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If every place on earth had a runway. What would be the longest possible flight? What would the distance and flight time be?

Between two point on the equator? Between the north and south pole? Something else? Consider winds as well.

Is there a commercial plane that could do it without refueling? What airplane and how long would it take.

What would the crew of such a flight look like.

Aguhijkl Streuieet
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    Welcome to Aviation.SE it's not clear, but it sounds like you're essentially asking what is the greatest distance between two bits of land and is there a plane capable of flying it. If a plane's capable of air-to-air refuelling and had multiple crews it can fly pretty much indefinitely. – Notts90 Jan 05 '17 at 10:26
  • Related: The top 10 longest range airliners in the world. The longest path between two points on Earth, when flying at 11 km altitude is about 20,071 km. So the answer is no airliner is capable of that without a very favorable wind, but legally it wouldn't be permitted. – mins Jan 05 '17 at 10:45
  • Between any two points on Earth regardless if they are on sea or land and regardless if they have an airport or economic reasons to do the flight. I am looking for an upper bound on the longest flight – Aguhijkl Streuieet Jan 05 '17 at 10:45
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because while this question is about plane range compared to Earth circumference value, it can be answered easily without expertise. You may edit it to make it more specific to aviation (please don't add comments to refine your post, edit it). – mins Jan 05 '17 at 10:59
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    You can fly around the world without refuelling, albeit not in a commercial airliner. A commercial airliner could not do this (indeed, why would one ever design such a plane, seeing as not every place on earth has a runway?). Aerial refueling allows for flying nearly indefinitely (until the crew runs out of food, but you can store a lot of food aboard large military aircraft). – Sanchises Jan 05 '17 at 11:02
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    What would the crew of such a flight look like. - oh, around 5'10, medium build, handsome to some people's eyes. (sorry, couldnt resist) – Jamiec Jan 05 '17 at 11:05
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    Either way, not voting to close because I don't think it's necessarily off-topic, but I did downvote because it is "not useful". – Sanchises Jan 05 '17 at 11:06
  • @mins The 777-200LR not only can fly that far, but has. It can't fly that far in passenger service though, as I don't think any regulations exist that would allow a 22 hour, 42 minute flight, even with an augmented crew. The plane that set the record had eight pilots on board. – reirab Jan 05 '17 at 19:09
  • @reirab: Fair enough! Good find. – mins Jan 05 '17 at 19:19

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This is only half related to aviation, but I'll bite.

As the Earth is close enough to a sphere (but not exactly..) it is simplest to assume that the longest flight would be from one end of an antipode to the other.

According to this site, such a flight would be approximately 20,000 km:

There are no non-stop scheduled flights between any two antipodal locations by commercial airline service. A hypothetically perfect antipode flight would be Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport, Morocco to Whangarei Aerodrome, New Zealand (approximately 20000 km flight).

The Boeing 777-200LR is the aircraft with the longest range at just under 17,400 km (but see also this question which explains why that number can change). So with present technology (or economics), such a flight is not really a possibility.

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Ben
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  • A very good answer to a very poor question! – Notts90 Jan 05 '17 at 11:36
  • Yo may also mention ETOPS that would likely make the flight longer than the great circle. – mins Jan 05 '17 at 11:36
  • @mins ETOPS does not increase the aircraft range. An ETOPS-certified aircraft is allowed to fly far from airports, that's all. – Quentin Jan 05 '17 at 16:33
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    @Quentin mins means that the flight path might not be able to take the great circle route due to the ETOPS regulations (which does indeed effectively shorten the range between cities that can be connected.) That said, the 777-200LR's ETOPS limitations don't meaningfully restrict almost any possible flight. Only a few parts of Antarctica are not covered. – reirab Jan 05 '17 at 19:12
  • Note that the range listed here for the 777-200LR is assuming a full load a passengers. With limited payload, the 777-200LR can - and has - flown more than 20,000 km. It currently holds the world record at a bit over 21,600 km. This required an 8-pilot augmented flight crew, so it's probably not legal in passenger service. – reirab Jan 05 '17 at 19:18
  • @reirab: In addition, as you know, alternate airport and fuel reserve would need to be planned for the flight to be dispatched. – mins Jan 05 '17 at 19:22
  • @mins Yes, that's true. The linked map shows the parts of Earth that are within the allowed flying time range of possible alternate airports (which is basically everywhere except some parts of Antarctica.) Given the location of the non-covered area, I guess McMurdo Station doesn't count as a valid alternate. :) – reirab Jan 05 '17 at 19:29
  • @reirab: I must admit I was a bit pessimistic, ETOPS 180 is already covering most of the planet. Thanks for pointing out :-) – mins Jan 05 '17 at 19:36
  • @mins Yeah, thankfully, there are lots of tiny islands lying around in various parts of the Pacific and also a few in the Atlantic. And Svalbard, Greenland, Canada, Russia, and Alaska cover the Arctic pretty well. – reirab Jan 05 '17 at 19:49
  • Given that the Earth is a slightly oblate spheroid, the longest flight is 24,874 miles, starting from somewhere on the equator, following it, and returning to your starting point. – jamesqf Jan 05 '17 at 20:15