.
Quote from: Neil Obstat on June 08, 2018, 08:47:21 AM
.
I wonder how many of the participants realize in advance that the time they spend flying over the Arctic will be in total darkness?
.
Yes, that would stink. If the whole point is to show that Antarctica is a continent that can be flown over, then the darkness doesn't really help the cause.
.
I said "the Arctic," not
Antarctica. It will be as much
daytime as you can get in the Antarctic, one month into the fall season, which for the southern hemisphere is their spring. So the sun will be starting to climb higher over Antarctica but won't be at its maximum yet which doesn't happen until late December (winter solstice). The schedule has them leaving Rio Gallegos, Argentina, at 1:05 am (night) and flying over Alexander I Island in Antarctica at 4:00 am. Look up Alexander I Island and see, it's right next to the horn-like peninsula that protrudes toward the horn of South America. The time of sunrise there that day in Antarctica is 4:18 am. So by the time the plane is in daylight the ocean will probably be out of view and only Antarctica will be visible in all directions. If they see any ocean at all it will likely be covered with ice so it won't be evident. There might be some darkness over the horizon in one direction opposite the sun but I doubt it will be very noticeable.
.
Their sunlight will then continue all across the continent. I don't see any mention of where the plane will be at sunset but that must be past the South Pole. They show 5 identifiable places in Antarctica over which the plane will fly: Alexander I Island, Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, South Pole, Vostok Station and Casey Station, the exit point. There appears to be some ambiguity regarding where the plane will be when the sun sets, but apparently it's after passing Casey Station:
11:00 pm - Estimated exit from
Antarctica over Casey Station <-- 11:38 pm New York time?
- 11:38 pm Sunset. .
11:38 pm seems pretty late for sunset, unless this is due to being south of the antarctic circle, where the sun stays up 24 hours a day during the winter solstice.
.
So everyone will get the best daytime view possible for that time of year over Antarctica, which would seem to be the principal purpose of this flight, that is, second only to trying to break the world record for circuмpolar round-the-world flights.
.
Since the first objective, really, is doing this FAST, the plane crew has a real incentive to encourage all the passengers to be back on the plane ASAP at each fuel stop. They'll be in a hurry with the re-fueling process too, but I'm not familiar with what that entails so I don't know what kind of problems could come up. You could write a whole book of intrigue and suspense based on this theme. As with any interaction with large corporations, you might not be getting the straight scoop when you ask for information or request specific services or accessibility.
.
But regarding the passengers, many of whom may be all geared up for data connection all along the way, at least some of whom will be in a big anxious hurry to download and upload data at a ground station with better Internet access than they had been able to get during the flight and on the plane (imagine 150 journalists all scrambling for one Internet connection), check this out:
.
During the stopovers (at minimum), I'll be broadcasting live on social media and relaying any data that was unable to be sent from in the air. Prior to the journey, I'll be setting up a website that will plot my location as I check in through the in-flight Internet and setting up communications with outside supporters to relay data to them in real time..
I hope he also sets up arrangements with Rio Gallegos and Perth and Beijing so that he will be assured of having readily-available high speed Internet access without delay at each stop. It seems to me the most fail-safe approach would be to have your own independent satellite-based Internet connection so you can make arrangements to step off the plane and set up in the open air on the tarmac (satellites often require direct unobstructed line of sight for assured connection) where you can be self-sufficient uploading your data. If things don't go as planned, he ought to carry along with him more than sufficient memory capacity to keep a copy of all his data with him in the event that anything goes wrong with Internet connections at the refueling stops.
.
Some day, someone will try to break this record by having 2, 3 or 4 planes: the crew and all the passengers would disembark with their carry-on luggage (no luggage stowed by check-in, they could use that space for fuel if possible), and at one or more stops, everyone would simply board the waiting fully-fueled plane so as to save the time of re-fueling.
.
The only other way of doing it faster would be to use a plane like the Concord (which has been de-commissioned) and fly faster than Mach 1, at higher elevation, to cut the duration of the flight. Could get better photography opportunities as well!
Topic: Circuм-polar flight scheduled for October, 2018 (Read 2000 times)