Originally Posted by
chinatraderjmr
... land at the closest airport (RE ANCHORAGE) ...
Both times we sat for 5-6 hours after landing due to NH having to file new flight paths, as well as waiting for alternate landing sites in Canada to open in the morning (I didn't get this part as flights fly overnight between US-ANC all the time)
... Canada is like the middle of the ocean at night and there still must be alternate landing sites avail between ANC-NYC
That's right. ETOPS requirements for twin-engine aircraft (NH flies 777 between NRT-JFK) are not specifically for over-water flights but specify maximum time allowed from "nearest suitable field" for emergency landing. The vast majority of time an aircraft is far away from a suitable airport is when it's over water, but not always.