Can a plane outrun the sun?

[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?

[TJ D]

Sure, at a high enough latitude. For a while... Fuel may be hard to come by once the earth has rotated once, however.

[Dsanduril]

At the North Pole and the South Pole you can spin around on your toes and circle all the lines of longitude.

Between September and March you could fly north some distance from Belgium and never see the sun.

[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?

[SeanPatrick]

The Earth rotates (roughly) 360° relative to the Sun each day. There are 24 hours in a day. Therefore, the Sun appears to move 15° across the surface of the Earth each hour. 15° · 60' = 900' ≈ 900 kts [ground speed] at the equator.


Moving north or south, those 15° of longitude get "compressed" by an amount roughly equal to the cosine of the latitude. So, at say 40° latitude, 900 minutes of longitude would be about 689 NM.


But ... how much fuel can they carry?


If it is near a solstice, they could just fly to the opposite pole. No sun there for months.

[Larry Florida]

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?

Fact: My flight from Tokyo to N.Y. leaves at noon (12:05) and arrives N.Y. at noon (12:03), about a tie.

Would not want to spend the rest of my life on an airplane tho.

[Tillsbury]

There was a charter Concorde flight over the millennium where you could fly around the world overtaking the sun and having repeated "Happy 2000" parties in various locations. Not sure I'd want to party with people who would want to do that, though.

[Wallaby]

Never fear, Elon Musk will save the world. You will have a choice: boring a tunnel, space flight, a souped-up Tesla, and a cave-submarine.

[a64pilot]

So why not just go down in a cave or mine?

[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.

[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.

[BugzyCan]

One tankful of life left. They had better have a good destination in mind or they are toast, no matter whether they can outrun the sun or not. When they run out of fuel, they crash, or the sun gets them, dead either way.

[moseriw]

Yes, if it flies more than 1700 km/h

[bmz]

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 did 10,550 miles in 8 hours ?

[Captain Anthony]

Have we all been in quarantine too long, lol