Do pilots consider the Earth's rotation while flying?

Question

Especially while on long North/South flights. If they don't , won't they tend to reach somewhere else because the earth has moved.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Interesting question. Of course the rotation of the earth has a great deal of effect on the winds. It's called Coriolis effect. It creates counterclockwise wind rotation in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern. So although our real concern is the wind, it's nice to know why it does what it does.

The other reason we have to deal with the earths rotation is that our inertial navigation systems must have time to sense the earth's rotation after we turn them on. The earth is rotating faster at the equator than near the poles so the INS needs to know two things before it starts to navigate. Where is it? That's why we enter the ramp position in latitude and longitude when we align them, actually they align themselves but we push the button that says align, and they must sense that rotation speed so they don't think it's the plane that's moving. All of this can take several minutes in older INSs. Longer the closer you get to the poles and faser near the equator.

And then of course their are the time zones to consider.

Other than that, flying eastbound the sunrises are relatively short and westbound the sunsets last a long time. That damn sun can just hang in the windshield for hours if you are going fast enough. That's why all us pilots have such cool sunglasses.

Hey Robin. The earths rotation doesn't matter? We use air traffic control to navigate because we can't see the ground? hahahahahaha. How the hell do we find Hawaii? No ATC over the pacific other than some folks who write down our position reports. We have to tell them where we are. hahahaha

Answer 2

John B's answer is the best, he flies the big stuff. Even on small aircraft, flights of long duration require that we reset the DG, directional gyro, this can be due to friction in the device but also because during the flight the earth was rotating.

As others have said, the atmosphere is rotating with us. Otherwise, you could go around the world in a day in a hot air balloon. :)

Answer 3

Here's an answer I gave the other day to a question about gravity, weightlessness, and airplanes:

MALIBU CANYON


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

While the atmosphere is not the cause of gravity [the cause is still not known---check out Einstein's space warp and the "Pioneer anomaly", for example: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/my...
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/wa... ], it is useful to mention the atmosphere when talking about airplanes and gravity. For one thing, the atmosphere moves with the earth as the earth rotates (rotational speed of about 1,000 mph at the equator). This is a function of both Coriolis force and gravity. If the atmosphere did not move in synch with the earth's rotation, air travel as we know it would be a very different experience, as the surface of the earth itself would be moving away from or in the opposite direction of (toward) the airplane as it flew, giving "groundspeed" a very different meaning. So, given that the atmosphere itself rotates with the earth, partly because of the earth's gravity, it is not inappropriate to mention the atmosphere in connection with gravity's influence on airplanes, which operate in the lower (relatively speaking, but still oxygen-deprived) regions of the earth's atmosphere. The transient "g-loads" airplanes experience can vary---to several positive g's in aerobatic maneuvers to negative g's (negative g certification limits are usually less liberal than positive g limits). In short, one would have to be further away from earth (i.e., "higher") than conventional airplanes fly in order to be in a sustained less than 1 g environment.
And here are a couple of links on "escape velocity":
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hba...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/escape_velo...

Answer 4

No. The earth rotation is never a factor as to the speed of the aircafrt. The rotation of the eath has other implications such as winds, and weather.

Answer 5

Of course you consider the rotation everytime the time changes due to a different time zone. If you fly west you can get there before you left due to the earths rotation.

Answer 6

Sure...such things as the Coriolis Effect take place. This greatly effects where pilots fly to. They actually have to fly to where there destination is GOING to be, not where it is. Of course this isn't really noticed to greatly because they are constantly checking and correcting their course, but, from an outside persepctive, it does have an effect.

http://uregina.ca/~sauchyn/geog221/coriolis.bmp
http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/3030/3030CoriolisRocket.jpeg
http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~guzman/ast7939/glossary/coriolis_effect.gif

And John Paul is right. Such thigns as wind play a major part as well, perhaps moreso than the Coriolis Effect. However, it shouldn't be completely ignored.

Answer 7

One of these days I will take a flight long enough that I will need to do it. So far, do not care, the earth does not care. I just make sure I have FUN. Good Luck to you!

Answer 8

Point a to point b. Wind plays a bigger part than earths rotation.

Answer 9

no we do not, because of the earths atmosphere moves with us pilots while we fly,,,

Answer 10

Hey, that must be why I get lost all of the time when I take those long drives.