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Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
...Now much of that distration, for me, comes from being able to stare outside the window and wonder at the cloud formations, or at the 'cartographic' imagery that the world seems to take on at such great heights and I marvel at the fact that there are no borders between continents!

However with such a long journey nightfall comes quickly and readily. (Twice I think) due to a spinning planet and adverse navigation - I'm not sure.

I was very grateful of SERENITY at 36,000 feet and yet again very apprecitative of Joss and his wonderful imagination.

Anyone else see SERENITY at such a great height?

Just thought I'd share that.
Cheers
Ric

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I think you mean that the countries have no borders...The Continents surely do...They're generally called shorelines...

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You were probably on a 'great circle' route , which is an oddity to terrestrial folk , generally...There was probably a somewhat 'polar' leg to the journey , which could account for your notions about the evening seeming to come a couple of times...The sun is far south against the face of the globe at this time of year , so a flight leg with a polar component would account for the sun being below the horizon more than one would generally expect...

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Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
In fact much of the turbulence we went through added much authenticity to the reaver chase. It was fantastic!!

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Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
out2theblack wrote:

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I think you mean that the countries have no borders...The Continents surely do...They're generally called shorelines...

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Ha. Yes indeed Except Turkey of course... or North, Central and South America... But yes I get you're point

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You were probably on a 'great circle' route , which is an oddity to terrestrial folk , generally...There was probably a somewhat 'polar' leg to the journey , which could account for your notions about the evening seeming to come a couple of times...The sun is far south against the face of the globe at this time of year , so a flight leg with a polar component would account for the sun being below the horizon more than one would generally expect...

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Fascinating. Out of curiosity how do you know this, about the 'polar' leg of a flight? Is that a common route for commercial flights?

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Flyer for more than 25 years now...They expect us to learn and retain a lot of this stuff , and who can blame 'em ?

Yes , the great circle routes are very common , and used every day in long-haul flying , especially if a crossing between hemispheres is part of the flight path .

Turkey's a continent ?

Oh , I think you mean it connects Europe and Asia...OK , that's correct...

Interesting side note , among glider pilots , which I also happen to be , what airplane pilots call 'turbulence' , we frequently employ as 'lift', so that we may Soar...Like a 'leaf on the wind'...

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Scho adds it to the list of things to get before his next flight.

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Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:


Wonderful!! Glad to read you didn't acquire all this knowledge playing a microsoft flight sim!

Gliding too eh! There is a gliding club very near me here in Kent, and last year I did some work with a web designer who was waxing lyrical about it. I came very close to having a go, then work became very busy and I've not found the impetus to look at it again.

One more question if I may please.... Does a video camera interfere with instrumentation on a plane? Because I really wanted to take some footage of a landing on this trip, but everytime on approach about twenty minutes from landing the message would come over: could we switch all electronic equipment off! It's so frustrating! I love landings!!! Just once I'd like to capture it all on film....

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Originally posted by MSB:
Well Mythbusters ran several trials of a variety of electrical devices and they were unable to replicate interference of any kind...but apparently it's a possibility so why take chances??

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One of my friends IS a scientist , and one of the principal causes of com interference ( and there are many ) is the consumer-grade electronics (vid-cams) that are flown with their scientific experiment packages...

I remember a directive issued by FAA concerning these sorts of issues in flight , and a lot of med-evac choppers had experienced issues in proximity to radios and other equipment on the ground at event scenes and hospitals...

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