Redngold From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 6907 posts, RR: 51 Reply 4, posted (9 years 2 weeks 6 days ago) and read 1771 times:
Isn't SIN-UIO the longest possible? I think I read somewhere that Singapore and Quito, Ecuador, are exactly opposite (polar opposites) nearest to the equator... which would be the longest possible great circle.
SIN-UIO, 10649 nm
AKL-GIB doesn't look right... If you plug in GIB-AKL, although it shows 10749 nm, I think that is an error. I did a straight-line great circle mapping on a globe, and it doesn't even go near Antarctica.
Here's the great circle line I ended up with AKL-GIB (roughly):
AKL
Cook Islands (N.Z. territory)
Guadalajara, Mexico
east of Mobile, Alabama, US
Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, US
north of Terceira, Azores (Portugal territory)
Gibraltar
Ben From Switzerland, joined Aug 1999, 1391 posts, RR: 52 Reply 5, posted (9 years 2 weeks 6 days ago) and read 1735 times:
The longest possible great circle on the earth is 10,800 nautical miles... so you're pretty close to that limit.
Each minute of latitude is one nautical mile. There are 60 minutes in a degree, and 180 degrees in half of the earth by following a great circle. That = 10,800 nm.
Redngold From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 6907 posts, RR: 51 Reply 6, posted (9 years 2 weeks 6 days ago) and read 1723 times:
Yes, I understand that 10,800 nm is the limit; but the great circle plotting of AKL-GIB over Antarctica just doesn't make sense!
Take a look at the plot of AKL-MAD... It's much more what I'd expect for AKL-GIB -- going north, then west, and finally south. AKL-GIB should be almost due northeast for the entire trip.
TFJamie From Iceland, joined Mar 2004, 120 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (9 years 2 weeks 6 days ago) and read 1713 times:
if you look at the coordinates AKL-GIB are around 7 minutes from being 180 degrees apart in the E-W direction and the difference in the S-N coords is 51 minutes
In UIO-SIN the difference in S-N coords is 1 degree and 13 minutes and 2.5 degrees from being 180 degrees apart in the E-W direction, so the distance should be less
A flaw in this is the difference in the size of longitudes, but polar opposites have the same S-N coords and are 180 deg. apart in the E-W direction.
Redngold From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 6907 posts, RR: 51 Reply 8, posted (9 years 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1671 times:
AKL-GRZ is 10743 nm, and also has a route much more like what I would approximate for AKL-GIB.
AKL-GIB the other way, by my estimate:
AKL
SYD
just south of MLB
northern edge of the Maldives
ashore on Africa east northeast of Salalah, Oman
just north of Medina, Saudia Arabia
just south of Alexandria, Egypt
just south of Sfax, Tunisia
GIB
Olympus69 From Canada, joined Jun 2002, 1737 posts, RR: 8 Reply 9, posted (9 years 2 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1596 times:
AKL and GIB are so close to being 180 degrees of longitude apart that the position of the airports in relation to the cities (for Auckland anyway) could affect which direction is shorter.
USAFHummer From United States of America, joined exactly 13 years ago today! , 10685 posts, RR: 54 Reply 10, posted (9 years 2 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1555 times:
La Coruna, Spain (LCG) - Christchurch, New Zealand (CHC) : 10769 nm
Redngold From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 6907 posts, RR: 51 Reply 13, posted (9 years 2 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 1495 times:
USAFHummer:
That's a great one! It's much more like what I would have expected from AKL-GIB... the smooth double curve.
SQ452:
That's the same error that was coming up with AKL-GIB.
Blackbird1331 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 1892 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (9 years 2 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 1465 times:
Call me dizzy. Glad it's time for bed.
Cameras shoot pictures. Guns shoot people. They have the guns.
TFJamie From Iceland, joined Mar 2004, 120 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (9 years 2 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 1437 times:
Like said before 10786 is the unbeaten record of AKL-OZP (Moron, Spain).
Isn't it always shortest over the poles if the places are polar opposites, and in fact that any direction would come out the same if flown in a straight line (Look at the poles themselves, any direction you go from them, and you will end up at the other one).
Timz From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 6465 posts, RR: 8 Reply 17, posted (9 years 2 weeks 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1299 times:
Maximum possible distance is 10801.26 nm on the WGS84 spheroid. Auckland to Moron does indeed look like 10786.26 nm; initial course from Auckland would be 326.3 degrees true.
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