China to Canada

frank

frank

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Just been watching the bbc news article on the flight from China to Canada where passengers sustained injuries due to turbulence, a map of the flight was shown China then up north over alaska then down to Canada.
Seems a long way for a shortcut, why not a straight line across the ocean?

I know there will probably be a reason ...anyone know what that is ?
 
Great circle route?
 
frank said:
Just been watching the bbc news article on the flight from China to Canada where passengers sustained injuries due to turbulence, a map of the flight was shown China then up north over alaska then down to Canada.
Seems a long way for a shortcut, why not a straight line across the ocean?

I know there will probably be a reason ...anyone know what that is ?
Click to expand...
The world is not flat! It's like uk flight to the US fly up to Scotland then over Greenland dropping over Canada into the US - it's the shortest distance.
 
It is due to Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Space- time is curved by mass and the greater the mass the more the curvature.
As the chinese population grows it is getting more massive and is increasing the curvature of Space-Time leading to increased flight lengths and increased CO2 emmissions which cause climate change.
If we could stop population increase we could stop climate change. :)
 
I'm lead to believe it also has something to do with having to pass over beacons en route, which are land based.
Could be bollax though :lol: :D
 
neil_g said:
dont airlines prefer to route over land than large distances over sea?
Click to expand...

Airlines have to comply with the ICAO regulations (ETOPS - extended flight operations) that govern where they can fly and under what conditions. In short, aircraft must be always within a specified distance of a diversionary airfield. That distance depends on more things than I can remember, but takes account of the aircraft type, it's age, history, maintenance record etc. For instance a B777 with the best grade of certification can fly up to 3 hours distance from a diversionary airfield on the assumption that it can safely do that on only one engine if a failure occurred. Obviously that constrains the route from departure to destination.
As far as I can recall aircraft have individual certifications.
 
Suvv said:
If we could stop population increase we could stop climate change.
Click to expand...

Nope. The climate has always changed & is constantly changing. ;) (& long may it continue!)
 
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