![]() The Facebook user who shared the video could not be reached. However, the post demonstrates a misunderstanding of the way compasses function, according to experts.įollow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks The post includes a video, viewed more than 3,500 times in four days. "A compass will never work on a Spinning Ball," reads a Feb. Compasses take advantage of this field to identify north and serve as a navigational aid.īut one social media user asserts this effect shouldn't work on a spherical planet, attempting to bolster the long-debunked theory that the Earth is flat. ![]() Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.Watch Video: Northern Lights put on ‘gorgeous display’ above Iowa The claim: A compass wouldn't work if Earth is sphericalĮarth is surrounded by a magnetic field generated by electric currents from within the planet. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here. ![]() 25, Fact Check: Airplanes Do NOT Fly 'Straight and Level' - Earth Is NOT Flat 23, Fact check: False claim that video shows NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg in front of green screen 23, Fact check: Clouds can appear behind the sun in photos due to optical illusion 22, Fact check: A compass is oriented to the Earth's magnetic field lines, doesn't prove flat earth 28, Why don't we fall off the Earth at the south pole? Scientific American, March 27, 2020, Flat Earthers: What They Believe and Why 20, 2018, Why Do Airplanes Travel in an Arc? 28, The Basics Of Straight-And-Level And Slow Flight A plane flying from one location to another would never end up upside down because the Earth does not have an inherent top or bottom. Pilots constantly have to make adjustments to maintain speed and altitude. It's a technique that involves flying at a consistent altitude in the same direction. That concept doesn't mean planes are flying in a literal straight line. Our rating: Falseīased on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that planes flying "straight and level" prove the Earth is flat. USA TODAY has debunked an array of false claims about the flat Earth theory, including that a compass wouldn't work if Earth is spherical, that clouds appearing to go behind the sun prove the Earth is flat and that a video showed a NASA astronaut being filmed in front of a green screen. A straight line between two locations on a globe becomes an arc when flattened on a map. "The only thing that changes is the aircraft's height above ground level because the terrain geography changes."įlight maps often show planes traveling in an arc, but that's because Earth is three-dimensional, and maps are two-dimensional. "Pressure altitude is very predictable and constant," Feith said. "It is by this mechanism that aircraft follow the curvature of the earth without intervention of the pilots."Īltitude can be measured using air pressure, giving pilots a consistent measurement regardless of the specific topography at ground level. "This is the way aircraft maintain a constant pressure altitude and speed," Feith said. Pilots are constantly making adjustments to maintain their speed and altitude, said Greg Feith, a National Association of Flight Instructors board member and former National Transportation Safety Board accident investigator. USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the post for comment.įollow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks Pilots constantly make adjustments to maintain speed, altitude The force of gravity pulls everything on the planet toward the center, regardless of how the planet is aligned from a viewer’s perspective in space. The situation described in the video would not result in a plane flying “upside down” because Earth does not have a top or bottom. Instead, it's based on keeping a consistent altitude and direction. Straight-and-level flight doesn't refer to a literal straight line through the air. “It would have to make that kind of flight path on a globe, which is such an absurdity,” the narrator says.īut this line of thinking is nonsense. The narrator describes a hypothetical flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seoul, South Korea, claiming such a trip would require a plane to fly “so far around the Earth that it’s flying downwards, with its nose vertically downwards" and “around the curve of the Earth so that the airplane is now flying upside down.”
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