Have you ever wondered why, when talking about the shortest distance between two places, we say, “X km as the crow flies”? Why don’t we say as the plane flies because, after, all both the crow and the plane fly?
The answer is simple. Birds like crows fly straight while planes do not. Ask any pilot why this is so and pat come the answers: “Because birds are smarter” or “birds don’t have engines that can fail”.
But jokes apart, there are many reasons why planes don’t fly following a straight path, some of which are scientific, though all of them are serious for the safety of flights — and covering the longest distance in the shortest possible time for flyers’ convenience and airlines’ bottom lines.
According to Captain PP Singh, Senior Vice-President, JetLite, perhaps the most important reason why planes do not fly straight is wind patterns. “As we fly for the least possible time and not the shortest distance, just like google map does these days for road trips,” wind patterns make a difference, he explains.
Among the other reasons cited by Captain Singh are following a route structure which meets Air Traffic Control (ATC) requirements which is not necessarily a straight line, and airspace availability, as thousands of planes criss-cross international skies every hour.
In addition, aircraft have to stay within a specified time from a suitable airport. This varies from 60 to 240 minutes (called Extended Diversion Time Operations or EDTO) cleared for an aircraft. Earlier, aircraft had to be 60 minutes from a suitable airport but as engines became more reliable,this time was increased to 90 minutes of flying time to a suitable airport. “This approval is based on the aircraft’s reliability, an airline’s safety record and an airline’s record of completing successful EDTO flights for clearance of 180 minutes and beyond,” a pilot says, adding, “All aircraft have to ensure that at any point along the route that they take, a suitable airport is available where they can make a safe landing. Suitable in terms of runway availability, weather and available approaches.” This might not be possible if an aircraft is flying on a straight route.
16/10/19 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
The answer is simple. Birds like crows fly straight while planes do not. Ask any pilot why this is so and pat come the answers: “Because birds are smarter” or “birds don’t have engines that can fail”.
But jokes apart, there are many reasons why planes don’t fly following a straight path, some of which are scientific, though all of them are serious for the safety of flights — and covering the longest distance in the shortest possible time for flyers’ convenience and airlines’ bottom lines.
According to Captain PP Singh, Senior Vice-President, JetLite, perhaps the most important reason why planes do not fly straight is wind patterns. “As we fly for the least possible time and not the shortest distance, just like google map does these days for road trips,” wind patterns make a difference, he explains.
Among the other reasons cited by Captain Singh are following a route structure which meets Air Traffic Control (ATC) requirements which is not necessarily a straight line, and airspace availability, as thousands of planes criss-cross international skies every hour.
In addition, aircraft have to stay within a specified time from a suitable airport. This varies from 60 to 240 minutes (called Extended Diversion Time Operations or EDTO) cleared for an aircraft. Earlier, aircraft had to be 60 minutes from a suitable airport but as engines became more reliable,this time was increased to 90 minutes of flying time to a suitable airport. “This approval is based on the aircraft’s reliability, an airline’s safety record and an airline’s record of completing successful EDTO flights for clearance of 180 minutes and beyond,” a pilot says, adding, “All aircraft have to ensure that at any point along the route that they take, a suitable airport is available where they can make a safe landing. Suitable in terms of runway availability, weather and available approaches.” This might not be possible if an aircraft is flying on a straight route.
16/10/19 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line
0 comments:
Post a Comment