Fly by Night?
June 15th, 2006
The Guardian reports on research at the University of Leeds which indicates that flying by night may be roughly twice as detrimental to the climate as daytime flights. Piers Forster, who led the project, explained that the contrails produced by planes increase the greenhouse effect, similarly to cloud cover, but that during the day that effect is offset by the fact that contrails reflect light back into space. At night they serve only to trap heat against the earth’s surface.
Forster further asserts that banning nighttime flights in the UK could reduce the nation’s contribution to global warming significantly—equivalent to reducing its carbon emissions by 2.5%. If this is true, red-eyes no longer seem that attractive. Luckily, my flight to Lima this morning leaves after sunrise.
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June 15th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
Bon Voyage! Best of luck on all your endeavors in Peru!
June 15th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Hmm, I’m skeptical about the impact of this when you look at the bigger picture.
June 15th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
By the way, is that a picture of an A320? I saw a really interesting document a while back about how Airbus designs the “walls” inside the aircraft to give window passengers the impression that they have more room, even though they really don’t.
June 16th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
I’m not sure what airplane that is, to tell the truth. It’s a two-aisle plane, so isn’t that too big to be an A320? Also, what do you mean by bigger picture?
September 18th, 2006 at 6:34 am
Man, where do they come up with this crap? Seriously. How is it remotely possible that a contrail no wider than a couple of hundred feet could “trap” any amount of heat in a sky a few thousand miles wide? I guess that means that on overcast days were are just doomed to horrible deaths because nightfall is imminent, and God forbid we have a cloudy night somewhere on Earth.
Also, banning nighttime flights is a laughable “solution,” as international flights do not enjoy being on the same side of the world as the UK. Or perhaps the world truly is flat, and planes have super-powers to destroy the world as we know it.