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It doesn’t matter Dig because assuming a Flat Earth gives you a similar result to the curved earth because the earth is so big it is almost flat in that context.
That is the answer and you can apply it to many things. I never factor in the earth curvature when I am working on the deck at my house for example, I assume everything is flat because it might as well be.
Before we move onto the vacuum of space, I want to be sure that your answer to my question is that the sun moves quicker over Australia than it does in the USA when comparing the same seasonal day. Is this correct?
Assuming a flat earth for training purposes would have DRAMATIC consequences if the earth was actually a ball. Flying a mere 90 miles at gyro-level would put the surface of the earth more than a mile farther below the plane than it was when it originally reached cruising altitude.
After a 3000 mile flight, you’d be 1143 miles above the surface of the earth. The ISS is supposed to be at 250 miles.
Already addressed Mike.
For a moving aircraft the attitude change is linear – at 450 Knots it is a smooth progressive 1 degree change spread across the first 8 minutes, then 1 degree spread across the next 8 minutes and 1 degree for every 8 minutes after that.
Aircraft have this built in. A pilot only needs to adhere to the instrumentation on the dashboard and this is worked out for them and done in a way that you cannot detect it. Even if the whole 1 degree maneuver every 8 minutes was made in one move, I doubt it would be that noticeable.
A lot of the arguments you guys make here are unnecessary of you can comprehend how big the earth really is. Imagine an eternal circle. It’s circumference is a flat line. The earth is not eternal, but very big, so appears as a flat line. But if you zoom out enough, you will eventually see the curve.
Case closed, let’s move on.
Yes or no Mike.
Does the sun move across the Australian sky considerably faster than it does in the USA if we compare the same seasonal days. For example, the summer solstice or the winter solstice.
For those who don’t know, pilots keep their planes level according to the gyro that was spun up on the runway. ANY deviation from this gyro-level will show on the attitude meter, raising or lowering the artificial wings with regard to the artificial horizon on the attitude meter. Even a TEMPORARY dip of only 1 degree will put the artificial wings below the artificial horizon on the meter – letting the pilot know his nose is dipped down. At a cruising speed of 550 mph, 8 minutes of flight time is 73 miles. So at the end of a 3000 mile flight, the pilot’s meter will tell him he’s nose diving at a 45 degree angle. After a 6000 mile flight, his instrument will tell him he’s dive bombing at 90 degrees straight down. Why? Because his instruments are calibrated to the gyro that REMAINS perfectly level with the runway he took off from… no matter how far he flies.
There is no manual adjustment any pilot makes to gradually dip his nose down. Nor is there any fancy mechanism that does it for him. He knows he’s flying level based solely on the level of the gyro when he was on the runway. If he deviates from runway level at all, his instrument will show this deviation, and inform him that he is no longer flying level.
Lol Mike. Incorrect. What doesn’t exist is a sun that travels across the Australian sky considerably faster than it does in the USA. This is another log and plank argument from the flatties.
Read this. It comprehensively answers the first question. If you have a further question about this, please find the answer embedded below. Only ask a further question if the answer is not below. Much appreciated.
Aircraft altitude is measured (inferred) by atmospheric pressure. The aircraft is usually flown at an altitude that maintains constant ambient pressure (by pilot or autopilot, as the case may be). Changes in local barometric pressure (provided by air traffic control) are used to recalibrate the aircraft altimeter. As long as the aircraft is flown at a constant ambient pressure (hence constant altitude), it will be following the earth’s curvature (as the atmosphere is attached to the spherical earth and has same properties at same distance from the center, in an ideal case) as the altitude is measured from the surface, which is curved, and not a plane.
Think about the gravitational potential energy of the aircraft. To climb (which is actually flying in a straight line when you consider the curvature of the earth), the aircraft has to gain energy. In a level flight attitude, it doesn’t gain any energy, so it will stay at the same altitude. A path that doesn’t gain or lose altitude is an ellipse that goes around the earth.
Another way of thinking about it is to consider how “down” changes as the aircraft travels. The weight of the aircraft always acts towards the centre of the earth, and is matched (in level flight) by the lift of the wings. Imagine if you had a model aircraft suspended on a piece of string, dangled from your hand. If you hold the string and carry the model a quarter of the way around the earth, the bottom of the model will still point down (towards the centre of the earth). The model has rotated 90 degrees, without you having to rotate it by hand.
When you trim for level flight, you do so by finding the pitch attitude where your speed and altitude remain constant (or at least stable: atmospheric conditions might make them fluctuate a lot). That attitude might be a touch more nose-down than it would be if the earth were flat, but it’s imperceptible.
So we have two opposing effects, here: the plane isn’t going fast enough to escape the Earth attraction; but the lift pulls up the plane hard enough that it keeps flying. But lift depends, among other things, on the density of air around the plane: the higher the planes fly, the weaker lift is. So, all in all, the plane flies in a layer of air at the same pressure, which in turn follows approximately the surface of the Earth.
It’s no different than driving. If you drive absolutely straight you’ll eventually leave the road. The road lines are meant to be followed. So what is equivalent to the road lines in flight? Air pressure. The air pressure reduces the further you are from the surface. Pilots and autopilots follow the air pressure gradient, trying to keep the plane at a set air pressure. This pressure is used rather than GPS or “straight flight” because it’s one of the many factors that affects flight efficiency – speed vs air resistance vs load bearing capacity of the aircraft. They are flying, or attempting to fly, in a pressure range that is going to cost the least to accomplish the various goals of the airline. The air pressure varies according to many factors, but the main factor is height from sea level, and so by flying inside a specific range of pressures, they maintain a reasonably constant height from sea level. Since “sea level” pressure is curved along with the earth, then what you find is that they automatically follow the curvature of the earth. In other words, the planes are flying slightly down all the time.
That’s the long and short of it. As these 600 mph machines go that 1 mile forward, both gravity and air pressure force the plane down those 8 inches. More, actually; these massive metal monstrosities have to put up a fight to be able stay up in the air! That’s what the elevators, rudders, engines, airfoils, etc. are all there for.
The aircraft does not maintain a constant distance to the surface of the earth. It simply maintains a level, where the atmospheric pressure is at a set target. To clarify: Autopilot (or the pilot) wants to maintain a contstant reading on the altimeter. This reading is merely a calibrated difference to a reference level, which normally is set to 1013,25hPa (or 29,92inHg) on cruise flight. This means that maintaining an altitude of about 30000ft, you want to maintain a pressure level of 300hPa. I say about 30000ft, because the true altitude of this level varies greatly, affected by airmass temperature and air pressure.
Assuming the “8 inches per mile” is accurate, that means you’d have to “nose down” to a pitch of -1” per 7920” flown, or a pitch of -0.007 degrees. That’s pretty much level flight. The pilot nor autopilot would even be able to discern the difference. You can’t even eyeball 1 degree let alone 7/1000ths of a degree.
The force needed for turning is 1/10001/1000 of the gravitational force. This is negligible in the planes power and other settings, and also much smaller than any irregularities such as varying air density, wind speed etc. Conclusions: the adjustment for “turning down” is so little that it’s negligible.
For anybody believing the absurdity that pilots gauge their attitude (level) on ambient pressure, you only need to Google “gyroscope airplane”. For anybody who has experienced turbulence on a plane, you already know that ambient pressure isn’t built in precise layers, such that a pilot could just navigate via pressure and keep his plane at a stable altitude or attitude.
Ignorance is bliss. Without becoming a pilot or studying physics it is obvious to state that air pressure would have an average measurement over the long distance travelled in a plane in say a one minute period of flight. And I’m betting that air pressure average doesn’t fluctuate that much around the globe and is pretty consistent or consistent enough to not deceive the aircraft into flying into outer-space despite the fact that they don’t have enough power to do so anyway. Your point is debunked. You can choose not to believe that because it is your right to be deluded.
Sunray theory debunked
I have already debunked this one ages ago, but good to have reminders once in a while.
Given that you can work out the distance of the sun by following the lines of light to their point, it seems too easy to send a balloon up there and get photos of this spotlight. So where are the photos and how come the light of this very close spotlight can light up half the earth? Further, when a child in one of these houses lets a gas balloon go into the sky, how come it won’t burst into flames when it gets to a hundred or a thousand feet or whatever that distance is. Lol.
Southern Hemisphere debunks the Flat Earth again
Now back to the Australian sun. Where are the YouTube videos showing the sun speeding across the Australian sky at a noticeable quicker speed than when viewed from the USA sky? Help me out here guys. I really want to see this in action.
Isn’t it funny how you guys rely on the Northern Hemisphere because in your model there is a point where longitudinal lines meet, but the Southern Hemisphere completely debunks you because your model lacks a southern point or pole, thus raises a myriad of huge problems for you.
If you think about your model, all you need to do is bring the southern longitudinal lines down to a point too, and many of your problems go away just like that.
Another Flat Earth Fail
How can a bag of air or a “space suit” withstand the vacuum of space?
We know that a vacuum chamber that doesn’t even get close to the vacuum of space needs an 8 to 10 feet thick barrier of concrete supported with some inches thick steel walls to withstand the vacuum, so how does the thin walled space suits withstand this vacuum? Much less the thin aluminum foiled walled lunar lander?Any answer at this point would be refreshing!
In case you want to bone up on the vacuum issue watch this:
In the words of our claim to fame “debunked” kid, t8 – Game Over!
Stop jumping the gun Dig. I want to get to this, but first you need to address my question to you properly as I did with you.
From an observer on the ground in Australia, does the sun move noticeably quicker across the sky than the an observer on the ground in the USA on comparable seasonal days?
Gee, didn’t you see my answer? Didn’t you even count it as a legitimate answer? If not then why not? It was the same answer you gave me!
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