Flight time below the equator

Flight times.  My favorite.  In the "northern hemisphere" they prove a flat-earth and in the "southern hemisphere" they disprove a flat-earth... or so they say.  I believe that the closer you are the the rim, and the higher you are in the air, the the more and more you are effected by what I call associative time dilation. To you, it seems like you are on an eight hour flight, and to the observers on the ground, you are on an eight hour flight.  But in actuality, time for you is moving much faster than people on the ground.  Once you descend, your time-frame aligns with the terrestrial observers and neither is the wiser.  Both parties feel like eight hours have passed, but the proximity to the rim of the earth and the height you are flying at, where the atmolayer's protection is the weakest, cause your time to move faster. 

I am currently formulating experiments to test this hypothesis.

You can waste your time experimenting if you want...but time dilation doesn't account for the fact that the plane will use almost twice as much fuel. My father works in airline planning and were this nearly doubled distance the case, it would be obvious to everyone because of the extra fuel and cost..

You can attribute it to weather conditions if you'd like. I'm simply saying that flight delays are incredibly common. Have you never had your flight delayed at an international airport? You can be sitting there half a day waiting for your plane to arrive.

Time isn't really the issue. If distances were off by as much as FE would suggest the gross underestimate of fuel need to make the trip would be extremely apparent to anyone with half a brain involved in flight planning.

Quote from: trig on June 06, 2012, 06:06:26 AM

Quote from: Irushwithscvs on June 05, 2012, 10:49:34 PM

Have you ever been on an international flight? They're always a lot longer than the carrier estimates, for the obvious reason you just pointed out.

I have been in lots of international flights, and they are precise to within some 10 minutes. Since several years ago, when airliners were required to reserve a landing slot before taking off, the time of actual flight has been very consistent, even though the waiting time before departing is sometimes stretched to hours.

And your use of the word "always" is totally wrong or totally ill intended. If every single international flight South of the United States or Europe had a delay of hours, your babble would have some sense. But with just one flight that departs and lands on time your whole theory collapses.

And airlines usually have better than 90% on-time history.

Please quote a source for that figure.

According to the Department of Transportation, the average on-time arrival rate is 75% among the 16 largest carriers.

http://www.gadling.com/2011/06/08/airline-industry-best-and-worst-of-april-2011/

"Overall, the airline industry posted an average on-time arrival rate of 75.5 percent. This means that a quarter of the time, they miss the mark. It's almost as easy as being a weather man!"

1 in 4 world-wide flights were delayed. Weather conditions, or a slight misunderstanding of the earth's shape?

It is not that 1 on 4 flights were delayed, just that 1 in 4 were not on time. This could mean early as well. I myself have been on international flights below the equator that arrived ahead of schedule.

And this 75% was for April 2011 only. It is quite possible that other months the on time rate was different, even 90%. What you would want to do, is find data for on-time rates across a wide range of years, not a single month. Then we could show that above the equator, flights on average arrive ahead of schedule, whereas below the equator, flights arrive too late.

This would help support FE. Sadly, the linked article does not.

It is not that 1 on 4 flights were delayed, just that 1 in 4 were not on time. This could mean early as well. I myself have been on international flights below the equator that arrived ahead of schedule.

And this 75% was for April 2011 only. It is quite possible that other months the on time rate was different, even 90%. What you would want to do, is find data for on-time rates across a wide range of years, not a single month. Then we could show that above the equator, flights on average arrive ahead of schedule, whereas below the equator, flights arrive too late.

This would help support FE. Sadly, the linked article does not.

You may also consider planes departing late.  The arrival delay is the sum of the delays, not only the travel time one...
To be fair, you should also take a look at the return trip, assuming that the flight paths are identical (they are often different)
I've found a useful tool to gather informations :
http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByAirport.do
Please select "On-time performance ratings" item.
You can get ratios and more interesting, mean delay times. You should note for instance, for a LHR-JFK travel and the two last months, that the best result is worth 80%.

In fact the real interesting value should be the delay between crew-planned flight times and the actual ones. Unfortunately this is not a public information.
This raises another previously raised question: As the fuel is one of the most watched parameters on a plane,how such alleged discrepancies are unnoticed every day on every single flight?

Quote from: Pongo on June 06, 2012, 01:10:41 AM

Flight times.  My favorite.  In the "northern hemisphere" they prove a flat-earth and in the "southern hemisphere" they disprove a flat-earth... or so they say.  I believe that the closer you are the the rim, and the higher you are in the air, the the more and more you are effected by what I call associative time dilation. To you, it seems like you are on an eight hour flight, and to the observers on the ground, you are on an eight hour flight.  But in actuality, time for you is moving much faster than people on the ground.  Once you descend, your time-frame aligns with the terrestrial observers and neither is the wiser.  Both parties feel like eight hours have passed, but the proximity to the rim of the earth and the height you are flying at, where the atmolayer's protection is the weakest, cause your time to move faster. 

I am currently formulating experiments to test this hypothesis.

You can waste your time experimenting if you want...but time dilation doesn't account for the fact that the plane will use almost twice as much fuel. My father works in airline planning and were this nearly doubled distance the case, it would be obvious to everyone because of the extra fuel and cost..

Not really, the prices come already with great inflation.  Since each ticket costs a few hundred simoleans, multiply the price by 200 (number of people) and you get many thousands of dollars total.

The flight computers just automatically alter the speed, and the continents are warped in a lot of ways.

This explains everything.

Quote from: Megaman on August 07, 2012, 07:07:51 AM

Quote from: Pongo on June 06, 2012, 01:10:41 AM

Flight times.  My favorite.  In the "northern hemisphere" they prove a flat-earth and in the "southern hemisphere" they disprove a flat-earth... or so they say.  I believe that the closer you are the the rim, and the higher you are in the air, the the more and more you are effected by what I call associative time dilation. To you, it seems like you are on an eight hour flight, and to the observers on the ground, you are on an eight hour flight.  But in actuality, time for you is moving much faster than people on the ground.  Once you descend, your time-frame aligns with the terrestrial observers and neither is the wiser.  Both parties feel like eight hours have passed, but the proximity to the rim of the earth and the height you are flying at, where the atmolayer's protection is the weakest, cause your time to move faster. 

I am currently formulating experiments to test this hypothesis.

You can waste your time experimenting if you want...but time dilation doesn't account for the fact that the plane will use almost twice as much fuel. My father works in airline planning and were this nearly doubled distance the case, it would be obvious to everyone because of the extra fuel and cost..

Not really, the prices come already with great inflation.  Since each ticket costs a few hundred simoleans, multiply the price by 200 (number of people) and you get many thousands of dollars total.

The flight computers just automatically alter the speed, and the continents are warped in a lot of ways.

This explains everything.

Hehe, he is trying to be serious, and you are mocking him. It is cruel.