Time Zone Issues

[paulsl]

It's more than likely that but this is doin' my head in. It's not of much consequence except for a surprise for SWMBO.

The aircraft leaves LHR at 22:05 on the 12th and arrives at SIN at 17:55 on 13th. If my watch is on London time what time does it say when it becomes the 13th on the aeroplane?

And now you know the day of our anniversary and no, it wasn't a Friday

Thanks, Paul

[Effoh]

I *think*, if I've understood the question, that it will be 11pm by your watch as by that time you're over Europe and have gained an hour.

Happy Anniversary for the day and enjoy SIN

[Tomliner]

Hi Paul.Unless you're flying on a 'dry' airline, why not treat her to a few glasses of bubbly? Then by the time the 13th starts she probably won't even notice and hey presto! you're off the hook.Simples! EricT
ps happy anniversary and if it doesn't work,it was nothing to do with me.

[rohan]

Paul,
Hope I've worked all this out correctly.

Flight leaves LHR at 2205 local time and arrives at SIN at 1755 local time. Singapore is 7 hours ahead, which means the flight time is 12 hours and 50 minutes.

The time on the aircraft is whatever anyone (you, the pilot or any other passenger or crew member) wants it to be. However, the time at which the 13th starts depends on how you want to calculate it, and the two main candidates are "your elapsed time" and the time zone over which the aircraft is flying - simply because your flight won't actually take 19 hours and 50 minutes.

Given your scheduled take off time and destination, it's rather hard to say over which countries your aircraft will be flying. The flight will be generally in a south easterly direction, but typically you'll be over Poland, Austria, Romania or even Italy when you've been flying for two hours. As you're probably aware, three of those are in a time zone just one hour ahead of London, while Romania is actually two hours ahead. So, if you want to use a time zone calculation to work out when the 13th arrives, the answer is just one hour into the flight while it's over Europe, since most of that (which lies East or South of London) is an hour ahead of London.

The alternative is a simple elapsed time calculation - whenever your watch says midnight, assuming you don't change it from local London time before the 13th arrives ...

Hope that helps, and a happy anniversary when it does arrive ...
Ro

[paulsl]

Thanks Rohan, I think I'm a bit hung up on the aeroplane going that way -> and the date line going that way <- and trying to be too precise (I think the word is "Measurebator")

With 20/20 hindsight I probably shouldn't have posted the question. Eric, unknowingly, has the solution. The Boss was on the flight mentioned in the second bullet point and it still takes a serious quantity of G&T to get her on an aeroplane.

Then again is anyone going to front up and detail the circumstances under which, whatever the stress, a woman will forget an anniversary? Especially if HE has

Paul

[Airspeed]

It's nice to see that Colin and Ro basically have the same answer, depending on the country under the flight path.
Hats off to you!
The only way I could find out would be to do the flight, and I can't afford it.
Hang on, wasn't there once a flight simulator or something that let you do pretend flights? That might work, if you can only get hold of a copy....

[Jon.M]

The time on the aircraft is whatever anyone (you, the pilot or any other passenger or crew member) wants it to be.
Ro

Being pedantic, surely the aircraft is always on UTC/GMT to avoid these problems, not on whatever time the pilot wants it to be. As Britain is currently on British Summer Time that would be one hour behind what your watch says. So on the aircraft the 13th would start when your watch says 1:00AM.

Personally I'd go with what the others have suggested and use 11:00PM by your watch as being the equivalent to midnight on the ground below the aircraft.
Best wishes

Jon

[petermcleland]

Just to put a fly in the ointment...Navigation wise all calculations and flight plan times are all in GMT and the date too is in GMT...All position reports are in GMT. So local time is something that most people put on their watches at destination...I never used to bother and left mine on GMT for the whole year...However, now that I have my Red Arrows watch it shows me the time and date at 44 cities in the World, so if I ever get to go anywhere again I will probably set the local time before I get off the aircraft

[Airspeed]

Now, listen up, chaps....Paul is doing this for a lady.... and you're all trying to find a logical answer......why?

[Dev One]

Simple (or maybe not). Why bother with what the real time is at the point on the globe where the aircraft is, just tell her to keep her watch on London time until she lands, then your time & her time are the same, no? Even if you are bribing the stewardess to open a bottle of bubbly, do the same with her & hey presto...
Or am I being too basic. Problem might come if timing it by internet or mobile phone.
Good luck anyway.
Keith