Can planes fly over the Arctic ocean?
One instance includes Japan Airlines, whose Tokyo-London route now flies over Iceland, Greenland, the Arctic Ocean, and Alaska. (The return flight, London to Tokyo, usually flies south of Russia and over China).
Pilots descend to altitudes of around 10,000 feet over the Arctic, to prevent fuel from freezing, resulting in up-close views of a part of the world most people would never otherwise see. Surprisingly, flying over the North Pole isn't just for relatively northern departures and arrivals either.
Because of its vast size, crossing the Pacific Ocean requires a staggering quantity of fuel. However, most commercial aircraft do not fly directly over the Pacific Ocean; instead, they choose what are known as 'curved paths'. These paths offers a faster, more efficient route given the curved nature of the earth.
On May 9, 1926, Commander Richard Byrd announced that he had been the first to fly over the North Pole in his Fokker trimotor airplane, the Josephine Ford. Byrd submitted his navigational records to the U.S. Navy and a committee of the National Geographic Society, who verified his claim.
The short answer is, no, it's not illegal to fly over Antarctica. But there are practical considerations that make it challenging for regular airlines to navigate across the land. In many parts of Antarctica, there's limited or no infrastructure, no landing strips, and obviously no refuelling stations for planes.
Arctic Ocean is not fully navigable as much of it is situated around the North Pole and remains frozen.
The magnetic field lines near the poles are not aligned with the Earth's equator, making navigation challenging. This can affect the accuracy of magnetic compasses and other magnetic-based navigation systems used by aircraft.
The primary reason airplanes don't fly over the Pacific Ocean is because curved routes are shorter than straight routes. Flat maps are somewhat confusing because the Earth itself isn't flat.
Currently, the world's longest flight is the 9,585-mile route between New York City and Singapore, operated by Singapore Airlines with a flying time of 18.5 hours.
The Pacific Ocean is a massive body of water that will require an extremely large amount of fuel to fly across. Rather than flying directly across the Pacific Ocean, most commercial flights take curved routes because they are actually shorter than shooting straight across a distance.
Why is Antarctica guarded?
Antarctica is guarded to protect its unique environment, and conduct scientific investigations. Also, it is guarded as a political symbol of cooperation among different countries, dating back to the Cold War period. Military activity is banned here, the guarding is through legal and political means.
OSLO, March 18 (Reuters) - A U.S. military aircraft with four people on board has crashed in northern Norway, local police and the country's Joint Rescue Coordination Centres (JRCC) said on Friday.
Current flight operations
Emirates and Qatar Airways fly nonstop from Dubai and Doha to the US West Coast (San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles), coming within a few degrees of latitude of the North Pole.
Scientists revealed Tuesday that they had discovered a vast, hidden landscape of hills and valleys carved by ancient rivers that has been "frozen in time" under the Antarctic ice for millions of years.
Winter ice on the surface of Antarctica's Weddell Sea sometimes has an enormous hole called a polynya.
As Antarctica has never been permanently settled by humans, there has historically been little military activity in the Antarctic. The Antarctic Treaty, which came into effect on June 23, 1961, bans military activity in Antarctica.
However, unlike waves under a storm in a large basin, the favorable wind condition may not coincide with open water in the Arctic Ocean. In other words, waves cannot grow under an AC when the ocean is covered by ice.
The Molloy Deep (also known as the Molloy Hole) is a bathymetric feature in the Fram Strait, within the Greenland Sea east of Greenland and about 160 km west of Svalbard. It is the location of the deepest point in the Arctic Ocean.
The bathymetry of the ocean bottom is marked by fault block ridges, abyssal plains, ocean deeps, and basins. The average depth of the Arctic Ocean is 1,038 m (3,406 ft). The deepest point is Molloy Hole in the Fram Strait, at about 5,550 m (18,210 ft).
There is also a risk of mistaken identity in or near the ZKKP/Pyongyang FIR boundary, as North Korea are threatening to actively shoot down reconnaissance aircraft in their airspace. The US prohibits flights across all North Korean airspace, including the oceanic part of the ZKKP/Pyongyang FIR over the Sea of Japan.
Why don't planes fly over the Atlantic Ocean?
Early aircraft engines did not have the reliability nor the power to lift the required fuel to make a transatlantic flight. There were difficulties navigating over the featureless expanse of water for thousands of miles, and the weather, especially in the North Atlantic, is unpredictable.
The North Pole can only be reached on expeditions specifically mounted for the purpose. Most travel primarily by air, sometimes with a component traversing the last leg of the journey on the ice. The other alternative is traveling by boat, on an ice-breaker cutting through the Arctic Ocean.
What kind of precautions are taken? Is it safe to fly over water? Yes, it is safe to fly over water, and pilots around the world do it safely thousands of time a day. Today's airliners are designed to remain safe even if they experience a malfunction, such as an engine failure.
There are very few cases of airplanes flying over Antarctica. The rough weather conditions and low visibility make it extremely difficult to fly and land a plane over the continent. It is technically possible to fly to Antarctica, but there are very few flights that take the risk of going there.
Risks of high turbulence
Air currents can cause turbulence, making the plane feel bumpy and shaky, which is even more common in mountainous areas. To avoid any crashes, pilots usually avoid the mountainous regions of Tibet.
The shortest flight in the world is a long-established air route between two of the Orkney Islands (Westray and Papa Westray) in Scotland. The distance is a mere 1.7 miles and with favorable winds, the actual flight often lasts less than a minute!
Nevertheless, the most expensive flight ticket currently available is not Emirates but Etihad Airways. The ticket for the Etihad Airbus A380 suite “The Residence” on the route New York City/JFK – Abu Dhabi/AUH costs a hefty 61,000 euros.
The Loganair Westray to Papa Westray route is the shortest scheduled passenger flight in the world. Flights on the route are scheduled for one and a half minutes, and actual flying time is closer to one minute. The record for the fastest flight is 53 seconds.
Why don t planes fly east? Due to Earth's rotation, these air currents often move from West to East. If an airplane is flying in the same direction as a jet stream, it may save time and fuel, but if it is flying against a jet stream, it will encounter extreme turbulence and might be damaged.
So why was my flight to Hawaii, from east to west, so much longer than my flight home? The reason it took so much longer to fly back is the jet stream, a river of fast-moving air high up in the sky. Jet streams are usually about 100 miles wide. They can be thousands of miles long and are found all over the earth.
What countries do you fly over to get to Australia?
- Dubai Stopover. A glistening city flanked by ocean waves and desert sands, Dubai has become an increasingly popular stopover location for people making their way to Australia. ...
- Singapore Stopover. ...
- Kuala Lumpur Stopover. ...
- Bangkok Stopover. ...
- Hong Kong Stopover.
Travelers do not need permission to go to Antarctica, but tourism operators must hold a valid permit. First, a bit of background on why it is legal to visit Antarctica. Antarctica is not a country. The continent is protected by the Antarctic Treaty, which preserves it for peaceful and scientific use.
Unless you're an elite scientist or an emperor penguin, in an effort to protect the area's biodiversity, regular folk are forbidden to explore the antarctic. Even if you could, good luck overcoming the frostbite-inducing temperatures of nearly -130 degrees Fahrenheit (-90 C).
Antarctica doesn't belong to anyone. There is no single country that owns Antarctica. Instead, Antarctica is governed by a group of nations in a unique international partnership. The Antarctic Treaty, first signed on December 1, 1959, designates Antarctica as a continent devoted to peace and science.
Pan Am Flight 1736 and KLM Flight 4805
On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport), on the Spanish island of Tenerife, Canary Islands. The crash killed 583 people, making it the deadliest accident in aviation history.
The Boeing 787 has never crashed. The A380 has never crashed, but both appear in safety databases based on incidents that have occurred: engine emergencies on the A380 and electrical fires on the 787. Mark Jones Jr. Mark Jones Jr.
Infamy. 1972 remains the deadliest year in aviation history since World War II, with many accidents and incidents involving over 50 fatalities; 2,313 people were killed in aviation crashes in this year.
There are flights over the Arctic Circle and North pole between Asia and North America. Pilots adjust their flight route for winds aloft. It's common to deviate south of the arctic circle on an eastbound flight because a plane can take advantage of a trailing jet stream to save fuel and time.
The reason for this is that the earth revolves on its axis, forcing the middle to bulge out slightly. The curvature of the earth and its extra equatorial width mean that curving towards the poles is a shorter distance than flying in a straight line.
At Livingston Island, among the South Shetlands off the Antarctic Peninsula, a human skull and femur have been lying near the shore for 175 years. They are the oldest human remains ever found in Antarctica.
What creature was found in Antarctica?
Upon first glance, the Antarctic strawberry feather star resembles an alien-like creature that would make most people want to squirm. But if you zoom in on images of the sea animal, its strawberry-like shape and texture become hard not to notice.
A decade ago, scientists on a NASA-sponsored ocean expedition found massive populations of phytoplankton blooming beneath sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.
The discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole was first announced in a paper by British Antarctic Survey's Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin, which appeared in the journal Nature in May 1985.
1 - The Forbidden Sector. No-one knows what happens here, no one who has been has ever come back, if you try to take a peek at the border you are grabbed by security penguins and taken in. 2 - The Hole at the Pole. This connects with the Hole at the Other Pole and to the Hollow Earth and those who live there.
The Antarctic Treaty does not prevent tourists, military personnel or scientific researchers from being present in Antarctica, but they do require an appropriate permit from a Treaty Party.
At 9.4 million square kilometers (3.6 million square miles), the Sahara is also the largest hot desert on Earth. The largest desert on Earth is Antarctica, which covers 14.2 million square kilometers (5.5 million square miles).
Sea ice concentration around Antarctica on September 10, 2023, the date of the winter maximum ice extent. The ice extent—the total area where the ice cover is at least 15 percent—was the lowest on record by a wide margin. NOAA Climate.gov map, based on data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
The operation is a joint military mission to resupply the nation's Antarctic stations in support of the National Science Foundation, the lead agency for the U.S. Antarctic Program.
Why Don't Some Airplanes Fly Over the Pacific Ocean? The Pacific Ocean is a massive body of water that will require an extremely large amount of fuel to fly across.
If you fall through, there will be nothing to get back up on except for weak pans of thin ice. You will not be able to swim or paddle through them as they will pile up between you and the shore. You run a great risk of getting stuck, even if you should manage to get back up on the sled.
Why can't you swim in the Pacific Ocean?
Large surf, cold water temperatures, backwash, sudden drop-offs, pounding shorebreak, and dangerous rip currents can turn what seem like safe activities such as playing near the surf line, wading, or climbing on rock outcroppings, deadly. There is limited lifeguard service along some portions of the coast.
In water that is around the freezing point, a person is likely to survive only 15 to 45 minutes with flotation and possibly up to an hour or so with flotation and protective gear before the brain and heart stop (Table 1).
With an area of about 6.1 million square miles , the Arctic Ocean is about 1.5 times as big as the United States. It is bordered by Greenland, Canada, Norway, Alaska, and Russia. The average depth of the Arctic Ocean is 3,953 feet and it is 18,264 feet at its deepest point.
The temperature of the surface water of the Arctic Ocean is fairly constant at approximately −1.8 °C (28.8 °F), near the freezing point of seawater.
Do not travel to North Korea due to the continuing serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of U.S. nationals. Exercise increased caution to North Korea due to the critical threat of wrongful detention.
More than 55 global airlines still fly over Russia, including to and from the US: 'a crisis in the making' The US and most countries in Europe closed their airspace to Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Still, dozens of airlines — mostly in Asia and the Middle East — continue to overfly Russia.
In principle, any person is allowed to travel to North Korea; only South Koreans and journalists are routinely denied, although there have been some exceptions for journalists.
