Can a plane outrun the sun?

[CapnBazza]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Interesting question Paul but I think the answer doesn't reside in the the relative speeds. I would be considering the nationalities to be a more important consideration.

Who would stand more chance of surviving the actions a crazy sun - the good burghers of Belgium or the fine citizens in the home of the brave and in the land of the free?

I’d put my money on the fine citizens. They should be used to a crazy son by now.

[billgewater]

So what happens if one of the passengers or crew bring Covid -19 aboard eh?
However, if the sun is causing death and destruction (I am assuming this for the sake of this rather outlandish fiction) then it has grossly changed it's radiation spectrum or is actually blasting us with plasma, then I would suggest a better approach is to find a willing partner and lock yourself away for some serious end of life joyful experiences.
Going for a pleasant sail would probably be not of much value.

Mind you, another trick is to cancel Newton's First Law of Motion and get the earth to give up it's angular momentum. Then when it stops rotating everyone goes to the shadow side. It may be dark all the time but heh? It would be better than being fried.

A message for phiggins. Give up netflix. Stand under a tree and read the Rubaiyat of Omah Kyham until its message gets through. You will be better off, much better off.

Captain Anthony has definitely got it right.

[a64pilot]

I moved this to the off topic forum, it’s not really navigation is it?

[iyamwhatiyam]

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 schmoncorde. Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Of course you'd only be able to take one person with you. Maybe not so bad, eh?


"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3." Paul Crickmore

[Dirk01]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I moved this to the off topic forum, it’s not really navigation is it?

Not really, but very close to it, isn't it?

🙈🙉🙊

🖖

[SieveSailor]

Originally Posted by hamburking

Having said all that...I binge watched it all in one day, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Haha, sounds like my experience with Netflix. Sometimes though I'm left with the depressing realization that I just lost another 10 hours of my life I can never get back!

[bmz]

Originally Posted by Tillerjockey

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

Flying to or from the far east always produces interesting time anomalies. Flying west, the sun remains essentially fixed in the sky; departed 1:00 pm, flew 13 hours, arrived 1:00 pm the next day--all in daylight. Flying east, we departed 5:50 pm Monday, fly overnight; we arrived 4:18 pm Monday--spooky.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Interesting question Paul but I think the answer doesn't reside in the the relative speeds. I would be considering the nationalities to be a more important consideration.

Who would stand more chance of surviving the actions a crazy sun - the good burghers of Belgium or the fine citizens in the home of the brave and in the land of the free?

The good ones in barrow AK in the winer

[El Pinguino]

Standard great circle flight..... Santiago - Auckland ... depart Santiago 0100 local (sun) time...arrive Auckland 0400 local (sun) time... and that is just what they work the schedules to...

That is pushing into the 'westerlies'... flights the other way are typically 1 hour shorter.. I think it is 5000 miles mas o minos.... or the way I measure it.... a 4 movie flight....

So yes ... give a lightly loaded 'plane a bit of stick and it is not impossible.....

[Leighpilot]

I’ve done it many times. I’m a pilot with United. We leave Delhi at 2300 and hours later over Norway we could watch the moon rise in the WEST and then set in the EAST After landing we’d see it rise again in East like it should.

So yes. An aircraft can out run the sun at high latitudes. And if you land at the high North latitude in winter the sun doesn’t rise at all so you’d survive. If you knew how to live like an Eskimo.

[gatorman49]

You’ll see an IPad in The cockpit of most commercial jetliners these days.TE=hamburking;3132748]There are towns in northern Canada (and other arctic countries) that don't see the sun for several months each winter.

Into The Night is a pretty terrible Netflix production. Bad acting, badly dubbed into English, ridiculous characters...does EVERY character need to have a dark secret? And a dubious plot which breaks many laws of science, common sense, and geography...did you notice the main instrument panel in the cockpit seems to be an ipad?

Having said all that...I binge watched it all in one day, and thoroughly enjoyed it.[/QUOTE]

[femurphy77]

Originally Posted by hamburking

There are towns in northern Canada (and other arctic countries) that don't see the sun for several months each winter.

Into The Night is a pretty terrible Netflix production. Bad acting, badly dubbed into English, ridiculous characters...does EVERY character need to have a dark secret? And a dubious plot which breaks many laws of science, common sense, and geography...did you notice the main instrument panel in the cockpit seems to be an ipad?

Having said all that...I binge watched it all in one day, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Having come from the commercial aviation world it's pretty normal for an instrument panel to look like an iPad or some other electronic device. A modern pilot would be lost in a 70's Era cockpit if they were used to an Airbus.

[Steve DAntonio]

Originally Posted by phiggins

I am watching a really good Netflix series called "Into The Night". Its about a group of people in Belgium that heard that the sun had gone crazy and as it moves across the earth it kills every living thing. It started in New York and was moving around the world. The people in Belgium heard about it and got on a commercial jet airliner and are travelling west trying to outrun the sun.

Now the question is can they outrun the sun?

Fact 1: at the equator the earth is turning at about 1000 mph.
Fact 2: A commercial airline travels at about 650 mph.

But their assumption is at a higher latitude they can outrun it.

Do you think they can survive?

At a high enough latitude, yes, of course fuel is the issue. 18 hrs (Newark to Singapore, I've done it, 15,300 km) is about the max duration for a common commercial flight, longer with a light load.

A flight from Tahiti to France recently took the record for longest distance, thanks to Covid 19 it could not stop in the US, 15,700 km, pretty interesting, it was the longest domestic flight too since Tahiti is a French territory. Qantas recently did a test flight that was 19 hrs and change, NY to Sidney, 16,200 km.

I've actually done it for on a flight from JFK to CAN (China), much of the flight was a perpetual sunset.

[Wireless1]

We get maybe 75-80+ years. Life is short, but it's wide.
Make the best of it. We are all going to die.
When I had my NDE I realized what a welcome feeling it was.
Enjoy...

[Elie]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Happens every day. Last flight I took was Sydney to London - we beat the sun terminator and arrived earlier in the daylight than when we left. Flight was a negative 1 hour in terms of the clock.



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

You had the feeling to beat the sun, only because you took advantage of the civil time and the date line to arrive sooner then departed. You never beat the sun even if you had the feeling that you went faster then the sun around the earth. I use th fly regulary from Osaka to San Francisco and had to have a reservation Hotel in SF early in the morning, after departing Japan late afternoon, the same day.
I once had the luck to fly with the Concorde, the supersonic commercial jetliner. There we beat the sun flying from Paris to New York. Departed from Paris at 10 o'clock, arrived in New York at 1.30PM (Paris time) that translate as 7h30 AM, NY time!: Much sooner then the sun. The funy thing is that in the plane we noticed the sun goeing backward. Strange feeling. The Concorde flew every days to beat the sun.