Why Can't Airplanes Go Straight Up, Hover & Wait For Earth To Revolve

[KittyWampus]

rather than having airplanes fly horizontally across the earth from one place to another...

why can't they go up out of the atmosphere and basically just wait for the earth to revolve and the destination appears underneath it and then descend?

Note- the "airplane" would need capability of hovering...

[hippiepunk]

1. Because Airplanes can't hover

And it would be slower than just regular flying.

[okieinpain]

2. who says they don't :~)

[okieinpain]

3. who says they don't :~)

[Ilsa]

4. What if you want to go east? Would you wait for 23 hours

to get from El Paso to Houston?

Or what if you want to visit the southern hemisphere?

[JohnnyCougar]

31. "Or what if you want to visit the southern hemisphere?"

:think: That's easy...just go up in the air and let gravity take its course, and you'll fall down towards the south! B-)

[Catholic Sensation]

5. oh i dunno

maybe the lack of oxygen if it was to leave the atmosphere?

the fact that would take more time to get to the necessary destination if a plane was to do that?

the fact that people would freeze to death?

the lack of air pressure making the plane explode?

[KittyWampus]

6. so apparently, i managed to come up with a kind of dumb question

ah well, thank you for pointing that all out. :)

[bonito]

7. Well I for one like the way you think!

You'd be surprised what you find off the beaten path.

[HeeBGBz]

8. I thought it was kind of cool

A sort of travel elevator. Go up in one place, come down in another.

Get a patent.

[BikeWriter]

11. Implode.

[LastKnight]

9. well technically...

it can... just take a jump jet (assuming you drop the leaving the atmosphere part) and travel west at the rate of the earth's rotation, and by some undefined frame of reference, you wont be moving. but since the most obvious frame of reference is the earth, it is impossible to 'hover' in one spot and 'travel' at the same time with respect to the earth.

everything is relative.

[KittyWampus]

10. lovely observation and subtle point re: hovering and traveling

almost whimsical in a way.

[LastKnight]

12. thanksya.

i like these theoretical types of things. maybe i should pursue that physics major, afterall...

[KittyWampus]

14. if you do, please don't be dogmatic. go beyond the current paradigm

:)

[Wapsie B]

13. That is what they call thinking outside the box.

I have seen ideas similar in some respects. One used an airplane capable of entering orbit around the earth and returning when it was over its destination. It was supposed to cut long plane trips into almost short hops. I think your idea is cool. That's how things develop.

[LastKnight]

16. its all roughly how an ICBM works if you kinda think about it.

thats why everyone got kinda nervous when the USSR launched Sputnik, it was such an inconsequential satellite, but its what else could be put on the rocket, and how long would it take them to figure out how to control the descent of the projectile well enough to become a feasible weapon.

[lastknowngood]

15. Just us an air balloon and everything should be fine.

n/t

[KittyWampus]

20. eureka

:think:

[Floogeldy]

17. You defnilly deserve an honorary physics degree.

It could be done, with a great big giant fucking hot air balloon attached to the airplane.

;)

[norml]

18. Because the ocean of air moves with the Earth, somewhat.

The movement of the air is far from uniform.

[Redstone]

19. Nice idea, but no.

Hovering takes MUCH more energy than flying.

I could explain the physics of that simple statement, but I'm too tired.

But trust me, hovering takes more energy than flying.

Redstone

[Hissyspit]

28. Plane-like vehicles re-entering the atmosphere has mixed record of success

[Crazy Guggenheim]

21. Because it has the momentum from the earth.

[Floogeldy]

22. Now that was a stupid answer.

:)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

24. Thanks for stopping me before I made a total ass out of myself.

:pals:

[Floogeldy]

25. Anything for you, bro.

;)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

27. Thanks. sniff

[kodi]

23. same reason you dont smash into a wall when you jump up inside a house

.

[DS1]

26. Because flying fast is really fukcing cool

[stlsaxman]

29. Someone posted URL for remote controlled boats that hovered

in the air- then flew around! It was some awesome footage but don't have a link.

[ChoralScholar]

30. plus, the earth only rotates at around 160 miles per hour...

so take that into consideration....