Pole Star

[Radrook]

From age 11 to 16 I lived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and then Germany which was even farther north. In July 1983 we traveled to Narvik, Norway and my parents woke me and my brother up in the middle of the night to see that it looked like midday. Since 1984 I've lived in Alabama and Texas would love to experience a condensed day or night again. (I returned to Michigan in 2005, but that was late August and the day/night wasn't as stark as June or December.)

Closest I have ever got to those regions was during my 12 hour flight to Beijing China when the plane took a roundabout route over Siberia for some weird reason. Then on the way back to the states we were told to look out the window at the Aurora Borealis to the north. At that far distance all that was evident was a green splotch on the far horizon. Not much of a show.

 

[JackRT]

the plane took a roundabout route over Siberia for some weird reason.

Not weird at all. Not roundabout either. It is the shortest fastest route. A few months ago my daughter flew from Toronto to Hong Kong. Pretty much straight north over the pole. This is a direct consequence of living on a globe. Decades ago when the USSR closed their airspace this was impossible and they had to take weird roundabout routes.

 

[Radrook]

Not weird at all. Not roundabout either. It is the shortest fastest route. A few months ago my daughter flew from Toronto to Hong Kong. Pretty much straight north over the pole. This is a direct consequence of living on a globe. Decades ago when the USSR closed their airspace this was impossible and they had to take weird roundabout routes.

Traveling from PA to Chicago in a straight line made sense. The part that I don't understand is the turning north to the Siberia latitude in order to sweep back south towards Beijing.

 

[JackRT]

Traveling from PA to Chicago in a straight line made sense. The part that I don't understand is the turning north to the Siberia latitude in order to sweep back south towards Beijing.

With a globe and a length of string you can easily verify the shortest flight path. From Toronto to Hong Kong over the pole is about 2000 miles shorter than travelling west and a bit south. The problem lies with the fact that we are so used to flat maps like the Mercator Projection.

Near the equator the projection is reasonably accurate but there is severe distortion in the polar regions. For example Greenland appears to be a little larger than Africa when it is in fact actually one sixth the size.

 

[Radrook]

With a globe and a length of string you can easily verify the shortest flight path. From Toronto to Hong Kong over the pole is about 2000 miles shorter than travelling west and a bit south. The problem lies with the fact that we are so used to flat maps like the Mercator Projection.

Near the equator the projection is reasonably accurate but there is severe distortion in the polar regions. For example Greenland appears to be a little larger than Africa when it is in fact actually one sixth the size.

So it makes sense for a trip from the USA to Beijing China to fly in from over Siberia?

 

[JackRT]

So it makes sense for a trip from the USA to Beijing China to fly in from over Siberia?

Yes, it certainly does.