Does an aircraft travel in a straight line?

[Immelman]

Don't forget that the earth is rotating on its axis.. ~1000 mph of velocity standing still at the equator... earth is rotating round the sun.. sun around the center of the milky way.. milky way around the (who knows). Straight lines are silly.

 

[kingsize]

yep these guys are right, not a straight line.
Keep in mind that the world is huge compared to your little plane, so if you traveled from point A to B, but flew it all at FL300, how much curvature is really involved? A few feet?

What about this--- let's say A to B is 1000 miles if driven by a car on a perfectly flat, driect road. If you provided "cover" for that car (let's say you're carrying some GBU-38s), but you're at FL300, how far are you really going? It's definitely more than 1000 miles. Some math nerd here can probably give you a perfect answer by using some simple trigonometry and the radius of the Earth.

 

[Salukipilot4590]

And what's up with those colored airways, anyway?

Colored airways? What did I miss?

 

[Joecool3]

You didn't miss much-B! LOL!

 

[SkyBoy1981]

You didn't miss much-B! LOL!

ROFL wonder how long it will take for that avatar to be removed. Very nice though.

 

[timeoff]

It might make it until morning. Nice jublies I might add.

 

[TriStar_drvr]

When I transitioned off of glass back to steam guages for a short period the instuructor said, "just fly straight and level." "Sure I said, which one do you want first?"

We need more posts like this on this board. Thanks, Groucho.

 

[I fLy pLaNeS]

Moving with the Earth

How about a flight from the far Northern Hemisphere to the far Southern Hemisphere? Are we traveling with the Earth's rotation as long as we hold the magnetic course? Ah....nevermind :erm:

 

[Gorilla]

I can't believe no one's given a "straight" answer... the shortest distance between two points on a globe is a great circle route. It's easy to visualize. Find a globe, grab a string, and stretch the shortest length possible that will fit between the great State of TX and Tokyo. The string will fly up to the Northwest, along the Alaska coast, down the Aleutians, maybe across Kamchatka, and on to Tokyo. If plotted on a flat map, the route looks like a thrown baseball, arcing up, then down.

The heading required to fly the route will change continually the whole flight. But in terms of miles flown, and fuel burned, it is the best route, winds ignored.

Same deal TX to London. It's across the North Atlantic, not the mid atlantic.

 

[CE402]

Ok....what if you dug a hole (big enough for you to fit in) straight through the Earth to the direct opposite side. Take away temperature change as a factor (assume you're protected from it).....
....you jump in....what happens?