Originally Posted by
Leezyjet
A question I have always wondered :-
If you are heading west, what speed would you have to be travelling at to have the earth rotate beneath you whilst you remained stationary relative to the moving earth. Basically you take off and climb, then the earth rotates around beneath you until your destination arrives, then you decend and land.
Not sure I made that sound too clear but it's just one of those "always wondered" questions I have had and the ATPL notes don't really cover it.
Physically speaking, you would have to climb on orbit.
We do not live ON the earth, we live and move IN it, that is at the bottom of an ocean of gas, just like lobsters live at the bottom of an ocean of liquid. So, when we fly, we move inside that ocean, like submarine in dive, only in gas i.o liquid. However, I do understand the meaning of your question. It would equate to fly west at the equator and keep the sun stationary. Haven't got the formula in memory, but start with 15 deg/hrs times a trigonometric arc function of the earth radius plus the altitude.
Happy New Year.