Can a plane outrun the sun?

[budm303]

"Red Ball in the Sky." I used to do it routinely, UK to TX.

[Clivevon]

I decided to be nice so I deleted my original post. It was just a little... exasperated.
Just 1 more word. CONCORDE.

[Chuck Hawley]

I don't know anything about the show, but it sounds like an interesting premise.

As a thought experiment, see if you can put together airports that could accommodate a jet at high latitudes in both hemispheres. I once flew across the Atlantic from Southhampton and landed in Goose Bay, Canada. Now that is one remote airport. But where could you land as you continued around? Barrow, AK? Don't know much about Russia, but there have to be airports in the north. Finland or Norway?

Then do the same for the southern hemisphere. I think the South Pacific may be a pretty big leap, unless you had a 777ER.

Chuck

[Tillerjockey]

Depending on which way you fly, and where you fly, you could end up somewhere yesterday or tomorrow.

[Belezar]

Yes easily at higher altitudes. A buddy is a senior United pilot and he sent me a picture of the sun coming “up” in the west.

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by bmz

You did 10,550 miles in 8 hours ?

Time zones = terminator moves.

[Dirk01]

Once a year you've to to change from north to south (& back of course) within 12 hours (roughly). Pretty hard regarding distance and commercial plane speed (and range!), isn't it?
Ans YES, 8th week WHF ... and another 3-4 weeks are expected. That's really a long time. Working @Bosch in Germany...

[Dsanduril]

Excepting fuel stops it is actually pretty easy to do. At the summer solstice you have to be at the Arctic Circle to not see the sun come "over the top". The earth's circumference there is ~11,000 miles (~17.500 km). That means you need a speed of 458 mph to match the terminator. Any other day of the year and you can move further north and reduce speed (and fuel burn).

[ol1970]

I admittedly got suckered into watching this. It was just interesting enough to keep us watching, no Oscars will be won by the actors that is for sure lol! The premise is a gamma ray burst is blasting the earth and if you are in the sunlight you are basically cooked alive. You can't just be in a bunker or in a cave because the wavelength passes right through, I'm not sure on the science, but I'm thinking it passes all the way through the earth so we'd be cooked on both sides. In this premise they can outrun the sun, and yes that part is scientifically possible.

Other cheesy parts: guy hijacks a ride in the landing gear and somehow is able to be conscious at 40,000 feet and not frozen. Window blows out because they go up to 50,000 feet, being underwater somehow shelters you from the affects, the list goes on and on…thankfully the episodes are only 30 minutes or so long and somewhat comical.

[doog]

woah, only one comment seems to hold a basic grasp of celestial navigation which is the sun fix, Im rusty but I used to be able to tell you your lattitude if you told me the time of day where you were. Anywhere on earth..or vice versa, if you gave me your latt I could tell you what your GMT would be.

Sailing is not what it was in the days of Two Years Before the Mast!

Im feeling inspired to renew my old skills.

[davenrino]

Originally Posted by Clivevon

I decided to be nice so I deleted my original post. It was just a little... exasperated.
Just 1 more word. CONCORDE.

Concorde was fast but had very short range; especially by today's standards. I belive it could cover 4500 nm under ideal conditions.

[kas_1611]

During the Eclipse of 2000, that passed over the tip of Cornwall and into Europe Concorde took off from London, flew out over the Atlantic, hit the afterburners and flew in the shadow of totality for as long as it could.

Astronomers normally get no more than 7 minutes in totality but thanks to Concorde's 1440mph sprint they were able to achieve almost double that in the shadow before even the graceful lady of the sky had to admit defeat to the sun.

The SR71 Blackbird is the only plane able to fly faster for such a prolonged time than Concorde at Mach 3 but with only a 2 man crew requiring spacesuits due to the incredible altitude it flew at it's not really a viable option for out running the sun.

[Shrew]

For those proposing examples of long distance flights from X to Y......You do realize that those flights don't fly along the same parallel line, correct? Many trans-oceanic flights in the northern hemisphere fly up over the top of the globe.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

....
Rotation speed of the earth is irrelevant - everything is relative.

Rotational speed of the earth is relevant, but since it is latitude dependent it can be worked around.

[joelhemington]

Why am I reading this?