Is it possible to outrun the darkness in a fast enough plane?

I was thinking the other day if it was possible to do this. Basically, if you had a fast enough plane and flew west with an infinite amount of fuel, could you stay in the sunlight and never have the sun set on you? Also, how fast would you have to go to do this?Is it possible to outrun the darkness in a fast enough plane?Yes, it is possible (given a fast enough plane). You would simply have to fly faster than the earth rotates so if you fly faster than 1,674.4 km/h (465.1 m/s) you could out run the terminator (the line between darkness and light). Of course that would be a strain on the airplane since you would have to fly faster than mach 1 because the speed of sound is 1,236 kilometers per hour (768 mph). We have planes that can fly faster than Mach 1 and the Raptor is supposed to be able to cruise at supersonic speed but that would take up a whole lot of fuel to do it for a long period of time.Is it possible to outrun the darkness in a fast enough plane?
Yes, and it has been done in supersonic jects, obviously for a limited time.



To stay in sunlight, an object needs to fly west at a speed equal to the Earth's rotation. At the equator, this speed equals around 1,696 km/h or approximately 1.4 times the speed of sound. At the poles, one can hypothetically sit in a chair and stay in sunlight for days. At around 47 degrees North and south latitude, one can stay in daylight at less than the speed of sound.Is it possible to outrun the darkness in a fast enough plane?Anytime you're in an average passenger airliner going due west above the 48th or so parallel, you're outrunning the sun.Is it possible to outrun the darkness in a fast enough plane?
Yes, it's quite possible.



The speed at which you must fly (in a westerly direction) depends upon your latitude. If you're at the equator, you have to fly at about 1,000 miles per hour. The further from the equator you are, the more slowly you can fly.Is it possible to outrun the darkness in a fast enough plane?If you ever fly from the east coast to the western US, you may notice that if you left an hour or so before sunset (that is, sunset for the east coast), when you arrive in the West, the sun may have just set...5 hours later.



Look at the sunset times for your area. For example, the sun sets at 7:30 PM. You then hop on a jet and go to the west coast. If you land there at around 7:30 PM local time, you will see the sun set.