Aircraft range circles explained
What a range circle represents, why wind makes it asymmetric and how to interpret the resulting reach envelope.
Guide hub
Aircraft Range and Payload
Published aircraft range is a useful starting point, not a universal radius. Payload, reserves, winds, routing, temperature and departure conditions decide how much of that reach is available for a particular planning case.
How Great Circle Pro approaches range
The map begins with published aircraft capability, applies a visible payload-range model and keeps each planning adjustment itemized. Wind-adjusted envelopes use bundled seasonal cruise-altitude climatology, not live weather. Results are educational planning sensitivities, not dispatch performance.
Start with the fundamentals
Range and wind methodology
How seasonal wind, payload, reserves, airways allowance, temperature and fuel assumptions enter the model.
Hot-and-high range penalties
Why elevation and temperature can reduce takeoff weight and shrink usable aircraft reach.
Fuel carries fuel
How aircraft weight falls through a mission and why long-range fuel burn is not perfectly linear.
Compare aircraft and mission types
737 MAX family range comparison
Why the four MAX variants trade capacity more than reach, and where their mission profiles differ.
787-9 range from Anchorage and Houston
The same aircraft produces different planning questions when departure location and temperature sensitivity change.
Private-jet range by class
Range maps from light jets through ultra-long-range business aircraft.
Aircraft range and specifications database
Compare the full modeled fleet by range, cruise speed, payload and aircraft category.
How to read an aircraft-range claim
First identify the payload and reserve basis behind the published number. Then separate the still-air capability from wind effects, because a westbound winter mission may not resemble an eastbound return. Finally, check airport elevation, temperature, routing allowance and any payload or cargo that was not part of the brochure configuration. Great Circle Pro keeps those adjustments visible so the final map can be traced back to the starting assumption.
Test an aircraft from any airport
Choose an aircraft, set payload and planning assumptions, then compare seasonal wind-adjusted reach.