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from the that-is-a-long-time-in-a-winged-cigar dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
On Friday, Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce issued a public "challenge" to the companies to extend the range of Boeing's new 777X, which is slated for 2020, and the planned "Ultra-Long Range" version of Airbus's A350, which rolls out next year. Qantas hopes to take delivery of such a plane and begin its Sydney to London service in 2022, the company said as part of its full-year income results.
Qantas noted that both planes "can get close" to the requirements needed for London and New York missions. The public prodding is designed to make one or both manufacturers revisit technical schemes to edge out even greater range.
A nonstop flight from Sydney to London would shave almost four hours off current travel times that involve a stopover; for New York, travelers could save nearly three hours. Airbus, in an emailed statement, said it was equal to the challenge.
[...] Qantas flew its first so-called "Kangaroo Route" from Sydney to London in December 1947, flying a Lockheed Constellation. The trip took four days. In a few years, the kangaroo-flagged carrier hopes to do it in just over 20 hours.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @04:54AM (7 children)
There still won't be any direct flights from south america to africa or newzealotand. There won't be any flights over the south pole.
If you want to know why, you'll search and get a bunch of flat-earth nonsense. The truth is that the earth is bigger than they told us. Just like, "You'll fall off the edge" was used to trap people in Europe even though Romans knew about America, we're told "Civilians can't explore below the 60th parallel" and "There's nothing to see beyond antarctica" to keep us trapped on this globe that's too small.
The flat earth crowd has become a thing because no one can find the curvature predicted by a globe that's 25,000 miles in circumference. Not even Steven Hawking. [youtube.com]
Wake me up when we actually circumnavigate north to south to and back again. Won't happen. The geometry forbids it. That's why flights from south america to africa go north up the coast then south again. It's why undersea cables take that same route even though the latency would be less with a straight shot. It's why planes don't need to have any "Longest Flight" extended. Because then we'd have to explain why they fly the long way around (which is the shortest way on a globe that's much bigger).
Sent from Australia, which is still in the northern hemisphere of a much larger sphere. Dismiss this post. You fuckers don't care to research shit. Anti-scientific as all fuck.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @05:17AM
what do all those polar orbit satellites do, then? What will all the nucular missiles do that the US & Russia have aimed at each other when theyre finally launched? What about the nucular submarines that routinely do when they sail under the Arctic ice cap?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @05:27AM
As a fellow Australian, I want to remind everyone that very few of us hit the crack pipe this hard.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday August 28 2017, @10:25AM
Apart from the existing regular scheduled flights on that route, you mean?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday August 28 2017, @11:38AM
Well, what is the correct radius then?
I'll note in support of the supposedly incorrect model that Antarctica experiences months long periods of night just like the northern polar region does and we're able to use our supposedly incorrect model of Earth to exactly predict sunrise and sunset for anywhere in the world.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday August 28 2017, @12:05PM (1 child)
Ever consider matters of safety? If you have to land in the middle of Antartica, particularly in the winter, then you are dead. Overflying Antarctica means that there's a long stretch where there are no options if the plane can't stay in the air. At least in the ocean, you can land at island airports or ditch at sea and hope for a sea rescue from anyone happening by.
(Score: 1) by WillR on Monday August 28 2017, @06:32PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @05:00PM
Have you heard of "The Continental Drip Theory"?