Originally Posted by
Indelaware
Well actually, one can confine oneself to thinking in terms of a typical globe. It is when we think of the Earth as flat that we arrive at misunderstandings or when we assume that the globe has a top and a bottom rather than simply a north and south which are based on rotation and magnetic direction and that neither north nor south nor east nor west is the top - for there is no top, except the edge of the atmosphere.
Many, however, are all too soon to think that the shortest air route is the shortest straight line between two point. Often the shortest route deviates based on wind. The straight line is only shortest when there is no wind.
What I meant was that even when looking at the globe most still tend to "flatten it out" and think of it as a 2D map likely mentally (with "edges" that are "the end of the world"), thus perpetuating the "straight line" and having it be a straight line as it fits on a conventional map.
Anyhow, this is a bit OT here, but as you are clearly in the know, you likely know the answer to this: I've always wondered what's the reason why travelling eastward is noticeably quicker than travelling westward. (For example, based on DL schedules: HNL-ATL is 8:38 while ATL-HNL is 10:15, and KIX-HNL is 6:57 while HNL-KIX is 9:51, just to use two examples.) Obviously travelling east one is going against the rotation of the earth. But, the atmosphere does not stay suspended while the earth rotates and instead moves along with it, does it not? So is it then that there are always prevailing winds going towards the east / from the west (due to rotation of a solid object (earth) vs. air of atmosphere?)? The difference in scheduled, and actual, flying times going east vs. west is stark, and I've always wondered why is it so exactly and haven't been able to find clear answers online...so what a better place to ask than FT? (Again, sorry I know it's a bit OT here, but I would think that I'm not alone in satisfying this intellectual curiosity.)