Air distance. Interesting facts about the air flights

It would seem so simple at first glance, the physical quantities as the air distance may have a number of interesting facts that most people often do not even suspect.

Air distances. Truth and fiction

Most fans travel quite often mistaken in the belief that the distance to the plane can be shorter than the distance to the ground due to lack of any obstacle impeding the movement. However, the reality is somewhat different, and sometimes air distance flying in aircraft may be even longer than the ground moving.

In order to prove this, it is enough to imagine a direct trajectory along which the ground transportation and airplane travels, which follows exactly the same route. Note that ground transportation moves exclusively in a horizontal position, and as for the aircraft, it moves in two coordinate axes - in a horizontal plane and in a vertical plane. In view of the fact that the aircraft is gaining height, it actually overcomes a much greater distance, and because of the rounded shape of the planet, this value is even greater when traveling over long distances. In fact, the distance covered by the bus, and the air distances overcome by the aircraft will be different, and the difference may sometimes be of the order of several hundred kilometers, but because of the higher speed of the aircraft, this distance is overcome faster.

The shortest air distance flew by plane

To date, the Scottish airline "LoganAir" has the shortest air distances in the world - the travel time is only 2 minutes, but it should be noted that the flight is very popular. A small passenger plane moves passengers between two Scottish islands - Papa Westray and Westray, the total distance between them is a little less than two miles, but this is the fastest way to date from one island to another, so the air operator constantly multiplies his revenue.

Something similar exists today in Polynesia, although the time spent in the air in one direction there is a bit more - 5 minutes, but the principle is valid airline baby about the same - the movement of passengers between the islands concerned.

Finally closes the top three most short distance air flights between the world city of Burlington and Rochester - while airfare between the cities in the United States is only 7 minutes.

The biggest air distance Implemented airlines

In addition to the short, air distances can also be very Length of. To date, the longest airway and, respectively flight, overcoming the greatest air distance is a regular flight, performed by Singapore Airlines'Singapore Airlines"Connecting Newark and Singapore. The length of the flight is 15345 kilometers, which allows without any additional interchange stops to get to the destination. It is worth noting that the second place in the standings this unique Singaporean owned by the same airline, only this time it comes to flights connecting Los Angeles and Singapore. Bringing up the rear is the pedestal American airline "Delta Air Lines"Operate flights on the route Johannesburg - Atlanta, the total value of which is air distance 13582 kilometers.