On March 31st 1931, Sir Francis Chichester left the Northern Tip of New Zealand on an East to West flight across the Tasman sea. He stopped to refuel at Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. Let’s determine the great circle distance and bearings that his Gypsy Moth float plane Madam Elijah ZK-AKK had to fly between these two points using the Spherical Haversine law.
The great circle distance using the Spherical Haversine law is:
GCD = 895.3Km (483.4Nmiles), Bearing of Lord Howe Island = 249.9deg. This agrees with the Google Earth plot.
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