          |tech is made commercial, scaling for air transport
          |applications will happen.  We're a lot closer than you think.


            |u/thiney49 - 1 day
            |
            |Like I said, I hope you're right. The only thing that is
            |going to change my perspective is actual proven progress and
            |results. I need to see the 1000 mile car roll off the
            |assembly line before I'll believe any of the hype.


            |u/nalc - 22 hours
            |
            |Well, the peak was probably about 2 weeks ago


        |u/sofixa11 - 23 hours
        |
        |> Godavarthy’s customers are looking to have a higher energy
        |density and a faster charge, he said. They are also looking for
        |batteries that are relatively less flammable. The new process
        |increases the energy density of the battery on a weight basis by
        |a factor of two. It increases it on a volumetric basis by a
        |factor of three   Yeah, for batteries to be viable in long haul
        |flying both need to increase by a factor of 10-20, so nowhere
        |near close to being enough.  https://youtu.be/VNvzZfsC13o


    |u/stanolshefski - 1 day
    |
    |You’re never going to see electric planes on the routes that 747s
    |have been flying for the last 40 years. Those long-haul routes just
    |wont work with batteries.  When battery airplanes get introduced
    |commercially, it will be the shortest routes and smallest planes
    |that see them first. They’ll also need to be able to do battery
    |swaps very quickly.


      |u/Jaggedmallard26 - 20 hours
      |
      |The main reason being that a jet aircraft gets lighter as it
      |travels which has a pretty massive impact on efficiency and
      |maximum takeoff weight. An electric plane has to lug around the
      |depleted batteries for the entire trip.


        |u/ChonkTonk - 2 hours
        |
        |Just drop them in the ocean (just like you should do with your
        |car batteries)


    |u/DiddlyDumb - 23 hours
    |
    |And the car needs to get in and out of cities which requires a lot
    |of braking and accelerating, but that’s kinda offset by the plane
    |having to climb to cruising altitude first.


      |u/Jaggedmallard26 - 20 hours
      |
      |It is always more efficient for a plane to climb as high possible
      |and then mostly glide down. If the atmosphere extended infinitely
      |the most fuel efficient route would be to climb until it's time to
      |descend with the engines on idle. The climbing is
      |counterintuitively a positive for jet efficiency.


    |u/Steelhorse91 - 23 hours
    |
    |33mpg at 400+mph? I highly doubt any cars going to achieve that.
    |Then there’s all the tyre and brake dust particulates (planes only
    |emit these at the airport, not the whole length of the journey).


    |u/fourleggedostrich - 1 day
    |
    |33mpg is "good"   Tell us you're American without saying you're
    |American!


      |u/Federal_Patience2422 - 23 hours
      |
      |TBF American mpg equates to 40 UK mpg 


        |u/fourleggedostrich - 22 hours
        |
        |Still not good.


      |u/Hog_enthusiast - 23 hours
      |
      |That’s miles per gallon not meters per cigarette or whatever unit
      |you guys use


        |u/fourleggedostrich - 22 hours
        |
        |My car does 58 miles per gallon. 33 isn't good.


  |u/nuggolips - 20 hours
  |
  |railroad travel is even more efficient than flying on a per-passenger
  |basis, by a lot.


  |u/scienide - 1 day
  |
  |Somewhat interestingly, an A380 burns at 11400 l/hr or 3.1 litres per
  |second.   I think the new A321 may be close to 2 litres per second.


  |u/Hog_enthusiast - 23 hours
  |
  |My car would also get terrible mileage in the Atlantic Ocean


  |u/NomosAlpha - 20 hours
  |
  |These are the stats the average person needs to see in terms of their
  |position against one or two people chartering a jet.   The average joe
  |taking a flight and taking a holiday is not the problem.  If you ever
  |feel guilty about your consumption under capitalism look UP. YOU are
  |not the problem. You are not to feel guilty.  YOU are not the problem.
  |YOU are being made a scapegoat. The wealth of the 0.01% depends on
  |your labour and your guilt.


  |u/ItsSevii - 21 hours
  |
  |Yeah that beats my 10L/100km


  |u/koolman2 - 21 hours
  |
  |A pilot on a flight I took a few years ago did this math and read it
  |off to us as we were taxiing to the gate. On that particular flight it
  |came out to about 30 mpg (7.8 L/100 km). This was on a 737-900 if I
  |recall correctly.


  |u/DiddlyDumb - 23 hours
  |
  |You’re off by one thing, the amount of people that can fit in a
  |747-400 (not sure how much seats are filled on average) is 660.  So
  |you easily need to get over 100mpg per person to match that in a car.


    |u/comptiger5000 - 21 hours
    |
    |That's the maximum number of (very uncomfortable) seats you can
    |legally install in one, but the vast majority of real-world airline
    |configurations had less seats.  Typical configurations were closer
    |to 350 - 400 seats.


      |u/DavidBrooker - 17 hours
      |
      |I believe the only high-capacity 747 configurations ever ran were
      |domestic Japanese flights, and essentially never internationally.
      |It's kinda wild the travel volume between Tokyo and Osaka: even
      |with high speed trains leaving every *eight minutes*, there was
      |still enough demand left over for JAL and ANA to *each* run 747s
      |domestically between the two cities.


    |u/brucecaboose - 21 hours
    |
    |Which is actually very easy with modern EVs. Many get the equivalent
    |of 100mpg+ with 1 person in the car. Throw a second or 3rd in there
    |and they’ve basically become the most energy efficient way to travel
    |medium/long distances.


  |u/furryscrotum - 1 day
  |
  |Although people would never undertake such journeys with a car and
  |would ultimately use significantly less fuel as a result.


    |u/markzuckerberg1234 - 1 day
    |
    |True, the fuel consumption is 0 if you dont go anywhere


    |u/Cajum - 1 day
    |
    |No they would take a coal powered steam boat for those journeys
    |instead - though if you stuff enough people on one, it might not be
    |as bad? lol


      |u/Fetlocks_Glistening - 1 day
      |
      |Nothing wrong with sails


        |u/Cajum - 1 day
        |
        |That feels a lot like replacing cars with horses to save on Co2


          |u/respectfulpanda - 20 hours
          |
          |I’d do it


            |u/raspberryharbour - 20 hours
            |
            |When you're done with your horse you can always eat it -
            |tastes much better than a written off car


        |u/KnarkedDev - 20 hours
        |
        |Time. Sailing is vastly slower than powered ships, and more
        |limited by weather.


    |u/friendlyfredditor - 1 day
    |
    |Huh? I definitely do... Sometimes you wanna bring stuff to see
    |relatives, sometimes you wanna go camping, sometimes you just wanna
    |fly instead. You can drive 2000km and still be in the same state in
    |Australia. The US is arguably more road trippy.  Driving is
    |definitely less economical because you can't drive as the crow
    |flies.


    |u/Hog_enthusiast - 23 hours
    |
    |Yeah if we view human mobility as a bad thing for a form of
    |transportation then planes are worse. What?


      |u/furryscrotum - 22 hours
      |
      |Mobility in itself it not necessarily bad, but humanity should
      |consider environmental impact when choosing our destinations. A
      |large portion of long-distance travel is not necessary, especially
      |not at the cheap levels of airlines.     That we could doesn't
      |mean we always should.


        |u/smokeymcdugen - 21 hours
        |
        |I don't know about you,  but I don't know anyone who travels
        |across the country for no reason at all.


      |u/RealUlli - 1 day
      |
      |Why? Just to make planes look bad?   Long version:  People don't
      |want to spend hours on the plane, they want to go somewhere. The
      |time is something that needs to be endured because the plane
      |doesn't go any faster. Planes spend the time because it's the
      |minimum time to reach their destination.   On a trip across the
      |US, you spend several days driving your car. The plane gets you
      |there in a few hours.  To get to the destination, your car would
      |burn much less fuel per hour but take many more hours to get
      |there.  So, what exactly is more fair? And no, spending hours
      |joyriding doesn't count (unless you're rich enough to do so in a
      |747, in that case, you're just an ahole)


        |u/BlackPignouf - 23 hours
        |
        |Because for a weekend or vacations, you don't compare the same
        |distances when thinking about planes, trains and cars.   But the
        |time you'd be ready to travel would be approximately the same.
        |And yes, planes objectively look bad when talking about climate
        |change or our dependence on fossil fuels.


      |u/rinseaid - 1 day
      |
      |Liters of fuel per hour per passenger might be an appropriate
      |comparison.


  |u/threebillion6 - 23 hours
  |
  |Now what about private jets? Lol


  |u/DevilYouKnow - 23 hours
  |
  |So we should fly to work. Noted.


  |u/Myrealnamewhogivesaf - 22 hours
  |
  |Do the math for tankers and container ships


  |u/sneakysneak12 - 22 hours
  |
  |Can someone explain how a plane can carry all that weight and still
  |fly?


  |u/tommyc463 - 21 hours
  |
  |The fuel efficiency of a Boeing 747 at cruising speed varies depending
  |on the model, but generally, it ranges from 0.15 to 0.25 miles per
  |gallon (mpg).  However, this figure refers to the fuel efficiency per
  |gallon for the entire aircraft, not per passenger. If you break it
  |down on a per-passenger basis, assuming a typical load of around 400
  |passengers:  Boeing 747-400: Around 90 to 100 mpg per passenger.
  |Boeing 747-8: Slightly better, at about 100 to 105 mpg per passenger.


  |u/chadwicke619 - 21 hours
  |
  |Did that same Google search tell you how much CO2 consumer travel in
  |passenger cars contributes overall?


  |u/peeniebaby - 20 hours
  |
  |Yes but a study could be done to estimate how many fewer people would
  |actually drive 1,000 miles away for a weekend trip to go to their
  |cousin’s wedding.


  |u/amcrambler - 20 hours
  |
  |A 747 can’t get me to the grocery store, the post office and work.


  |u/V_wie_V-Mann - 20 hours
  |
  |Maybe we should only give rich people the privilege to drive cars.


  |u/Gr33nJ0k3r13 - 19 hours
  |
  |50mpg so 4.3 liters in a car ? Not only is that managable but also you
  |calculated probably no waiting time and no waiting laps before landing
  |permisssion, i‘m pretty sure a modern jet engine is more efficient
  |than just 4.3l liters BUT you waste fuel running the engines to have
  |electricity and dealing with the fact that you need to shuffle hundred
  |of jets through 2-6 runways.  Jets only work at scale and scale is
  |exactly whats bad for the envoirenment.


  |u/PurepointDog - 19 hours
  |
  |Now do the math with modern airline economics, considering that many
  |of the seats are often empty


  |u/davesoverhere - 18 hours
  |
  |Freight trains are even more ridiculous fuel efficient despite having
  |a shit mpg. The trick is they’re hauling a fuckton of goods.


  |u/AndroidUser37 - 18 hours
  |
  |> Cars suck!  I dunno man, from your math it sounds like my 6 person
  |family road trip for Thanksgiving, in a 25 mpg diesel Suburban, kicks
  |the crap out of aircraft as far as fuel efficiency and carbon
  |friendliness. And then, if I were to solo daily drive a Model 3 for my
  |commute, that's >100 MPGe (yes I know electricity isn't 100%
  |comparable but as far as absolute amount of energy used, it wins by
  |far).


  |u/Training_Ad_2086 - 17 hours
  |
  |>Cars suck!  Mostly stupid american culture where each person in the
  |family has their own car with space for 4 people but always drive
  |alone and use it for daily commute through traffic jams.  Asians
  |typically use motorcycles or mopeds for short distance travel like
  |daily commute unless there are more people.


  |u/John3Fingers - 17 hours
  |
  |The high-density 747 configurations are actually used a lot for
  |shorter-haul domestic routes in China and Japan - yes Japan, despite
  |their rail network, and in the Middle East during pilgrimage flights
  |to Mecca. There are basically no long-haul routes where that much
  |density makes sense both for fuel/range issues and simple economics.
  |The world's longest flight, New York to Singapore, is an all-premium
  |configuration with just business and premium economy.


  |u/0melettedufromage - 15 hours
  |
  |Ok- now do a cruise ship.


  |u/Troy64 - 14 hours
  |
  |They also travel more efficiently by moving in straight lines rather
  |than following roads.  The speed is also their air-speed.  If they
  |travel with jetstreams, which they do as often as possible, they
  |travel even faster.  Trains are still probably better, but the
  |infrastructure and up-front cost and maintenance for the tracks make
  |it a smaller difference than most would expect.


  |u/mortales_the_one - 14 hours
  |
  |Boats sucks!


  |u/jedielfninja - 13 hours
  |
  |Big part is terrain flux and climate. Flying across Colorado in winter
  |vs driving i40 has a huge value boost compared to driving the same
  |distance but in Texas across i10.


  |u/NorthSouthWhatever - 3 hours
  |
  |I love this. I just wish people were more aware of how much congestion
  |and noise pollution is caused by their need to often drive alone
  |everywhere.


  |u/WetPuppykisses - 3 hours
  |
  |"nobody drives across the Atlantic"  Source?


  |u/Maelorus - 22 hours
  |
  |Planes don't need justification.


    |u/ePrime - 21 hours
    |
    |Neither do cars


      |u/Maelorus - 21 hours
      |
      |True. We can and should do both, if perhaps more sustainably.


  |u/edthesmokebeard - 22 hours
  |
  |Dont apologize.


  |u/Grom8 - 21 hours
  |
  |Trains...


    |u/poo-ass - 18 hours
    |
    |Planes...


  |u/McWeaksauce91 - 20 hours
  |
  |How much fuel do boats use? If jets didn’t exist, people wouldn’t just
  |stop traveling across the oceans - it didn’t in the past.


  |u/theriverrr - 1 day
  |
  |False equivalent for environmental impact. Jet fuel vs gasoline
  |engines.  Jet engines are far more harmful to human health and the
  |atmosphere.


    |u/xXCrazyDaneXx - 23 hours
    |
    |And you've got a source for that? Burden of proof for claims and all
    |that...


      |u/theriverrr - 18 hours
      |
      |https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/every-time-you-fly-you-trash-
      |the-planet-and-theres-no-easy-fix/


        |u/xXCrazyDaneXx - 18 hours
        |
        |And nowhere in that... summery/opinion-piece is there any
        |evidence for your initial claim that jet exhaust is "far more
        |harmful".  Besides, when have lobby-groups become objective
        |research institutions? I seem to have missed that change...


    |u/YOURE_GONNA_HATE_ME - 23 hours
    |
    |False


      |u/theriverrr - 18 hours
      |
      |https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/every-time-you-fly-you-trash-
      |the-planet-and-theres-no-easy-fix/


    |u/denied_eXeal - 23 hours
    |
    |Is it because they can melt steel beams?


|u/Over_Solid_424 - 1 day
|
|It’s double that when your mum is onboard


  |u/CapytannHook - 1 day
  |
  |And say goodbye to the clutch


    |u/probablyaythrowaway - 18 hours
    |
    |Jesus try finding the biting point in a 747.


  |u/Huge-Advantage7838 - 1 day
  |
  |As if...more like treble.


    |u/DeusExHircus - 22 hours
    |
    |Is there a music joke in there somewhere that I'm missing or do you
    |have no idea what you're talking about?


      |u/Toilet_Bomber - 20 hours
      |
      |“Treble” can also mean “to triple something”, usually used in
      |British English more so than American English.


|u/CapytannHook - 1 day
|
|A Boeing 777 burns 500kg of fuel on the taxi alone. It uses 4 and a half
|tonnes just getting to cruising altitude.  But that's nothing compared
|to rockets  The Space x super heavy holds 3400 tonnes of fuel, the
|majority of which is used within 160 seconds of launch. Almost 10 fully
|loaded B777s worth of fuel in less than 3 minutes....


  |u/gamingchicken - 21 hours
  |
  |Hope they have a Costco card


  |u/trade-guy - 20 hours
  |
  |You understand super heavy isnt burning jet fuel right? Super heavy
  |uses liquid methane and oxygen… a little different than a mixture of
  |hydrocarbons…


    |u/nnbj92 - 19 hours
    |
    |Methane is a hydrocarbon


      |u/Freeballin523523 - 17 hours
      |
      |Womp womp....


    |u/light24bulbs - 18 hours
    |
    |I mean even if you look at falcon 9 which uses kerosene which is
    |very similar to jet fuel, and you take out the oxidizer, it's still
    |a crazy number. I don't know what it is but I'm just saying it's not
    |really apples to oranges so much, they both burn fuel


  |u/Unumbotte - 16 hours
  |
  |Alright you've convinced me, for my next flight I won't take a rocket.


|u/TheLizardKing89 - 1 day
|
|Amateurs.   -Concorde


  |u/JustCopyingOthers - 22 hours
  |
  |The accident report for the one that crashed in France showed it
  |burning about a ton of fuel taxiing from the gate to the runway.


    |u/Altruistic_Door_8937 - 20 hours
    |
    |In my airframe we budget the same amount of fuel to start engines
    |and taxi to lineup (before takeoff). It’s not that insane of a
    |number in the aviation world.


      |u/_xiphiaz - 13 hours
      |
      |Is there a good reason planes aren’t towed to runway lineup?


        |u/Altruistic_Door_8937 - 12 hours
        |
        |Tons. Tugs are slow. Tug drivers aren’t equipped with radios nor
        |trained to operate within the controlled movement area. Airports
        |aren’t equipped to deal with a ton of tugs of any taxiway.


          |u/ChonkTonk - 2 hours
          |
          |Tugs actually can go into the movement areas of an airport, as
          |long as they’ve got permission from the tower (Source: used to
          |drive a tug at TUL)


    |u/hgravesc - 21 hours
    |
    |I cannot wrap my mind around this


      |u/Supergeek13579 - 19 hours
      |
      |The engines are optimized for high speed, high altitude. During
      |taxi they’re exceptionally inefficient.


      |u/Open-Oil-144 - 18 hours
      |
      |Engines have to work a lot more to push the plane forward on
      |relatively tiny wheels against the ground, while on the air they
      |just need to keep the plane going forward at a constant speed,
      |aerodynamics do the rest.


        |u/Open-Oil-144 - 18 hours
        |
        |The same principle sort of applies to ground vehicles too, they
        |spend much more fuel going from full stop to accelerating than
        |when you're on a highway just pushing it forward at max gear
        |leaning on inertia.


      |u/PC-12 - 19 hours
      |
      |>Concorde burnt more fuel taxiing from the gate to the start of
      |the runway than a 737 uses to fly from London to Amsterdam.
      |Source on that? 738 uses about 3500 lbs/hour down low, plus about
      |600 lbs taxi, and then taxi in afterwards. Most 736/7/8 drivers I
      |know would use 5,000 lbs hour flight fuel as their minimum rule of
      |thumb for shorter/lower flights. The flight is about 1 hour so the
      |burn will be somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 lbs, depending on
      |altitude, plus taxi fuel.   I think Concorde was 3,000-4,000 lbs
      |taxi fuel.   I’m skeptical that this is accurate and I’m thinking
      |it’s a bit of internet lore.


|u/djdood0o0o - 1 day
|
|A Boeing 747 can typically carry 48,400 to 63,636 gallons of fuel, which
|is equivalent to 183,214 to 240,890 liters or about 180 to 213 tonnes. 


  |u/Downhilltrajectory - 1 day
  |
  |The density of the fuel is much lower than water. 180,000 litres would
  |weigh around 145 tonnes.


    |u/llDrWormll - 22 hours
    |
    |Quick shoutout to the metric system where 180000L of water equals
    |180000 kg. I just think that's neat.


      |u/colinstalter - 20 hours
      |
      |The other day I was doing some head math and thought “how much
      |does 1L of water weight again?”. Oh yeah… 1kg. It’s almost like
      |H2O was used as the basis for the unit!


        |u/QueerBallOfFluff - 17 hours
        |
        |Tbf, water is also the base for volume measurements in US
        |customary units and imperial units, and it's based on weight
        |too.  In US units 1 gallon is 8 Lb of water. In imperial, 1
        |gallon is 10 Lb of water.  A US pint is exactly 1 Lb because of
        |this, which is pretty neat if you think about it


          |u/colinstalter - 16 hours
          |
          |Except it’s really 8.34 lbs per US gallon. And 7.48052 gallons
          |per cubic foot. As an American who likes calculating things in
          |my head, I have to do basically everything in metric and then
          |switch back at the end.


            |u/QueerBallOfFluff - 16 hours
            |
            |Well that's disappointing, I'm guessing the standardisation
            |of the pound did that?  I grew up with and work in metric.
            |That I know some imperial unit stuff is just a quirk of
            |being British


      |u/fromYYZtoSEA - 19 hours
      |
      |I use this multiple times a week when I am preparing a wet brine
      |for the meats. 5% brine = put the container on the scale, add 1kg
      |(so 1L) of water, and then 50g of salt. Not sure why some people
      |find using cups and remembering the conversion easier!


    |u/awkwardalvin - 20 hours
    |
    |Fuel density is typically 6.7-7.2lbs per gallon depending on
    |temperature


  |u/Potatobender44 - 21 hours
  |
  |200 tonnes of fuel but yet they try to tell us that a couple people
  |sitting in the wrong seat could put the plane out of balance


    |u/Ihatedominospizza - 17 hours
    |
    |Not that I believe it or anything, but if the 200 tonnes of fuel is
    |balanced properly, then it’s kind of irrelevant to the rest of
    |what’s being balanced


    |u/ChonkTonk - 2 hours
    |
    |If one passenger changes seats, another is going to, and another,
    |and another, and suddenly everyone’s going to be fighting over the
    |best seats. I work in the industry and we’ve had planes return to
    |the gate for this exact reason, because as soon as the average
    |American gets on a plane they go feral


  |u/setofskills - 21 hours
  |
  |Reminds me of [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/s/sE7eRRkpjB).


  |u/MobbDeeep - 7 hours
  |
  |So the plane weighs 400 tonnes and has 200 tonnes of fuel onboard. So
  |its literally 1/3 fuel? That’s crazy.


|u/relevant__comment - 23 hours
|
|Having a hard time processing the scale. How many football fields is
|that?


  |u/Good_Prompt8608 - 22 hours
  |
  |r/anythingbutmetric


      |u/runtheplacered - 18 hours
      |
      |Do what now?


      |u/Good_Prompt8608 - 4 hours
      |
      |found the american


  |u/Awordofinterest - 13 hours
  |
  |Just 1 football field - The 4litres of fuel would be roughly 0.00075mm
  |deep (2.95275591e-5 or 0.0000295275591  Inches).  If an American
  |football field 120yards (109.728m) x 53.3yards (48.73m) and you poured
  |4litres of fuel in to fill the entire area = 0.00075mm depth.


|u/Olde94 - 17 hours
|
|It has 400 seats. So that is 36l per person per hour. I use 5l per hour
|alone in a car on a highway. A 747 moves at 9x the speed i do.   From
|what i gather, the problem is not the usage, as it’s lower per person,
|per distance than when i commute to work. The problem is that i can
|travel 8000km in a single day, and will do it, just to get to a beach


  |u/ztasifak - 16 hours
  |
  |I think modern aircraft average about 2.5 litres per seat and 100km.
  |The 747 is quite old so it will use much more than that  Of course you
  |can find cars (maybe hybrids) that use roughly 5 litre for 100km
  |having 5 seats. So the car is more efficient (fuel wise, but not time
  |wise) in that regard.


    |u/Olde94 - 16 hours
    |
    |A full car wins any day, but let’s be real. Most are half empty.   I
    |don’t think it makes sense to count a hybrid. The fuel economy is
    |always screwed. They tend to list “full battery plus 1L”. For short
    |rutes it’s essentially a full electric. For long it’s a gas car with
    |slightly worse fuel economy than a non hybrid. So you can’t easily
    |use it in a talk about planes


      |u/ztasifak - 4 hours
      |
      |Oh I agree. I don’t have the numbers but probably 90% or more are
      |occupied by 1 person


|u/Brave_Dick - 1 day
|
|Just like an F150.


|u/JustCopyingOthers - 22 hours
|
|Would be interesting to see similar stats for a 21st century plane with
|30-40 years of aviation advancement.


  |u/MammothDreams - 19 hours
  |
  |[Enjoy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_aircraft#Long-
  |haul_flights).


    |u/JustCopyingOthers - 19 hours
    |
    |Thanks, I can see why the A380 is dead, about 20% more fuel per seat
    |than the most efficient long haul aircraft and that's before any
    |empty seats.


  |u/DifferentEvent2998 - 20 hours
  |
  |The engines in the 747 are newer


|u/FapDonkey - 21 hours
|
|Whats more impressive to me is the Top Fuel NHRA Drag Racing cars burn a
|bit more than that (something around 1.5 gallons per second), and make
|something like 20-30% more power in the process (hard numbers are hard
|to find, because they don't make dynamometers big enough to measure
|their output, so its calculated analytically based on strain readings
|taken from the driveshaft).  So Imagine 20% MORE power than a 747 needs
|to keep a million pounds of plane/cargo in the air... and it's all being
|used to accelerate your 2,000 pound car up to speed in 3-4 seconds. Drag
|racing is fun.


  |u/Caspi7 - 17 hours
  |
  |Lmao that's a bunch of nonsense. With 4 engines a 747 produces about
  |[400.000 hp at cruising
  |speed](https://www.calculatorultra.com/en/tool/thrust-to-horsepower-
  |calculator.html#gsc.tab=0). All while using less fuel than a dragster
  |and producing like a 100 times more power lol.


  |u/hypnogoad - 18 hours
  |
  |Apples to oranges.  Jet dragsters are almost as fast as top fuel
  |dragster, but use a jet engine that's only around 3000 lbs of thrust.
  |A 747 engine has 20 times that.


    |u/FapDonkey - 17 hours
    |
    |LOL what are you even talking about?? The faster jet dragster in the
    |world (to my knowledge) is the Fireforce 5, which turn in ET's right
    |aroun 5.0 seconds and trap speeds around 300 mph. The current Top
    |Fuel record is an ET of 3.6 seconds and a trap speed of 340. A 5.0
    |second ET hasn't been competetive in drag racing since the mid 80's
    |when Eddie "The Thrill" Hill broke 4.99. If the fastest jet dragster
    |in the world is not quite as fast as top fuel cars were 40 years
    |ago, I dont think it's really fair to say they are "almost as fast".
    |Also, even if all that WAS true... what point are you trying to
    |make? Of COURSE its an apples to orangtes comparison. We're talking
    |about a commercial jetliner and a (barely) single-seat top tier
    |racecar. It's apples to ZEBRAS. I was just putting some interesting
    |context around those fuel consumption numbers. There's no argument
    |or debate to win here.


      |u/Ancient_Persimmon - 17 hours
      |
      |You're the one who suggested that a dragster has more power than
      |an airliner. 10 000ish HP is a lot, but not compared to a 747.


      |u/Ihatedominospizza - 17 hours
      |
      |>there’s no argument or debate to win here   Yet you’re trying
      |very hard to


  |u/Ihatedominospizza - 17 hours
  |
  |Let’s say that’s true. What’s your explanation on why those cars are
  |so slow compared to the plane?


    |u/FapDonkey - 16 hours
    |
    |Theyre not really, or not by much. 747 will cruise at around 500 mph
    |depending on conditions. A top fuel car can hit 340 mph. But it does
    |that just 3.X seconds from being a dead stop, in less than 1/4 mile.
    |So they are going *almost* as fast as a 747 in a VERY short period
    |of time/distance. Because that's what they're optimized to do
    |(maximize acceleration at expense of all else). the only thing
    |stopping them from going as fast as a 747 cruises is the "gearing"
    |in the drivetrain, and aerodynamics (for reference, the fast wheel-
    |driven land speed car, Turbinator II, can reach 500+ mph, same speed
    |as a 747, and a Top Fuel dragster makes 2-3 times as much power).


      |u/Drone30389 - 6 hours
      |
      |Cruise speed is an economy setting. 747s can max out over 600 mph,
      |and they're not optimised for top speed either.


|u/Gap-Bowl-Rat - 22 hours
|
|Finally, something that matches Snowrunner's fuel economy


|u/GriffinFlash - 1 day
|
|Good thing I walked to the store and back instead of taking the car.


  |u/Knyfe-Wrench - 23 hours
  |
  |I took the 747


    |u/esdaniel - 23 hours
    |
    |Taylor swift?!


|u/greavesyman - 21 hours
|
|But don't worry, we can offset this by using paper straws


|u/garlopf - 19 hours
|
|This does not make sense. For an 8 hour flight, that equates to more
|than 135 tons of fuel. I guess at takeoff it can peak at that number but
|at cruise it can't possibly be correct.


  |u/fuck_ur_portmanteau - 18 hours
  |
  |Longest ever 747 flight was 20hrs and max fuel capacity is ~213t.
  |Which is an average of 3L/s.


  |u/John-A - 18 hours
  |
  |Some models carry 213 tons of fuel or 63,000 gallons. That's enough
  |for 17.5 hours, apparently.


|u/swiftpwns - 23 hours
|
|Why is everyone in comments comparint it to cars? Lets do some math
|comparing it to trains!


  |u/Laferrari355 - 22 hours
  |
  |Probably because planes travel twice as fast as the very fastest
  |trains, and because trains can’t cross oceans  Edit: which now that I
  |think about it is also true of cars. But I guess cars are a better
  |frame of reference for people


    |u/ewest - 15 hours
    |
    |What about the [Trains Across the Sea](https://open.spotify.com/trac
    |k/5menR5pgdVgIiLG2kbCxc9?si=p31N8jddTu242hIc-XE3Ug)?


  |u/xXCrazyDaneXx - 23 hours
  |
  |Trains are... difficult. Yes, if you just compare energy/passenger,
  |they are by far the most efficient.   But....  That energy has to be
  |produced elsewhere, which means that you would have to take the
  |environmental effects of an entire energy market and adjust it for the
  |percentage used by trains in order to make a somewhat not misleading
  |comparison.


    |u/swiftpwns - 23 hours
    |
    |There are environmental effects of acquiring, refining, storing and
    |transporting air plane fuel too


      |u/xXCrazyDaneXx - 23 hours
      |
      |Yes, but they're a negative externality of the production of the
      |fossil fuel (and would have to be counted into the production of
      |the electricity for the trains as well), and not a direct
      |consequence of the passenger transport in itself.


        |u/Ihatedominospizza - 17 hours
        |
        |Forgot that there are trains running on electricity lmao


    |u/Thotaz - 22 hours
    |
    |What? Are you suggesting we wouldn't be building out a power grid
    |and have power plants without trains? Looking at the train energy
    |consumption by itself seems perfectly reasonable in my eyes.


      |u/xXCrazyDaneXx - 22 hours
      |
      |I am suggesting that just looking at the energy consumption of a
      |train *ceteris paribus* would give misleading results about the
      |*actual* emissions from train travel as 60% of the world's
      |electricity is produced using fossil fuels [IEA,
      |2023](https://www.iea.org/energy-system/electricity)


|u/Wolfpacker76 - 1 day
|
|Where do they store all of that fuel?  In the seats??


  |u/30625 - 1 day
  |
  |In the fuel tanks in the wings, the body and the horizontal
  |stabilizer.  747-400 consumes roughly 10tons/hour. So it is a little
  |less than 3,5liters/second as an average value.


  |u/TheLizardKing89 - 1 day
  |
  |Most planes have fuel tanks in the wings.


    |u/Wolfpacker76 - 1 day
    |
    |I know that, and in the body. But 1 gallon a second on a 10 hour
    |flight?  That 36,000 gallons of fuel.  Edit: 747 holds up to 56,000
    |gallons of fuel, that’s insane.


|u/airpipeline - 19 hours
|
|One gallon of aviation fuel weighs 6.7 lbs, 86% of that is carbon, 5.76
|lbs.    Every second a 747 leaves behind the equivalent of about a 5 lb
|bag of charcoal briquettes.    But in reality, the carbon is combined
|with oxygen and one gallon of jet fuel is turned into 21.15 lbs of CO2.
|337,319.2 lbs of CO2 from LAX to NYC.


    |u/fuck_ur_portmanteau - 18 hours
    |
    |Sustainable Aviation Fuel is the only viable method to reduce
    |emissions in the near future and it’s already being implemented. It
    |can reduce lifecycle emissions by 80%. The cost, production capacity
    |and sourcing feedstock are the biggest barriers to widespread use,
    |but it’s technically perfectly possible and is expanding rapidly.


        |u/airpipeline - 11 hours
        |
        |You’re of course right, it’s a hard problem!  I’m not saying it
        |is easy, especially as we lately seem to favor systematically
        |dismissing science, but it is a problem nonetheless.    i
        |suppose that we lessen our dependence on burning carbon, we
        |start building sea walls or both.  We cannot even invent
        |technology to limit the affects of climate change, because it
        |isn’t real, according to some (like the big oil companies and
        |the recipients of their political contributions).  Wasn’t
        |Ethanol created as a political favor to farmers in Iowa, the
        |first state to hold presidential primaries?  Not that it would
        |make a good jet fuel but I thought that at least the farmers
        |like it.  No?


|u/John-A - 19 hours
|
|That might only be at takeoff and the climb to cruising altitude. That's
|the only time they normally use close to full throttle, with them
|dialing it back to something like 25% at altitude. Plus, the reality of
|thinner air means the engines are using considerably less fuel than that
|once up there as well.  Then again that's a very big plane and might
|well carry enough fuel for a gallon a second for a 16 hour flight after
|all.


|u/SurveyNo5401 - 16 hours
|
|For a 4 hour flight:  60 seconds x 60 minutes x 4 hours  = 14,400
|gallons? That sounds like way too much, thinking about the volume and
|weight of it. Can someone tell me why I’m wrong


  |u/Seraph062 - 15 hours
  |
  |Max fuel load on the 747 is something like 50-60,000 US gallons, and
  |the longest 747 flight I'm aware if is about 16 hours.      So if
  |60,000 gallons gives 16 hours then 14,400 gallons for 4 hours seems
  |very reasonable.


|u/K3TtLek0Rn - 15 hours
|
|Every time I hear this I just can’t believe the thing can hold enough
|fuel for hours long flights


  |u/jellenberg - 11 hours
  |
  |It's kinda impressive. If I remember right, the 747 can hold around
  |60,000 gallons of fuel. They put fuel everywhere they can, even in the
  |tail.


|u/Mondilesh - 11 hours
|
|I'm more interested in how all that fuel gets to airports for refueling.
|Seems like way too high a volume to truck it in, so it's like a jet fuel
|pipeline direct from a refinery? 7


  |u/WeirdTalentStack - 10 hours
  |
  |Correct, sort of. Refinery to airport tank farm for the most part.


|u/jocax188723 - 5 hours
|
|For comparison:     Generic car: at 30 MPG/60MPH, that's 0.000769
|gallons per second.     Generic bus: approx. 6MPG average, so 0.1
|gallons per second.     747: 1 gallon per second per engine at cruise,
|so 4 gallons per second.     Modern Airbus A350: about 1165 gallons per
|hour of cruise, so 0.324 gallons per second.   Saturn V 1st stage: About
|20 tonnes per second of kerosene and oxidizer, or approx 5700-ish
|gallons per second.


|u/Krocsyldiphithic - 4 hours
|
|That's honestly a lot less than I thought


|u/lardoni - 21 hours
|
|About on par with your average American car isn’t it?


|u/sparkywilly - 22 hours
|
|But their fuel capacity is only 64,225 max meaning they can only fly for
|4.5 hours. Something's not adding up....


  |u/davguy95 - 21 hours
  |
  |64,225 gallons or 243,118 liters, if it uses 1 gallon per second then
  |it burns 3600 gallons an hour (60x60=3600) meaning it has 18 hours of
  |flight time to use  64800 gallons. I think you may have gotten the
  |gallons and liters confused.


    |u/sparkywilly - 13 hours
    |
    |I just got math confused and did know wtf I was talking about.
    |Source: am regarded.


  |u/SomethingAboutUsers - 21 hours
  |
  |You suck at math, that's what's not adding up.  64,225 gallons of
  |fuel/3600 gallons per hour= 17.84 hours  The reality will be somewhat
  |less, because there are reserves they can't/won't go into and not all
  |altitudes have the same fuel consumption, so call it 12-14 hours of
  |flight time with lots left over.


    |u/sparkywilly - 13 hours
    |
    |Well I was adding the way Terrance Howard does.... So you may be
    |right about my math....


  |u/Old_Week - 21 hours
  |
  |Taking off takes a lot more fuel than cruising


|u/Kind-Sherbert4103 - 20 hours
|
|About the same as a top fuel dragster burning nitromethane.


|u/Repulsive-Lobster750 - 19 hours
|
|But it also carries you mom


|u/Pleasant_Ad_7694 - 19 hours
|
|Why in my head do I feel like for a full flight it'd be airplane loads
|of fuel. I can't imagine this quantity usage over time. How many liters
|do they carry?


|u/Adventurous-Depth984 - 18 hours
|
|A single round trip transatlantic flight uses more fuel than an average
|person will use in their entire lifetime.


|u/teemu_8812 - 18 hours
|
|So with that math, flying 300 people to Spain from Lapland would be more
|cost effective and more ecological than driving them all to there.   We
|should be all flying jumbo jets to work!! :D


|u/SaveTheSterling - 18 hours
|
|And governments subsidise this in the tail end of a climate disaster.
|Bleak. 


|u/FaendalFucker69 - 17 hours
|
|Once took a heli tour and asked the pilot how much fuel it burns through
|and he said a gallon per minute. In this context, it makes sense.


|u/Remarkable-Piece-131 - 17 hours
|
|A d is pumping all that exhaust into the upper atmosphere.


|u/buckzor122 - 17 hours
|
|Yeah, and I commonly find £20 flights in Europe. How the fuck do
|airlines make money.


  |u/Seik64 - 16 hours
  |
  |not using a 747 for short flights is a good starting point.


|u/darybrain - 17 hours
|
|How does it compare to other modes of transport carrying that many
|people over that full range? Which is more efficient?


  |u/ztasifak - 16 hours
  |
  |Probably a few litres per 100km per passenger  Modern aircraft use
  |about 2.5 litre per seat per 100km. The 747 is quite old. Probably
  |double that value or more


|u/Ok-Yoghurt9472 - 16 hours
|
|it's because they have to do chemtrails /s


|u/notasthenameimplies - 15 hours
|
|To add to this,at take off each engine uses more than 1gallon persecond.


|u/Ryan1869 - 13 hours
|
|Always interesting that airplanes report fuel efficiency in gallons per
|hour instead of miles per gallon.


  |u/jellenberg - 11 hours
  |
  |Because this takes wind out of the equation. Those Jetstream winds
  |would really skew the numbers otherwise.


|u/Kettle_Whistle_ - 12 hours
|
|747 stayin’ hydrated  It’s how it lifts so well at its age.    No
|steroids.


|u/SurealGod - 11 hours
|
|With the size of those engines, I would've reckoned that they consume
|more than that


|u/matrixsuperstah - 11 hours
|
|Nothing but flying swimming pools.


|u/dav_oid - 9 hours
|
|At 570 mph cruising speed that's 9.5 miles per minute, or: 570 Miles Per
|Gallon.    That's at least 400 people, or: 1.4 MPG per person.


  |u/Forever-Lurking - 9 hours
  |
  |You’re off by a factor of 60. There are actually 3600 seconds in an
  |hour. The 747 gets about .16 MPG


|u/DirtySouthDoc - 8 hours
|
|I as an American appreciate you using the gallon as a measurement.
|However I’m still confused. How many Bald Eagles to a gallon?


|u/last-resort-4-a-gf - 7 hours
|
|Can't wrap my head around how much fuel it can hold for a 10 hour flight


|u/Synthetic-Cellophane - 6 hours
|
|I guess my car actually gets good milage. I’ll stop complaining.


|u/JardinSurLeToit - 5 hours
|
|And looks good doing it.


|u/kushbom - 58 minutes
|
|Flying fuel tank ?


|u/Mhisg - 21 hours
|
|But don’t worry your 15mpg car is the problem.


  |u/acdgf - 20 hours
  |
  |A 15mpg car will burn as much as 5 times as much fuel per passenger
  |mile as a 747.   The 747 has also been all but discontinued for pax
  |transport, and replaced with more efficient planes.


  |u/Aurora428 - 19 hours
  |
  |I mean the average car has 1.5 people in it and you're comparing it to
  |a plane that seats 366 people  Planes are more efficient than cars and
  |that's ignoring the fact that your car isn't a suitable alternative to
  |air travel.


|u/chromaaadon - 20 hours
|
|As someone who has done multiple 15 hour flights. I find it staggering
|that they basically red line the engines for 15 hours, refuel and do it
|all again for thousands of hours. And how the fuck do they store enough
|fuel to do so???


  |u/nails_for_breakfast - 20 hours
  |
  |They don't redline the engines at all outside of emergency situations.
  |The only time they come close is during the beginning stages of
  |takeoff. And jet engines are fundamentally different than the
  |reciprocating engines in most cars/trucks in that staying at one speed
  |for a long time is not very mechanically taxing one them.


  |u/Aggressive_Let2085 - 14 hours
  |
  |The wing tanks in the largest airliners are big enough to basically
  |stand in. The size of these fuel tanks are incredible.


|u/dr_reverend - 20 hours
|
|Not all that impressive. A top fuel dragster uses about 20 litres of
|fuel per second.


  |u/Electricpants - 20 hours
  |
  |Are those running all day everyday across the world?


    |u/dr_reverend - 15 hours
    |
    |What does that have to do with anything? I thought we were playing
    |the “numbers go up” game.


|u/Adventurous_Top_9919 - 21 hours
|
|My understanding is that this is at take off. Marinating fuel costs are
|a fraction of that, especially when they are in the Atlantic lanes at
|high altitudes.


|u/taco_eatin_mf - 21 hours
|
|Fuck!!!


|u/the_cardfather - 20 hours
|
|This blows my mind because a cross US flight like the ones that were
|hijacked in 9/11 is about 4 hours or 15k gallons of fuel.   Apparently
|they hold 4-5x that much. 🤯


|u/Benutzernarne - 16 hours
|
|Flying is horrible for the environment


  |u/jellenberg - 11 hours
  |
  |Because driving is better?


|u/Cynfreh - 23 hours
|
|Shocking planes cause shit loads of pollution but no one cares for some
|reason.


  |u/Laferrari355 - 22 hours
  |
  |Because per passenger they’re still more efficient than cars. They
  |also are the only practical way to cross oceans, or to travel long
  |distances. They’re also much safer than cars. They have their
  |disadvantages, pollution being one of them, but generally they’re a
  |net benefit to society


    |u/Platforumer - 21 hours
    |
    |They are not more efficient by much. Planes also emit high in the
    |atmosphere which amplifies the greenhouse gas effect. Also if you
    |compare to electric cars, planes generate much higher emissions.


    |u/Cynfreh - 22 hours
    |
    |How many people would drive instead of flying though it's not really
    |comparable most flights are just for pleasure anyway, to me flying
    |is one the things we should be trying to dial back on to reduce
    |overall pollution.


      |u/DinkleBottoms - 21 hours
      |
      |Most travel is for pleasure. Cutting flying increases travel time
      |by hours up to days. A 3.5 hour flight from San Francisco to
      |Dallas is a 2-3 day car ride and taking the train out of Los
      |Angeles is a day and a half long journey.


|u/damnalexisonreddit - 20 hours
|
|Is that why they keep going down?


  |u/Aggressive_Let2085 - 14 hours
  |
  |It’s been quite some time since a Boeing 747 “went down” 2017 was the
  |last time one had a full hull loss. If you’re trying to make a joke
  |about Boeing, it’s been over 5 years since the MAX accidents where
  |planes went down, and that issue was fixed. So id like it if you can
  |let me know what airliners are going down? Especially since the USA
  |hasn’t had one go down in over 10 years, and that was due to pilot
  |fatigue.


|u/matt82swe - 1 day
|
|Can I get the time metric in freedom (MAGA?) units?


  |u/michal_hanu_la - 1 day
  |
  |A second is approximately 0.8 microfortnights.


  |u/Bowens1993 - 1 day
  |
  |About 14 Coors Light cans in as long as it takes for someone to shout,
  |**"Let’s go, Brandon!".**


  |u/CJVCarr - 1 day
  |
  |That's ~ 1 gallon of fuel in around 1150ft of projectile distance from
  |the muzzle of a Glock 19.


  |u/XenonTheMedic - 21 hours
  |
  |3 gallons in the time it takes a bald eagle to cry