This is accomplished by having air strips which can take massive planes like A350s at remote places which can’t justify planes of that size normally like Newfoundland, Greenland and the Azores
While these are mainly there for military and temporary emergency use, in 2001 they were used far more - with dozens of planes landing at tiny towns like Gander and St. John’s in Newfoundland, places which only really expect a single large plane to land and refuel rather than 30 with passengers to accommodate for days.
I enjoyed the history of ETOPS-138 [0]. ETOPS-120 leaves some small triangles of the Atlantic inaccessible, particularly if one emergency airfield is unavailable. A 15% increase to 138 minutes covers it.
Anecdotally, though, my experience as a commercial passenger feels like airlines fly almost directly over pacific islands rather than within X minutes of diversion. My memory may be anchored in bygone years.
[0] https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/30979/why-etops...
> pacific islands
Depending on the jet streams, the flight can take the great circle route [0] or taking advantage of the jet stream [1] and flying more southernly
[0] https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JAL6/history/20230108/02... [1] https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JAL6/history/20230105/02...
The Japan to Europe flights are even worse. The great circle route cuts west, straight across Russia [0]. These days, they fly east to the Bering Strait then more or less directly over the north pole [1] (though probably easier to see on great-circle: [2])
[0] http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=HND-FRA
[1] https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH717/history/20230109/...
Back in the Soviet era when USSR airspace was closed to most Western flights, planes couldn't do that route non stop from Europe, so had to stop over in Anchorage for refueling.
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=BINP%2CFRA-KUTAL%0D%0A&MS=wls&D...
Need to find an excuse to go to Japan
Playing around, a theoretical NUE (Nuremberg) to KUTAL flight comes within 1 mile of the North Pole
Well into the 24 hour polar night/day period though (depending on time of year)
A modern 777 at most airlines for example has an ETOPS rating of 180 minutes.
That's 180 minutes of flying with a failed engine. So you have to take into account whether you can maintain altitude on 1 engine. Most of the time you can't, you'll be flying lower. Which means slower speed, so the calculation is 180 minutes at that speed.
Here's where it is: https://goo.gl/maps/fpwxuPzGVDtDEKmB8
and what it looks like when you drive on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C5LSrRkFyU
See where the grass divider ends, and gets replaced by a jersey barrier for 2 km? That part is the runway - it would require some hours of preparation before it would be usable, it's not quite "declare mayday and dump the plane there."
The thing with the road in Uruguay is that as you're driving, there's basically a yellow sign with a picture of an airplane and an arrow pointing up, and you're like "what the fuck did that mean?" And then suddenly you understand exactly what it meant because you're driving on a fucking runway...
I googled and found a list on https://www.mil-airfields.de/se/list.htm but IIRC there must be something further northwest, not on the list.
That said, it’s not the first road doubling up as a landing strip I’ve found myself on - there’s a stretch of the main road between Donetsk and Mariupol that was, in soviet times, used as an emergency field for strategic bombers. It’s this relatively quiet provincial highway that suddenly turns ridiculously wide, and goes dead straight and level for what feels like an eternity - 11km looking at google.
Oh, and RAF manston used to have a level crossing across a taxiway.
https://goo.gl/maps/5JE2YpEh75V52coR6
And Runway 21 (the same runway in the opposite direction):
https://www.google.com/maps/@13.7720949,-89.3716038,3a,40y,1...
If you haven't looked into Gibraltar airport before, it's a fascinating thing - the land it's on is reclaimed using rock dug out from the siege tunnels, there's a level crossing on it as the only route into the town crosses the runway; if a plane is coming into land, or taking off, you have to wait at the barriers. It's also the city airport closest to the city centre it serves at 500m.
I would be surprised if the cost of equipment and training pilots and whatelse was not factored in.
But the major driver might be that you have to pay for more expensive insurance to get regular people to strap themselves into something going many miles per hour many feet above the ground. Not because it's inherently less safe (though I would argue it is) but because the prospect is scarier!
The NTSB report called it a military airbase, and other reports say “Military air traffic controllers guided the aircraft”. Civilian aircraft can use the military side with a permit.
Plenty more info on the air field at https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Lajes_Field
Lajes’s other claim to fame is that Bush and Blair met there just days before the Iraq invasion to hammer out whatever deal they thought had to be dealt.
The tale of the stricken aircraft was fascinating. I’ve always wondered, over the decades as I’ve flown slight doglegs over Earth’s oceans, if the strategy to route over remote airfields in case of emergency has ever had a “cost” estimated. How many hours and gallons of fuel has been spent for this safety blanket? The infrastructural insurance spent to prevent lives lost in air travel appears to be much higher than lives on road travel.
The island, and the others of the Azores, are a wonderful place to visit by the way.