Generally flying over Mount Everest is not easy. At the mountain, the air is too thin. The helicopter would not generate enough lift. The most powerful turbine powered copters can reach about 25000 feet. As Everest is at 29000 feet, they cannot go there.
Most pilots flying commercial jets usually avoid flying over such peaks as navigating through the maze of some of the highest mountains in the world is extremely risky. According to Tim Morgan, an aircraft can fly above 40,000 feet, and hence it is possible to fly over Mount Everest which stands at 29,031.69 feet. However, typical flight routes do not travel above Mount Everest as the mountains create unforgiving weather. For this reason, every single plane that flies from China, Japan, Australia, India and most Asian countries to the USA, Canada, Mexico or anywhere in South America flies over the Pacific. All of them. It's the shortest route.
However, planes do fly over the Himalayas all the time, some of them close to Mt Everest. The only problem is that of clear air turbulence and possible fuel freezes that makes flight over Himalayas a little difficult. A further safety issue is the amount of clear air turbulence around the Himalayas. Clear air turbulence is hard to pick up on the radar, so difficult for pilots to spot, but high mountain ranges are breeding grounds for clear air turbulence.
Therefore, most commercial airlines avoid flying directly over the Himalayas. This is because the Himalayas have mountains higher than 20,000 feet, including Mt Everest standing at 29,035 feet. However, most commercial airplanes can fly at 30,000 feet.
Curved routes are always safer as airlines then fly over land rather than the ocean. Therefore, they spend less time over the ocean, allowing for emergency landings. Emergency landing is done on a flat land. The Himalayan region has almost no flat surfaces. On top of this, the risk factor only increases as there are mountains everywhere.
In addition, there is also risk of oxygen running out in these areas, as airlines usually have only twenty minutes of oxygen. Therefore, in a situation where the supply runs out, the flight must descend to at least 10,000 feet to replenish oxygen, which is known as Drift Down Procedure. But in the Himalayas, descending to 10,000 feet is suicide.
Supportive links:
1. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/specials/flight-plan/why-mount-everest-is-a-no-fly-zone/article35522564.ece
2. https://www.indiatoday.in/lifestyle/travel/story/why-do-airplanes-avoid-flying-over-pacific-ocean-and-mt-everest-1643604-2020-02-05
Content created and supplied by: @arapoutta (via Opera News )
COMMENTS