Is the flight time affected by the earth’s rotation if we go East- vs. Westward?

Question

Let’s assume we are flying at the same speed of let’s say 600 mp/h eastward and with 600 mp/h back westward: Will there be a difference in flight time?

Please ignore other factors like jetstream/windspeeds etc. for the main part and and only focus on the rotation

Now i don’t know how the speed of an Aircraft is measured/calculated but if the speeds are the same the destination should be coming closer to us and therefore we’d be faster to reach our destination, right?

Or do i have to imagine it in a sense that we are not “detached” from the earth’s movement, even while we are mid-air and are always moving at a constant speed with it and therefore it won’t matter?

Will it be easier to accelerate in one or the other direction? Will going 600 mp/h east take the same power as 600 mp/h going west?

I am so confused and i can’t even pinpoint as to why.

Thanks in advance

In: 3

Answer 1

Yes! The Coriolis Effect must be taken into account when traveling long distances, even if you take away atmospheric effects of Earth’s rotation. When you jump up in the air, you don’t all of the sudden fly East at thousands of miles per hour because you still have the same rotational inertia as you did when you left the ground, but if you are on a plane flying north from the south your position along Earth’s latitude. The distance around the earth at the equator is approximately 24,900 miles, but at 60°, it’s half that. For the sake of making the math easy lets just say it’s 24k miles, that means at the equator, earth spins at 1000 MPH, but if you were at 60°N, Earth spins at 500 MPH, it obviously spins at the same speed in degrees per hour. Disregarding other effects like air resistance, or weather, if you took off in a plane on the equator and few North, your momentum is conserved, as you approach 60°N, you will be flying north, but you will also have to add in the additional 500MPH you had with you going east with you. So as you fly from the equator to the North Pole the Earth will be turning underneath you and you need to take that into account. Snipers, pilots, artillery crew members all have to take this into account when they are shooting long distances.