Have you ever watched an airplane in the sky and wondered how many people are in there, and where they’re going? This webpage made a 2-minute video showing all the planes that flew over the Atlantic Ocean on a single day – over 2,500 flights in just 24 hours! With about 100 people or more on many planes, that’s a lot of people airborne at once.
Wee ones: If you’re the 9th person to get on the plane, what number passenger boards after you?
Little kids: If plane #1 lands and they’re all spaced to land every 10 minutes, how long until the 3rd plane lands? Bonus: If 400 flights fly during each busy hour in the morning, how many planes fly in a 2-hour stretch?
Big kids: If 7,000 people fly in the morning and twice as many fly during the afternoon, how many fly that stretch in total? Bonus: If there were exactly 2,500 flights and they each filled up with 100 passengers, how many people flew over the ocean that whole day?
Answers:
Wee ones: The 10th passenger.
Little kids: 20 minutes, since the 2nd plane will come in 10 minutes. Bonus: 800 flights.
Big kids: 21,000 people. Bonus: 250,000 people – a quarter of a million!
