Large passenger planes fly directly over the North Pole to 12000 km.

Large passenger planes fly directly over the North Pole to 12000 km.

An airplane with a special mission does not fly over the traditional natural route over the North Pacific or Alaska, but directly flies over the North Pole, directly flying over1.2000 km. This route was rarely heard of in the past. So, is there any technical risk for large civil airliners to take the Arctic route? It is necessary to stroke this question. In the past, it seemed that only intercontinental missiles could directly cross the North Pole, that is, flying objects deep in the Arctic Ocean or even above the North Pole. If the impact target area of intercontinental missiles launched from the central part of Eurasia is a big city or other important targets in eastern North America, then the ballistic projection will indeed cross the depth of the Arctic, and even individual trajectories will directly cross the Arctic. This trajectory is also an obvious loophole in the defense of intercontinental missiles throughout North America. Because the goal south of 42 degrees north latitude in North America is actually the strategic goal of the United States.

If they want to defend against intercontinental missile attacks from Eurasia, the launch area intercepted in the middle is better, including the deployment area of X-band strategic early warning radar, and the west side is just Alaska; The best location in the east is Greenland. Now Alaska is an American territory and can be deployed at will. Although the sovereignty of Greenland still belongs to Denmark, it is actually in a state of long-term autonomy, but it has long been controlled by the US military. Therefore, Alaska and Greenland have deployed X-band strategic early warning satellites and military bases of North American Air Defense Command. In addition to the strategic early warning radar, Alaska also deployed a mid-course interceptor missile. Because Greenland is mostly covered by ice sheets, it is not easy to deploy interceptors, but there are still early warning bases. There are also American troops on duty for a long time. Two years ago, the White House even threatened to buy Greenland directly, but it was rejected. Actually, it doesn't matter whether you buy it or not. After all, the strategic early warning base of the US military is deployed on the ice sheet of Greenland all the year round.

However, the North American continent is characterized by the widest in the north and the narrowest in the south. Although Alaska is in the west and Greenland is in the east, which can defend against most intercontinental missile attacks from Eurasia, there is still a big "defense gap" between them, that is, the Arctic (point) trajectory. Let's go back to the problem of large civil airliners flying directly to the North Pole. Although the passenger plane taking this route does not fly as high as an intercontinental missile, its trajectory projection on the earth's surface is similar. Laymen also know that the Arctic is actually in the Arctic Ocean, and there is an ice sheet in winter; In summer, the ice near the North Pole may not completely melt, so even in summer, it is very cold, and the temperature is generally below zero. In winter, the temperature in the Arctic can be as low as minus 40 degrees. There may also be an arctic snowstorm. But it's autumn, and the temperature in the Arctic has just begun to cool down. In fact, for the Arctic, whether in winter or summer, the temperature is not a big problem for large civil airliners flying over the sky for a long time.

Because the large passenger plane cruises in the stratosphere above 65438+100000 meters, the normal temperature outside is MINUS 50 degrees or even MINUS 60 degrees. This temperature is lower than the normal temperature of the Arctic in winter, and the altitude of 10,000 meters is basically unaffected by tropospheric storms. Therefore, whether in winter and summer or in spring and autumn, long-range large passenger planes can fly directly over the North Pole or even the North Pole when necessary. In summer, there is an extreme day, all day; In winter, all night, of course. However, the navigation system of large civil aircraft is advanced and can fly normally day and night. Therefore, weather, day and night, navigation and outside temperature do not affect the direct flight of large long-range passenger planes to the North Pole or even over the North Pole. There are only two real effects, which make the Arctic route less common. The first is the general requirements of modern civil aircraft. If one engine breaks down, it needs another normal engine to maintain a single stable flight for 3 to 4 hours, and then find the nearest airport to land. In this way, it is best to have a large alternate airport to choose from every 1500 to 2000 kilometers along the way.

It is difficult to meet this requirement by flying directly to the North Pole, and there is no need to reserve an airport in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Second, because this route is rarely used. Therefore, if you want to fly this route, you must apply for a specific route to the territorial powers near the North Pole in advance, such as Russia and Canada. These two reasons lead to the fact that the route over the North Pole is only suitable for one-time use by special planes, rather than frequent fixed flights. Model 777 is obviously used to perform this task. This is also the longest existing civil aircraft that can fly directly to 1.8 km. In order to avoid a slight detour across the Arctic, it flies directly to1.20,000 km.