Do boats and planes travel in straight lines?

Question

Right I kinda knew that because of air,sea currents and tides etc, that boats & planes can't travel in a straight line plus the curvature of the earth (which I never took into account) but I thought if there was ideal world of no winds or currents then they could go in a straight line ?

Answer 1

Planes travel in a general straight line but can be affected by wind. They do have to travel fixed routes from one destination to another and as a result when you look at the route they follow it will not be a straight line from A to B.
Motor boats can travel in straight lines but can be affected by wind and the action of the sea.
The captain of the boat needs to plan his route to avoid sand banks, shallow water etc.
Sailing ship need to have the wind blowing at the right angle to the sale and as a result have to run with a zig zag route called tacking.

Answer 2

You could say that because the earth is curved as a boat travels on the surface of the earth then it cannot be a straight line, almost straight but not mathematically straight. There are also lots of shipping lanes just like motorways etc... so the route is not a direct A-B either.

Planes also fly in air corridors but can fly on a vector so you could say that they fly in straight lines unless they maintain their altitude in which case they have the same problem as boats travelling on the surface of the globe

You could also take the view that even any curve is made up of a number of small straight lines

Or then again who cares

Answer 3

Large shipping and planes use "lanes" in busy areas.
On the open ocean shipping can go more or less in a straight line though prevailing winds and the curvature of the earth make that almost impossible to achieve.
Aircraft tend to have certain altitudes and headings that are generaly stuck to. When travelling eastward they'll use the jet streams if they can find them. Though to go in a straight line is just as impossible as in shipping through the same reasons.

Answer 4

Well, no really, the earth is round, so therefore any path that they take would be a curved line (think about take-off, climb to cruise altitude, descent and landing) on a map, as that is a flat representation of a globe, the tracks could appear as straight lines, and there are some destinations that would look as if they flew "straight" to a point, but in reality, no (same for a boat as ocean is not flat)they do not fly in a exact straight line.

Answer 5

On a chart or map the shortest point between two places "Looks like a straight line". in fact a course followed over any distance following the earths curverture is called a "Rhumb Line".
This is in fact the shortest distance ignoring winds, current and tides etc.

Answer 6

Someone above got it half right... They said that becaus the earth is round, they take a curved line... well thats not entirely true, the great circle route is not a straight line on flat surfaces but because the earth is round it is damn close to a straight line on the sphere shaped earth... Boats also can take the great circle routes... you will see in the early days of sea travel, if you look at a map of the routes, they sort of got the idea of the great circle routes...

Answer 7

Hello,

(ANS) In reality all ships, boats & aircraft are subject to the forces of fluid dynamics. Meaning that both air and water are fluids and have similar characteristics, & similar behaviours.

Air & water are subject to turbulance for example, & both have wave forms & flow behaviours, currents & intensity of flow.

Current rate & current flow are the main reason ships & aircraft DONT always travel in dead straight lines.

However, now with moden IT & computer technology aircraft & ships navigation can adjust guidance systems inorder to stay as close as possible to a straight line course. Engines, & Propellors will adjust the course as required taking into account side currents and side wind speeds,etc.

IR

Answer 8

No is the answer to your question. Time+space is not flat, the theory of General Relativity. Geodetics is the short path, not straight line.

Answer 9

No. Take London's Heathrow Airport for example, planes have to make a few circles around the airport while waiting for their turn to land.

Answer 10

I read every word of that. It is brilliant! It just shows how unbelievably different and "convenient" films are to real life. I love it! One thing to add to the list, which is a little similar to the penultimate point, is that ordinary, law-abiding citizens will always solve a murder before and interrogate suspects better than the most established police forces, just like that b*tch from "Murder, She Wrote". She, I hate!