Originally Posted by
snic
The Qantas incident got me thinking: what if the same thing happened on a flight from, say JFK or IAD to PEK? According to the Great Circle Mapper, the plane flies over far northern Canada, the Arctic Ocean near the north pole, and Siberia. That's many thousands of miles where there is no civilization anywhere nearby. So what happens if the plane has to land?
IIRC, flight paths have to maintain the aircraft at all times within a certain distance to an airport. What are those rules, and what are these airports on a US east cost-PEK trip?
Look at the portion of Great Circle Mapper called "ETOPS Rule-Time", try clicking some of the checkboxes or the word "ETOPS" for info.