why doesn't airplane go accross the north pole...?

Question

...while going from India to U.S. or othr way around? instead it goes around the globe. wouldn't it be closer if it goes through the north pole. is it possible for the plane to pass from that area? ...Thanks and plz don't give me guesses. only answer if u really know it for the fact.

Answer 1

The main concern is safety of the passengers if the plane has to come down in an emergency. Rubber dinghies in the Atlantic or Pacific actually work, although they are scary to think about. But after a belly landing on the ice somewhere in the Yukon, or northern Greenland, or the Siberian tundra, staying alive until rescue is a lot scarier to think about.

Answer 2

From CBC.CA


Flying over North Pole could mean shorter flight times
Last Updated: Friday, November 10, 2000 | 11:58 PM ET
CBC News
The opening up of the last frontier in air space could mean significantly shorter international flight times for Canadian passengers. The trick lies in flying over the North Pole rather than going around the globe.

Trans-polar flights from North America to Asia could be done non-stop and could cut flying time by up to five hours. That means huge savings to airlines and less flight time for passengers on those long hauls.

Transport Canada officials estimate these time savings by going over the North Pole:

* New York to Honk Kong would take five hours less than today's routes,
* Toronto to Beijing would take four hours less
* and a flight from Toronto to Delhi flying over the North Pole would cut two hours of flying time.

The Delhi flight would also save an airline between $18,000 and $19,000 in fuel. It's not clear if any of those savings will be passed on to passengers.

The idea of trans-polar commercial air routes isn't new, but it's taken time because of political wrangling since the end of the Cold War. Now Russia, Canada, the U.S., China and Mongolia have at least agreed to test flights over the area, limited to two per route per hour.

The feasibility study is almost complete. And so far the indications are that airlines are more than satisfied.

But there are still problems to overcome. The main one is language. NavCanada, our non-profit air traffic control authority, has agreed to help teach English to Russian and Chinese air traffic controllers so that all flight controllers can understand one another.
Continue Article

There's also the problem of the existing infrastructure in those countries, which Canadian officials say is not up to international standards. For its part, Transport Canada says it's satisfied that it will have no problem accommodating an increase in flow along the polar routes.

The problems may take a while to work out, so officials here say not to expect any permanent commercial air routes over the North Pole until early 2002.

Answer 3

Actually many airlines especially those of Russia and Canada are doing this already and investigating adding additional polar routes.

Problems in the past have mostly been political, but with the fall of the Soviet Union that is no longer an issue.

As far as weather, the polar weather is actually a benefit as there tends to be less wind and storms.

The biggest remaining problem is the lack of an extensive air traffic control system in the region.

Answer 4

Has a airplane used that diverse direction around the planet, i'm not particular. All i understand is that between the first planes to ever fly global huge non-end change right into a B-fifty 2. the first airplane to fly global huge non-end without refueling change into the only designed, equipped and flown by Burt Rutan.

Answer 5

How do you know they don't?

Maybe they use a "great circle" route. A great circle route follows the path of an arc on a circle (provides shortest path between two points on a sphere). If the great circle route is over the North Pole then I assume they would take it.

However, they are also designated air "lanes" that most countries recognize as permitted paths between locations. These paths recognize that flying over certain locations at certain altitudes is not allowed by the host country. So, maybe there restrictions which make flying over the North or South poles uneconomical.

Answer 6

I do not know f it is closer or not but there are several other reasons.
1. Politics. Russia did not like us for a long time so flying to India through their air space would have ticked them off.
2. Money. By flying through Europe and other areas more passengers can be picked up and droped off along the way than if the plane took a polar route.

And it may be shorter but I do not know.

Answer 7

The main reason they dont fly over the poles is mostly down to saftey. they have to keep in constant radar and radio contact. Alot of aircraft wont even fly over vast oceans if they can help it. They stick to Populated land as much as possible so if there is an emergency they can find a populated runway.

Answer 8

Theres many reasons why the plane went the longer way it would be safer, would you prefer to die in icy spires? And second The planes of the 21st century can go through any hwere in the world at any time, and the new class planes can circle the earth in a few minutes or hours. Where are you living? 1841? lol im messing wiht ya.

Answer 9

The flight path is selected based upon the shortest path and the prevailing winds and the polar jet stream.

The outside ground temperature is not important. On my last flight from London to NYC at 40,000 feet the outside the airplane temperature was -60C over the North Atlantic.

Answer 10

One did, in the Santa Clause 2 movie! The pilots were picking up the singing Santa decoration from Santa's factory on their radio, & they had to quickly turn the decoration off.