?Why don't planes fly over the Pacific Ocean
?Why don't planes fly over the Pacific Ocean
In our time, airplanes are considered one of the most important, fastest and safest means of transportation, because they are carefully inspected before departure, tools and sensors are available that can detect and monitor every system, and corrective measures are often taken without any additional intervention from the crew.
Almost all countries of the world are connected to a large network of airports and thousands of flights, which has made the world a small village. Despite this, there are still places that are prohibited or over which it is not preferable to fly for various reasons, but most of them are definitely for security reasons in order to ensure the safety of travelers.
The areas prohibited for flying include some mountainous areas in the Himalayas, as well as the Tibetan Plateau, the largest plateau in the world, which reaches a height of more than 4,000 meters. There are no landing sites, and therefore pilots will be forced to significantly reduce their altitude in emergency situations. According to aviation rules, the pilot must land the plane. To an altitude of 10,000 feet in emergency situations, and with the presence of these mountain ranges under the aircraft, this is impossible to achieve, which makes flying over the Tibetan Plateau and the high mountain ranges impossible for aircraft.
Consequently, the air will become unsuitable for breathing, and passengers will be forced to wear oxygen masks for twenty minutes, and this will increase the possibility of accidents.
Pacific It is the largest body of water on the surface of the Earth, with an area of 169 million square kilometers (a third of the Earth’s area).
The deepest place in it reaches 11 km, and it is the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench.
In fact, there are instructions that must be adhered to when flying (ETOPS), and these instructions stipulate that the nearest airport must be located no more than three hours away, and thus in emergency situations pilots will have the opportunity to land and save many lives, despite the presence of planes. It can travel long distances without refueling, but it will still be safer if there is an airport nearby.
?Why don't planes fly over the Pacific Ocean
There are many destinations to which travel requires crossing the Pacific Ocean, such as: the Hawaiian Islands and others. It turns out that you can fly and there is nothing preventing that, but the general flow of traffic remains low.
For the purpose of safety measures, aircraft pilots use curved routes to cross from Asia to America and vice versa, because encountering a problem with the plane while flying over the Pacific Ocean will become a confusing matter for them due to the difficulty of determining a landing place that provides protection from accidents, so they choose methods that include The largest number of airports as a precaution to confront any emergency.
Also, most airlines do not intend to complete their flights by flying over the Pacific Ocean. Rather, you find them choosing to fly on circuitous routes that often pass over land areas. You may think that this is useless because the straight route is shorter than the curved route, but this theory is incorrect. Do not forget that the Earth is not flat, but spherical, and therefore the roads are curved It is shorter than a straight one, so the flight will be completed in less time and will be more efficient due to the fuel consumption it saves.
In addition to the previously mentioned reason, commercial airlines prefer to follow curved routes to travel between the United States and Asia, because they consider this safer than straight routes, as they fly over Canada and Alaska to save time and fuel, which will naturally increase the company’s profits.
Pilots also feel a sense of security and confidence when following curved roads, because encountering a problem with the plane while flying over the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean will become a confusing and dangerous matter for them due to the difficulty of determining a landing place that provides protection from accidents, so they choose routes that include The largest number of airports as a precaution to confront any emergency.
Source: websites