Pati and Beebee leave for home just after midnight local time on April 2. There are two flights in their itinerary, the first from Phuket, Thailand to Seoul, South Korea, and the second from Seoul to Washington Dulles. The first flight of 5 hours 45 minutes completes entirely within April 2. The second flight of 13 hours 40 minutes is a different story, beginning in April 2, then back to April 1 at the International Date Line, then back to April 2 as the flight enters the time zone just to the west of Hawaii. Including the layover in Seoul, the total travel time is 20 hours 55 minutes.
Some fun facts about Pati and Beebee's travel through multiple time zones:
Some rough calculations indicate that April 1 will be 27+ hours long (24 hours in Thailand plus 3+ hours after crossing the date line) and April 2 will be 44+ hours long (20+ hours before reaching the date line plus 24 hours after passing midnight of April 1 again). However, these times are misleading; it is better to look at all the times expressed in a single time zone, in this case, EDT.
For example, on a recent crossing of the same flight from Korea, the airplane crossed -165 degrees longitude at 10:54 pm EDT (3:54 am local time) and then crossed -150 degrees longitude at 12:47 am EDT (4:47 am local time). (These longitudes are approximately time zone boundaries.) The time spent in the time zone appears to be 1 hour 53 minutes (based on local times) but it is actually only 53 minutes (looking at the equivalent EDT times).
In addition, when traveling across time zones, very few hours are 60 minutes long. In the time zone example above, the aircraft reached the eastern boundary (-150 degrees longitude) of the time zone at 11:47 pm local time, at which point, the time jumped to 12:47 am local time. The hour beginning at 11:00 pm in the time zone from -165 to -150 degrees was only 47 minutes long as far as the flight was concerned.
From Phuket to Washington, Pati and Beebee must cross 12 time zones: since the US is observing Daylight Saving Time, the difference is actually 13 time zones. And since the earth is turning toward the East at 60 mph, the airplane is chasing its destination instead of just flying toward it. Each time zone is crossed in about an hour, plus or minus, calculating from time zone boundaries crossed expressed as EDT local time.
For reference:
Phuket local time = UTC + 7 = EDT + 11
Seoul local time = UTC + 9 = EDT + 13
International Date Line = UTC + 12 = UTC - 12 = EDT + 16 = EDT - 8
Washington Dulles local time = EDT = UTC - 4
Some fun facts about Pati and Beebee's travel through multiple time zones:
Some rough calculations indicate that April 1 will be 27+ hours long (24 hours in Thailand plus 3+ hours after crossing the date line) and April 2 will be 44+ hours long (20+ hours before reaching the date line plus 24 hours after passing midnight of April 1 again). However, these times are misleading; it is better to look at all the times expressed in a single time zone, in this case, EDT.
For example, on a recent crossing of the same flight from Korea, the airplane crossed -165 degrees longitude at 10:54 pm EDT (3:54 am local time) and then crossed -150 degrees longitude at 12:47 am EDT (4:47 am local time). (These longitudes are approximately time zone boundaries.) The time spent in the time zone appears to be 1 hour 53 minutes (based on local times) but it is actually only 53 minutes (looking at the equivalent EDT times).
In addition, when traveling across time zones, very few hours are 60 minutes long. In the time zone example above, the aircraft reached the eastern boundary (-150 degrees longitude) of the time zone at 11:47 pm local time, at which point, the time jumped to 12:47 am local time. The hour beginning at 11:00 pm in the time zone from -165 to -150 degrees was only 47 minutes long as far as the flight was concerned.
From Phuket to Washington, Pati and Beebee must cross 12 time zones: since the US is observing Daylight Saving Time, the difference is actually 13 time zones. And since the earth is turning toward the East at 60 mph, the airplane is chasing its destination instead of just flying toward it. Each time zone is crossed in about an hour, plus or minus, calculating from time zone boundaries crossed expressed as EDT local time.
For reference:
Phuket local time = UTC + 7 = EDT + 11
Seoul local time = UTC + 9 = EDT + 13
International Date Line = UTC + 12 = UTC - 12 = EDT + 16 = EDT - 8
Washington Dulles local time = EDT = UTC - 4
Posted with Blogsy
Other 'fun facts' - It has been easy for Big Bro to keep track of Pati and Beebee while they are in Thailand. Big Bro is in the CDT time zone (UTC - 5) and Thailand is UTC + 7. Exactly 12 hours difference. Just swap AM and PM.
ReplyDeleteBeebee now gets back the day she lost 30+ years ago.
March 10 was the shortest day here. It was the Sunday we went to "Fast Time". Get up at 2-=AM and reset the clocks to 3-AM. The day was only 23 hours long.