What would happen if a plane flew in a straight line?
So you could take off in your airplane from sea level or even below sea level and fly in a straight line as you suggest. But eventually you would reach an altitude (maybe 6 miles or 10 kilometers high) where the air was too thin to keep the plane working and it would start to fall to the ground.
Why do planes fly curved routes?
Or why is it that when you see flight paths on a map they always take a curved route between 2 cities? It’s because planes travel along the shortest route in a 3-dimensional space. This route is called a geodesic or great circle route. They are common in navigation, sailing and aviation.
Do planes fly in a line?
On short-haul flights they do tend to fly in “straight” lines between points, but within the limits applied by ATC. On long flights over oceans, they will fly a great circle route that follows the shortest path between points on the curved surface of the earth.
Why do planes fly on a curved line?
Similar to the Earth itself, aircraft, therefore, take flight routes that also appear to be a curved line, tracing the Earth’s shape.
Why don’t airplanes take direct routes?
As well as the curvature of the Earth, jetstreams are another important factor in why aircraft may not take what appears to be a completely direct route. Jetstreams can sometimes have tailwinds above 200 miles per hour, and that is going to get an aircraft to where it needs to be much quicker, whilst burning a lot less fuel.
Why don’t planes fly into the wind?
Contrastingly, if an aircraft would be flying head-on into a 200 mile per hour wind, flight planning may try alternative routes to avoid this. The reason for this is down to simple mathematics and physics.
Why do planes fly on the Earth’s axis?
Because the Earth revolves on its axis, this forces the equator to “bulge out” and be wider. Despite what some theories suggest, the Earth is not flat, and so curvature becomes an incredibly important factor in routes aircraft take.