Why was my flight back to UK 2 hours longer ? help me :)

[Strangebrew]

Ok Science 101 It has to do with Newtons law Gravity holds us down so with the rotation of the earth turning from west to east and Nana being the ladyboy center of the earth We all know they suck they pull you here quicker and unless you change time zones you might get confused E=MC2 and not to forget Pie are not square cornbread is square pies are round. Dang where the hell is my flux capacitor?

[KhunBENQ]

- more northerly route than normal so as not to overfly Ukraine.

Interesting to hear.

So they asses the situation that critical???

A war zone?

In the news there are just some older messages about closure of the Crimean airspace?

[Eneukman]

Jetstream headwinds.

Correct. If you look at the seat back tv set, it will show you your speed and whether there is a tailwind or a headwind amongst other details. Coming to Thailand, you have a tailwind whilst returning to the UK, there is a headwind.

Alan

[ratpiece]

The earth is spinning

Yes, lots of TV members find that after a good night out! Usually ends up with a chat with `him upstairs' on the big white telling bone.

[Songhua]

You sat at the back.

[kaveh]

you say World is spinning. ok so if I go up in the air right from suvarnabhumi airport with a helicopter and don't move, when I reach to London? or better say: when London reach me right below my feet? as the world is spinning, is it happen?

[loumaripol]

Prevailing winds aloft are Easterly. The wind speed varys of course, both seasonaly and weather related, but, west bound flights will generally encounter a head wind increasing the flight time. I am a retired airline manager in case you need to be sure.

Cheers,

Edited April 27, 2014 by loumaripol

[sirchai]

Coming from Europe, you fly with the Jet stream. When flying back, the airplane's flying against the Jet stream.-

[sirchai]

you say World is spinning. ok so if I go up in the air right from suvarnabhumi airport with a helicopter and don't move, when I reach to London? or better say: when London reach me right below my feet? as the world is spinning, is it happen?

Yes, even my mother in law's spinning....

[khaosai]

Hi,

Here is a pic of an aircraft onboard navigation display with the wind speed and direction and the effect it has on the aircraft progress.

The wind speed is 210 knots which equates approx to 240 MPH or 390 KM/H.

The information on the ticket will be the scheduled block time I would imagine and if flight time is mentioned will be an approximation as it's such a variable.

Only a certain part of the Ukraine airspace is closed at the moment, however an airline may choose to avoid it completely.

Edited April 27, 2014 by khaosai

[ableguy]

Actually both, wind and indirectly rotation.

Can you please tell me what factors cause airplane times to differ between travels to east and to west.

It's interesting that you ask this - I am directly experiencing it right now as I sit on an airplane from the UK. It took 5 hours to go West-East on this journey, but is taking about 7 East-West. The reason for the difference is a atmospheric phenomena known as the jet stream. The jet stream is a very high altitude wind which always blows from the West to the East across the Atlantic. The planes moving at a constant air speed thus go faster in the West-East direction when they are moving with the wind than in the opposite direction.

Every planet has global wind which are mostly determined by the way the planet rotates and how evenly the Sun illuminates it. On the Earth the equator gets much more Sun than the poles. resulting in warmer air at the equator than the poles and creating circulation cells (or "Hadley Cells") which consist of warm air rising over the equator and then moving North and South from it and back round.

The Earth is also rotating. When any solid body rotates, bits of it that are nearer its axis move slower than those which are further away. As you move north (or south) from the equator, you are moving closer to the axis of the Earth and so the air which started at the equator and moved north (or south) will be moving faster than the ground it is over (it has the rotation speed of the ground at the equator, not the ground which is is now over). This results in winds which always move from the west to the east in the mid latitudes.

One source here - Cornell university

The jet streams are not constant, they change depending on the time of year, x pilot.

[Tywais]

Actually both, wind and indirectly rotation.

Can you please tell me what factors cause airplane times to differ between travels to east and to west.

It's interesting that you ask this - I am directly experiencing it right now as I sit on an airplane from the UK. It took 5 hours to go West-East on this journey, but is taking about 7 East-West. The reason for the difference is a atmospheric phenomena known as the jet stream. The jet stream is a very high altitude wind which always blows from the West to the East across the Atlantic. The planes moving at a constant air speed thus go faster in the West-East direction when they are moving with the wind than in the opposite direction.

Every planet has global wind which are mostly determined by the way the planet rotates and how evenly the Sun illuminates it. On the Earth the equator gets much more Sun than the poles. resulting in warmer air at the equator than the poles and creating circulation cells (or "Hadley Cells") which consist of warm air rising over the equator and then moving North and South from it and back round.

The Earth is also rotating. When any solid body rotates, bits of it that are nearer its axis move slower than those which are further away. As you move north (or south) from the equator, you are moving closer to the axis of the Earth and so the air which started at the equator and moved north (or south) will be moving faster than the ground it is over (it has the rotation speed of the ground at the equator, not the ground which is is now over). This results in winds which always move from the west to the east in the mid latitudes.

One source here - Cornell university

The jet streams are not constant, they change depending on the time of year, x pilot.

True but still always move west to east. The variable is the latitude and can shift north or south and intensity. Current indications show they may be weakening in the last 20 years. Plus there actually more than one prominent jet streams, the mid latitude (polar) and the subtropical jet streams.