Submitted by [deleted] t3_10q9z6a in explainlikeimfive
Spiritual_Jaguar4685 t1_j6orsf9 wrote
Planes fly due to two forces, lift which is generated by air traveling across the wing, and thrust which pushes the plan forward. Combine those two and you get flight.
The Earth's rotation doesn't really enter into it because in theory everything Earthy also rotates, including the air in the sky and the plane on the ground. In theory, since the plane and the air in the sky are part of the spinning Earth system it all cancels out and spinning or no spinning, the motion of the Earth doesn't interact with the physics of an air plane.
But of course the air in the sky isn't just spinning with the Earth, we have wind and storms and jetstreams and things like that mean the bulk motion of the air IS important to flight. For example, because of the Jetstream that blows roughly from NYC to Ireland, it takes around 45 minutes longer to fly back to the NYC from Ireland, because you're flying into the wind.
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