Does an aeroplane create more greenhouse gases during take-off?
Different flight “phases” (such as landing, cruising, and take-off) require different engine power settings for the aeroplane. Both the amount of fuel consumed per second and the amount of emissions per unit of fuel can differ for each power setting. So it is true to say that a plane creates more greenhouse gases when it takes off than when it is flying on its normal cruising altitude when comparing a given unit of time in each phase (i.e. a second or a minute for example). For example, because an aircraft uses a higher power setting at take-off and climb (typically 85-95% of full power) it will use more fuel and emit more CO2 (which is proportional to fuel burn). This will be more, per second, than during cruise when engines normally run anywhere between 45-70%. Similarly, during descent and landing aircraft engines will run at less than 30% so fuel burn and emissions per second will be much lower than during cruise or take-off and climb. However, a comparison between the total emissi
