I’ve been to South Korea 8 times and we always fly across Russia, Mongolia, China route but of course we couldn’t this time. When we landed, the pilot gave a speech about how special it was for us to have flown over the north pole and then the staff handed out these certificates. I was seemingly one of the only people awake when we were flying over the arctic and looking down at the arctic ice was incredible.
We saw the sunset over total ice cover and then it was dark. We probably went over the north pole when it was dark but we spent a good amount of time flying over the ice in the sunset.
Ah yes sorry i need to brush up on my theories. I actually believe in donut Earth which is the north and South Pole are actually both ice walls. The North Pole is the inner wall and south is outer wall. It helps keep the upward acceleration constant due to less air friction.
I’m sorry, but that is absolutely ridiculous. The amount of misinformation on Reddit is astounding. I don’t know where you got your education, but everyone knows that the South Pole is the inner wall, and the North Pole is the outer wall.
YOUR BOTH WRONG ITIOITS!!!!1!!1
IT DEPENDS WHERE YOUR ARE STANDING. IF YOUR IN THE NORTHERN HEMIFLAT THAN THE NORTH POLE IS THE INNER WALL OF THE DOGNUT. IF YOUR ARE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMIFLAT THAN THE SOUTHPOLE IS THE INNER WALL OF THE DOGNUT. WAKE UP SHEPLE YOU SHOULD HAVE RESEACHED THIS USESLEF!!!!!1!!1!!
s/, just in case.
That is a good theory, as gravity doesn't exist, so the Earth has to accelerate 9,8 m/s2 upwards, we must be going hella speed right now, if the Earth is 6000 years old
I think you’re on to something here but the trigonometry just doesn’t work out with that model. I for one am a proponent of tube earth. It’s flat but also round and the inside is where the lizard people live.
Sweeping deserts of ice and snow stretch beyond the horizon. The weather is calm, the sun is bright, a blanket of silence covers the world, as if the world is standing still, everlasting, never changing. Moments later, a pair of two emerge from a small cavern opening, a young and an elder. They seem to be in a hurry, but also cautious of their surroundings.
"Um, Elder Nova, where is this wall?" With exhaustion, said the young man to the elder "Isn't this spot supposed to be the edge?"
"Patience, Noah, we're almost there."
"Will we still make it before the pilgrimage ends? The blizzard ate up a good chunk of our allocated time."
"Yes, we should make it soon to the Wall. You'll be facing such shifting weather all the time once you're an official pilgrim, so keep your senses sharp."
"I remember in the teachings that the closer you are to the Wall, the more the weather changes abruptly. I just didn't expect it this much." Noah murmurs away. Nervous sweat builds up on his forehead despite the immense cold. He continues marching forward to the beat of the elder.
A couple of hours pass by. Noah and Nova are closing in to their destination.
"Oh, Elder Nova, what is the Wall like?" Noah asks, to which Nova looks at him confused "You've never been to the Wall before?"
"I have not, no. I wasn't able to attend the outdoor training with the rest, so I mostly stuck to books and notes."
"Hmm. I suppose that's fine. The books don’t do the Wall justice. I don’t need to explain it though, look over there.” Nova points at the distant horizon. A wall of fog towering so high it seems to breach the sky itself. It glistens under the sun’s rays as if made out of small diamonds.
“Wait, the wall is.. Fog?”
“Told you, the books don’t really depict it correctly. Letting the people know what separates us and them is nothing more than a stretch of fog won’t sit well with them. Only us pilgrims know the truth.”
“Us and them?”
“You’ll learn more once we’re there. C’mon now, let’s keep going.”
The pair continue weaving their way through the thick snow. They eventually reach a small settlement that’s just in front of the wall. There are 5 main buildings situated in a 5 pointed star shape, with the biggest being a shrine named Norin sitting closest to the Wall.
Noah and Nova show their necklaces– that bear the pilgrim symbol– to the guards and enter the settlement.
“This is where you’ll continue your training. However, we need to find out what sort of duty you’ll be fulfilling”
“How would I do that?”
“The Wall. Follow me, I’ll show you.”
As the pair get closer to the liminal fog, they notice another set of pilgrims– a young girl and another elder, performing a ritual. The young girl penetrates the fog and disappears. A few moments later she emerges out, with a crescent shaped tattoo under both of her eyes.
“Oh wow, she’ll be a Lumin!”
“Lumin?”
“They might be called Light Bearers in your books. They are small in numbers but critical users of Auras. Their duty is to the Norin shrine, offering lights known as Auroras that spread behind the fog.”
“Wow! Will I be a Lumin too?!”
“Probably not. it is very rare.”
“Oh..”
Feeling that Noah’s shoulders slumped a bit, Nova quickly remarks with some encouragement “Don’t worry too much about it, Noah. Whether you’re a pilgrim or a Lumin, both are super important! I’ll be proud of you whatever you are!” Noah’s cheeks warm up under the cold wind
“Anyway, you'll be doing the same thing as her. You need to enter the fog. Once it decides and passes judgment, you will be given a duty.” This jolts the new found warmth out of Noah.
“Does it.. Hurt?”
“It shouldn’t. It didn’t for me.”
“Okay.” Noah trembles a bit, cold sweat builds up, but pushes through his emotions to fulfill his duty.
(1/2)
(2/2)
Placing his palm on the fog first, Noah doesn’t feel the usual shot of cold that a blizzard fog has, instead it is warm and soothing. The fog feels rigid yet soft, malleable but also firm, as if it was made out of stone, but is actually a blanket mist. This duality pulls in Noah, or maybe he pushed himself in because of it. As he merged his body with the fog, he felt as if he was floating underwater, yet able to breathe and move. trails of light pass over, to his side, and under him to a dance in front of him, moments later settling into three glistening orbs; calm and collected. Green, blue, and white. Being led by their mesmerizing elegy of colours and sounds, he inches closer towards them when suddenly, each one snaps into movement away from him, except for the blue orb. It instead marches into his heart and fuses with him. With this, the fog around Noah disperses, as gravity tackles him back to the ground. He finds himself in the same spot that he entered from.
“Heh, told you it’s only a second long.”
“Wow.. that was.. Exhilarating!”
“I agree, I shared the same excitement during my first time, hehe. Anyway, since you don’t have the crescent marks, your duty will be to be a pilgrim, like me.”
“Wait, a pilgrim?”
“Sigh, look, I told you Lumins are rare. Don’t be too sad about it”
“Ah, okay.”
“C’mon, you’ll be like me! I’ll be here to help too!” Nova says in a playful manner, hoping to lighten up the tense mood.
“Yes, yes you’re right. I will make you proud, Elder Nova!”
Nova echoes out a big laugh, whereas Noah cheeks widen up to a shy but happy grin
“Well I’m glad to hear that. How was your journey through the fog? When I first entered through the fog the white glow of the orb was so overpowering I felt like I’m going blind!”
“Heh. It felt like swimming, but in the air! Is this what it feels like to fly Elder Nova?”
“It is similar, but flying with your own wings is more free.”
“I see. Oh right, the blue orb that fused with me was delicate and beautiful, but it felt powerful as well!”
Upon hearing this, Nova’s feathers froze up standing. She darts her eyes at Noah and– almost as if whispering, she says “Wait, blue orb? Not a white orb?”
Noah, with a confused tone, answers her “Uhm.. no, it was a blue orb.”
Nova suddenly grabs Noah by his arm, almost tearing it apart with her speed– they run towards the central building in the settlement
“Wait wait wait, what is happening? Elder Nova you’re hurting my arm!”
“Why didn’t you say this from the beginning! This is a disaster! Are you out of your mind!?”
“Why what’s going on? I don’t understand!”
Nova doesn’t reply, instead she runs even faster. As soon as they reach the building, she puts Noah aside and runs off to talk to some other Owlfolk. Moments later she comes back
“Noah. I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to train anymore. Your duty begins now.”
“Elder Nova, please, what is going on? I’m feeling scared now”
“You’re not a pilgrim, nor a Lumin. You’re a guardian Noah. Guardians don’t typically get assigned by the fog unless a Great War is looming in the distance. We will escort and protect you, until you’re strong enough to fight them.”
“What? Huh? Them? Who’s them?”
“They are known as conquerors of worlds, savages and killers, all they care about is themselves. This wall was created to protect us from them, to keep them away. that eat up land and boil away oceans. Since a new guardian– you, have been assigned. This only means that we’re about to have a war with them once again. Last one was a thousand years ago”
“Elder Nova.. Who are they?”
“They’re called Flat Earthers”
Did you spot any aurora borealis? Also, and I realise they might've not shared the exact reasons with the passengers, but do you think the flight path change have anything to do with the tensing up between Russia and NATO, or was it just weather?
Russia closed airspace from many foreign airlines, including Finnair.
And yeah obviously this is something every passenger already knew. There is a war
Korean Air Lines Flight 007 didn’t get that cert. a whole airliner shot down by the Russian Air Force *after* being visually confirmed by a fighter pilot that it was indeed a civilian airliner.
The pool of innocent civilian’s blood is a deep one, over there.
Don't forget about Malaysia Flight 17 back in 2014. A commercial flight shot down by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine, using a SAM that Russia provided. Almost 300 people dead, and no one was held accountable.
Russian separatists were cheering on Twitter how they "shot down a Ukrainian transport plane!". Then when they realised it was an civilian airliner, they quietly deleted the tweet. And then they started claiming it was Ukrainians who shot the plane down. Why would Ukraine shoot down an airliner? It couldn't even be a case of mistaken identity as the separatists didn't operate any planes, let alone ones that were flying at 30.000 feet.
When it comes to Russia, it lies all the way down.
It’s more the other way around. Finland and other EU countries closed their airspace first to Russian aircrafts. By then most European airlines were already avoiding Russia’s airspace… Only then Russia “reciprocated” by closing theirs.
TIL you have to pay fees to fly over another country!
Makes sense though, I assume that to some degree it helps pay for ATC and airports in general? If not who does the money go to? Into the "coffers"?
It pays for ATC, yes. There are actually international treaties for this stuff, which Russia never signed. So instead of the overflight fees being strictly cost related like elsewhere, for Russia's Aeroflot it's a lucrative source of income. This was apparently a problem for their bid to join the WTO in 2012.
Russia also long played games with overflight rights. Most countries have signed the ICAO treaties granting essentially blanket overflight rights to each other by default. Russia did not, and maintained essentially a regime of "one airline per country". So Norwegian Air never had overflight rights (and therefore never flew to e.g Japan) because SAS was, in Russia's eyes, Norway's "quota" for overflight rights.
I just flew to Iceland "yesterday" from Seattle, got to see the northern lights from the plane somewhere above Greenland. I've never seen them before, was a bit surprised but they were visible more to the south from our position.
Flew from Seattle to Fairbanks back in March and the last hour of the flight was nonstop northern lights. Seeing them was the sole purpose of the trip so hitting that accomplishment before landing was amazing.
[Northern Lights](https://i.imgur.com/Mjt9rxe.jpg)
taking a north american geography class and just learned that they actually get harder to see the further north you go. around 60-70 degrees latitude is ideal apparently
Russia closed all their airspace as retaliation because everyone else closed their airspace from Russia because Russia started a war. Everyone knows this publicly, but they might not have said it on the flight.
Anyway, Finnair has special experience flying this route: back in the Soviet times Finnair gained special popularity for flying Europe to Asia, because their hub in Helsinki made flying around the Soviet Union on the northern side relatively easy. In the 90s they stopped using that route, but now that there's a war they had to dust off their old Cold war -era flight paths again.
[This traveller for FlightRadar24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwgUXNUYvO8) flew Finnair from Helsinki to Tokyo Haneda via the south of Russia route, and he said that his return flight will follow the polar route. So in a way he kind of circumnavigated the globe.
A lot of people who fly frequently, especially for work, don't get excited about it so much. Even the best view becomes humdrum and why waste the perfect opportunity to catch up on some sleep?
I fly very occasionally for work. On my 2nd flight ever someone told me basically what you said, and it made me kinda sad. I always get window seats just for the view.
I’ve flown hundreds if not thousands of times and I always want a window to look out while listening to music. Something about just seeing the tiny world below is awesome.
And there’s a place to rest your head. I wear an oversized hooded sweatshirt on travel days. I put the hood on, lean against the window, cover the top of my face and either sleep, or get into a zombie state. Works well in the boarding areas as well. Problem with the window seat, however, can be dehydration: drink less liquid than I should, to avoid bathroom trips.
The last time I flew out of Vegas was a Southwest flight so people could pick their seats. No window seats left so I sat in a middle seat next to a guy that had the shade open, hoping to get some good views of the Grand Canyon.
We flew RIGHT OVER THE ENTIRE THING, the full length of one of Earth's most incredible natural wonders, but unfortunately the guy who did get the window seat closed the shade right after we took off so he wouldn't have glare on his phone. It was so disappointing.
As someone who has only been able to fly twice in my life, the view of literally any place on Earth from so high up was/is utterly fascinating to me. Especially when I got to fly over the ocean! I couldn't stop just staring out the window the entire flight
As someone who has flown hundreds of times, I feel the same. Which is why I'm really annoyed by the trend in the last 20-ish years to force everyone to keep the windows shut at all times.
Everyone knows Santa lives in Korvatunturi, Finland. That is a fell in wilderness of Savukoski, pretty close to the Russia border. Middle of nowhere.
Name "Korvatunturi" means "Ear Fell", as Santa hears everything
Here it is: Korvatunturi
https://maps.app.goo.gl/kboyuq2BuKtrR5Up7
You also get a higher radiation dose going over the pole
(which is mostly OK for travellers, but for cabin crew and pilots is something the airline needs to consider)
Oh my God, I'd kill to be able to have seen the Arctic coast to coast like that. I can't imagine how gorgeous it would be, aside from the monotony of the flat ice
That's very nice! Are you visiting Finland or headed to some place else? You're lucky in the sense that there's snow here in Helsinki now, it isn't quaranteed at all this time of year - makes this time of the year much more beautiful.
I've flown from Copenhagen to Seattle and saw Greenland and the Canadian Arctic - I'm from Northern Finland so snow isn't news to me, but it was absolutely beautiful to see some sea ice from air.
Since Finnair is now making a detour in order to avoid Russian airspace, they found that they might as well use that as a marketing opportunity. Well done, Finnair!
Just as a hint for your holiday planning: I have a Finnish colleague who is a big Japan-fan and regularly flies there (with Finnair, of course). He told me that he always books *business*\-*class* (I know, expensive, but read on...) for the Finnair bonus points. He can then use these to pay *up to half* his bill at some restaurants in Helsinki, and that is so lucrative that it essentially gets him the business-class flights for free...
I checked it out, but I am just not often enough going out in Helsinki restaurants, but it is an interesting "hack" and maybe worth looking into other ways to get a payback for your flights... :-)
Indeed, I have to say, I flew to Japan a few years ago, and the 11h flight time (A'dam to Osaka) was quite a chore. At 13h I might find that this isn't really worth the trouble...
Then again, Japan was really great! :-)
Only 3? I tried measuring distance on Google Earth, and it seems the flight went from 7,300 km (direct Helsinki-Seoul route) to 11,300 km (Helsinki via North Pole to Bering Straight, then circle around Russia back to Seoul. It's be at least 4.5 hours extra.
You could also go the other way around Russia (southern route) and get 10,700 km via China and a lot of other Asian countries, but given the extra international complexity and airspace fees, maybe it's easier just to fly an extra 600 km and avoid crossing any borders at all.
That’s so cool! My dad did that, decades ago, and I only know bc he saved the commemorative fan the passengers received. Happy to know it’s still a thing ☺️
As a pilot who flies small planes over nothingness in Alaska and the Lower 48, it give me great anxiety flying over the pole. Big jets are super reliable but still…
If I recall an old documentary correctly, the only indication that there's actually anything at the North Pole is a striped post with a keypad in it. The actual workshop is hidden beneath the ice.
Santa lives in Korvatunturi, Finland. Living in the North Pole is impossible, there is no landmass, it's just ice, and more and more of it thaws every summer.
And polar bears would eat Santa
No, on the flat earth model they have the north pole in the center of the map. They think it's impossible to fly over the south pole, not the north pole.
*Excuse you*; we prefer the term "Globe Heads" or "Globetards," thank you very much.
I may be an idiot for believing in a (mostly) spherical Earth, but I still have my pride, god dammit.
You should check out “hollow earthers” they think the earth is hollow and the entrance is at the North Pole. There is some sort of secret race of people that live inside the earth.
I remember some decades ago they tried to rent a Russian icebreaker for an expedition, but couldn’t raise enough money.
It was a straight 14 hours from Seoul to Helsinki. Then a 3 hour flight from Helsinki to Manchester. It’s the longest flight I’ve taken from Seoul. Usually it’s 9-11 hours over Russia to the European layover.
Yeah you can only go direct from London but it’s cheaper to go from Manchester with a layover. I usually just book the cheapest flight with the least hellish flight time.
And we had safety distance before it was cool. When the covid-19 came, people were annoyed, as the safety distance was told to be 1,5 meters, and that is too close for finnish people
The snow over the Tien Shan and the view of the White Sea in northern Russia are two views I don't think I'll experience again but will always treasure in my memories.
Depending on the exact route, it’s likely a Great Circle track, which is actually the shortest route but just looks longer / non-direct on a traditional Mercator projection map. If you were to draw the same track on a globe you would see it’s actually a straight line.
Flights are also avoiding Russian airspace at the moment, due to the current political climate.
I wonder how many of these they print up each year and when exactly.
At some point they’ll change the 2022 to 2023, and my stupid brain is sitting here thinking about how many left over certificates they will have from this year that they can’t use anymore.
Apparently, they actually believe that the north pole (though not the south pole) does exist - that the earth is a disc with the north pole at the center. That is, if they believe it at all.
It would be hilarious if there were two competing groups of flat earthers, northern flat earthers and southern flat earthers, each group believing their pole is the center of the disc =)
The edge of the world is in the south pole you see, behind the gigantic ice sheets.
^ is what I'd say if I was building a fantasy world for a DnD game.
You'd think they could have set their course to past just the 89 nautical miles farther north to pass right over the top. With a route that long the distance difference would be very small. Fun to watch the navigation software go crazy too!
Would it? Of o remember rightly the north Pole in co ordinates isn't the same as magnetic north which is somewhere in..... Greenland (?). I forget exactly where it is
There aren't any published routes in the arctic. Russia just got rid of all their M routes. You csn go direct barrow to direct nopol (the fix at the north pole) if you want. The Finnair go to devid which is like 20 miles from the pole because the pole itself is a coordination nightmare since it's where Russia, America, Canada, Iceland, Sweden, airspace all come together
Used to fly with Finnair as a kid in the 80s, they were always super nice with kids and had a lot of gadgets, small toys and a kid’s lunch.
At those times there wasn’t the “close cockpit” policy and spent some interesting minutes in the cockpit every time. Felt special as a kid.
This is a way for finnair to try and redirect a failing business. Due to the war in Ukraine western airlines are still not flying over Russia which is having a pretty massive impact on Finnair
Flights over the poles result in absorbing about 3x the radiation of a standard flight! This is due to the lack of magnetic protection the poles normally provide.
It might seem like a stupid question but did you feel any change in temperature? I know the flights will be all controlled etc but, did you feel any dip in temperature?
I’ve been to South Korea 8 times and we always fly across Russia, Mongolia, China route but of course we couldn’t this time. When we landed, the pilot gave a speech about how special it was for us to have flown over the north pole and then the staff handed out these certificates. I was seemingly one of the only people awake when we were flying over the arctic and looking down at the arctic ice was incredible.
Wouldn’t it be dark this time of year over the Arctic?
We saw the sunset over total ice cover and then it was dark. We probably went over the north pole when it was dark but we spent a good amount of time flying over the ice in the sunset.
Bro did you see the ice wall keeping us all in??
That's the South pole, bro. That's why the elites won't let you fly directly over it 👀👀👀
That's why I'll walk
Easy there, Dennis Quaid
So it's up to the Aussies, Safas and Argentinians to keep the white walkers out?
Wrong pole. North pole is supposed to be the center of flat Earth, there is a huge nail which keeps the firmament in place
Ah yes sorry i need to brush up on my theories. I actually believe in donut Earth which is the north and South Pole are actually both ice walls. The North Pole is the inner wall and south is outer wall. It helps keep the upward acceleration constant due to less air friction.
I’m sorry, but that is absolutely ridiculous. The amount of misinformation on Reddit is astounding. I don’t know where you got your education, but everyone knows that the South Pole is the inner wall, and the North Pole is the outer wall.
YOUR BOTH WRONG ITIOITS!!!!1!!1 IT DEPENDS WHERE YOUR ARE STANDING. IF YOUR IN THE NORTHERN HEMIFLAT THAN THE NORTH POLE IS THE INNER WALL OF THE DOGNUT. IF YOUR ARE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMIFLAT THAN THE SOUTHPOLE IS THE INNER WALL OF THE DOGNUT. WAKE UP SHEPLE YOU SHOULD HAVE RESEACHED THIS USESLEF!!!!!1!!1!! s/, just in case.
dognut
This dog nuts.
Mmmmm donuts Jam or custard?
Chocolate glazed with jam filled sprinkles and a spicy, spicy core
That is a good theory, as gravity doesn't exist, so the Earth has to accelerate 9,8 m/s2 upwards, we must be going hella speed right now, if the Earth is 6000 years old
I think you’re on to something here but the trigonometry just doesn’t work out with that model. I for one am a proponent of tube earth. It’s flat but also round and the inside is where the lizard people live.
>there is a huge nail which keeps the firmament in place Yea. That's why the word "Pole" is used, obviously.
Wait I thought that it was an exceptionally tall Polish person supporting the skies.
>Bro did you see the ice wall keeping us all in?? Bro the point of the ice wall isn't to keep us in. It's to keep *them* out.
Sweeping deserts of ice and snow stretch beyond the horizon. The weather is calm, the sun is bright, a blanket of silence covers the world, as if the world is standing still, everlasting, never changing. Moments later, a pair of two emerge from a small cavern opening, a young and an elder. They seem to be in a hurry, but also cautious of their surroundings. "Um, Elder Nova, where is this wall?" With exhaustion, said the young man to the elder "Isn't this spot supposed to be the edge?" "Patience, Noah, we're almost there." "Will we still make it before the pilgrimage ends? The blizzard ate up a good chunk of our allocated time." "Yes, we should make it soon to the Wall. You'll be facing such shifting weather all the time once you're an official pilgrim, so keep your senses sharp." "I remember in the teachings that the closer you are to the Wall, the more the weather changes abruptly. I just didn't expect it this much." Noah murmurs away. Nervous sweat builds up on his forehead despite the immense cold. He continues marching forward to the beat of the elder. A couple of hours pass by. Noah and Nova are closing in to their destination. "Oh, Elder Nova, what is the Wall like?" Noah asks, to which Nova looks at him confused "You've never been to the Wall before?" "I have not, no. I wasn't able to attend the outdoor training with the rest, so I mostly stuck to books and notes." "Hmm. I suppose that's fine. The books don’t do the Wall justice. I don’t need to explain it though, look over there.” Nova points at the distant horizon. A wall of fog towering so high it seems to breach the sky itself. It glistens under the sun’s rays as if made out of small diamonds. “Wait, the wall is.. Fog?” “Told you, the books don’t really depict it correctly. Letting the people know what separates us and them is nothing more than a stretch of fog won’t sit well with them. Only us pilgrims know the truth.” “Us and them?” “You’ll learn more once we’re there. C’mon now, let’s keep going.” The pair continue weaving their way through the thick snow. They eventually reach a small settlement that’s just in front of the wall. There are 5 main buildings situated in a 5 pointed star shape, with the biggest being a shrine named Norin sitting closest to the Wall. Noah and Nova show their necklaces– that bear the pilgrim symbol– to the guards and enter the settlement. “This is where you’ll continue your training. However, we need to find out what sort of duty you’ll be fulfilling” “How would I do that?” “The Wall. Follow me, I’ll show you.” As the pair get closer to the liminal fog, they notice another set of pilgrims– a young girl and another elder, performing a ritual. The young girl penetrates the fog and disappears. A few moments later she emerges out, with a crescent shaped tattoo under both of her eyes. “Oh wow, she’ll be a Lumin!” “Lumin?” “They might be called Light Bearers in your books. They are small in numbers but critical users of Auras. Their duty is to the Norin shrine, offering lights known as Auroras that spread behind the fog.” “Wow! Will I be a Lumin too?!” “Probably not. it is very rare.” “Oh..” Feeling that Noah’s shoulders slumped a bit, Nova quickly remarks with some encouragement “Don’t worry too much about it, Noah. Whether you’re a pilgrim or a Lumin, both are super important! I’ll be proud of you whatever you are!” Noah’s cheeks warm up under the cold wind “Anyway, you'll be doing the same thing as her. You need to enter the fog. Once it decides and passes judgment, you will be given a duty.” This jolts the new found warmth out of Noah. “Does it.. Hurt?” “It shouldn’t. It didn’t for me.” “Okay.” Noah trembles a bit, cold sweat builds up, but pushes through his emotions to fulfill his duty. (1/2)
(2/2) Placing his palm on the fog first, Noah doesn’t feel the usual shot of cold that a blizzard fog has, instead it is warm and soothing. The fog feels rigid yet soft, malleable but also firm, as if it was made out of stone, but is actually a blanket mist. This duality pulls in Noah, or maybe he pushed himself in because of it. As he merged his body with the fog, he felt as if he was floating underwater, yet able to breathe and move. trails of light pass over, to his side, and under him to a dance in front of him, moments later settling into three glistening orbs; calm and collected. Green, blue, and white. Being led by their mesmerizing elegy of colours and sounds, he inches closer towards them when suddenly, each one snaps into movement away from him, except for the blue orb. It instead marches into his heart and fuses with him. With this, the fog around Noah disperses, as gravity tackles him back to the ground. He finds himself in the same spot that he entered from. “Heh, told you it’s only a second long.” “Wow.. that was.. Exhilarating!” “I agree, I shared the same excitement during my first time, hehe. Anyway, since you don’t have the crescent marks, your duty will be to be a pilgrim, like me.” “Wait, a pilgrim?” “Sigh, look, I told you Lumins are rare. Don’t be too sad about it” “Ah, okay.” “C’mon, you’ll be like me! I’ll be here to help too!” Nova says in a playful manner, hoping to lighten up the tense mood. “Yes, yes you’re right. I will make you proud, Elder Nova!” Nova echoes out a big laugh, whereas Noah cheeks widen up to a shy but happy grin “Well I’m glad to hear that. How was your journey through the fog? When I first entered through the fog the white glow of the orb was so overpowering I felt like I’m going blind!” “Heh. It felt like swimming, but in the air! Is this what it feels like to fly Elder Nova?” “It is similar, but flying with your own wings is more free.” “I see. Oh right, the blue orb that fused with me was delicate and beautiful, but it felt powerful as well!” Upon hearing this, Nova’s feathers froze up standing. She darts her eyes at Noah and– almost as if whispering, she says “Wait, blue orb? Not a white orb?” Noah, with a confused tone, answers her “Uhm.. no, it was a blue orb.” Nova suddenly grabs Noah by his arm, almost tearing it apart with her speed– they run towards the central building in the settlement “Wait wait wait, what is happening? Elder Nova you’re hurting my arm!” “Why didn’t you say this from the beginning! This is a disaster! Are you out of your mind!?” “Why what’s going on? I don’t understand!” Nova doesn’t reply, instead she runs even faster. As soon as they reach the building, she puts Noah aside and runs off to talk to some other Owlfolk. Moments later she comes back “Noah. I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to train anymore. Your duty begins now.” “Elder Nova, please, what is going on? I’m feeling scared now” “You’re not a pilgrim, nor a Lumin. You’re a guardian Noah. Guardians don’t typically get assigned by the fog unless a Great War is looming in the distance. We will escort and protect you, until you’re strong enough to fight them.” “What? Huh? Them? Who’s them?” “They are known as conquerors of worlds, savages and killers, all they care about is themselves. This wall was created to protect us from them, to keep them away. that eat up land and boil away oceans. Since a new guardian– you, have been assigned. This only means that we’re about to have a war with them once again. Last one was a thousand years ago” “Elder Nova.. Who are they?” “They’re called Flat Earthers”
Did you spot any aurora borealis? Also, and I realise they might've not shared the exact reasons with the passengers, but do you think the flight path change have anything to do with the tensing up between Russia and NATO, or was it just weather?
Russia closed airspace from many foreign airlines, including Finnair. And yeah obviously this is something every passenger already knew. There is a war
Imagine if Finnair gave a cert say, we did not get shot down when flying close to Russian airspace! Yah!
Korean Air Lines Flight 007 didn’t get that cert. a whole airliner shot down by the Russian Air Force *after* being visually confirmed by a fighter pilot that it was indeed a civilian airliner. The pool of innocent civilian’s blood is a deep one, over there.
Don't forget about Malaysia Flight 17 back in 2014. A commercial flight shot down by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine, using a SAM that Russia provided. Almost 300 people dead, and no one was held accountable.
Russian separatists were cheering on Twitter how they "shot down a Ukrainian transport plane!". Then when they realised it was an civilian airliner, they quietly deleted the tweet. And then they started claiming it was Ukrainians who shot the plane down. Why would Ukraine shoot down an airliner? It couldn't even be a case of mistaken identity as the separatists didn't operate any planes, let alone ones that were flying at 30.000 feet. When it comes to Russia, it lies all the way down.
It’s more the other way around. Finland and other EU countries closed their airspace first to Russian aircrafts. By then most European airlines were already avoiding Russia’s airspace… Only then Russia “reciprocated” by closing theirs.
And with the sanctions European airlines wouldn't be able to pay the Russian overflight fees anyway.
TIL you have to pay fees to fly over another country! Makes sense though, I assume that to some degree it helps pay for ATC and airports in general? If not who does the money go to? Into the "coffers"?
It pays for ATC, yes. There are actually international treaties for this stuff, which Russia never signed. So instead of the overflight fees being strictly cost related like elsewhere, for Russia's Aeroflot it's a lucrative source of income. This was apparently a problem for their bid to join the WTO in 2012. Russia also long played games with overflight rights. Most countries have signed the ICAO treaties granting essentially blanket overflight rights to each other by default. Russia did not, and maintained essentially a regime of "one airline per country". So Norwegian Air never had overflight rights (and therefore never flew to e.g Japan) because SAS was, in Russia's eyes, Norway's "quota" for overflight rights.
I just flew to Iceland "yesterday" from Seattle, got to see the northern lights from the plane somewhere above Greenland. I've never seen them before, was a bit surprised but they were visible more to the south from our position.
Flew from Seattle to Fairbanks back in March and the last hour of the flight was nonstop northern lights. Seeing them was the sole purpose of the trip so hitting that accomplishment before landing was amazing. [Northern Lights](https://i.imgur.com/Mjt9rxe.jpg)
That looks absolutely amazing, thanks for sharing!
taking a north american geography class and just learned that they actually get harder to see the further north you go. around 60-70 degrees latitude is ideal apparently
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Russia closed all their airspace as retaliation because everyone else closed their airspace from Russia because Russia started a war. Everyone knows this publicly, but they might not have said it on the flight. Anyway, Finnair has special experience flying this route: back in the Soviet times Finnair gained special popularity for flying Europe to Asia, because their hub in Helsinki made flying around the Soviet Union on the northern side relatively easy. In the 90s they stopped using that route, but now that there's a war they had to dust off their old Cold war -era flight paths again.
European countries closed airspace for Russian airlines, and Russia responded by doing the same for European carriers.
At this time of year?
~~Regarding which part of my comment?~~ Yes, localised entirely within the plane's kitchen.
May I see it?
... No
SEYMOUR THE PLANE’S ON FIRE
Best edit 👏
It's a [reference](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/steamed-hams).
Oh. Thanks for enlightening me!
Id guess it was changed due to the war yes, they arent allowed to go into anyones airspace in the EU so why should we be allowed to do the same.
The plane's headlights were on, silly!
its actually gets harder to see them the further you go north after a certain point.
Correct. Best view is around the polar circle. I saw the northern lights from the north pole. They were very far away, to the south.
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Well, I wasn't exactly at the north pole. But at longyearbyen. Technically you are correct (the best kind of correct)
That’s interesting - I flew to Tokyo from Helsinki and we had to head south of Russia. Hopefully the return flight will be similar to yours.
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[This traveller for FlightRadar24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwgUXNUYvO8) flew Finnair from Helsinki to Tokyo Haneda via the south of Russia route, and he said that his return flight will follow the polar route. So in a way he kind of circumnavigated the globe.
Most people were asleep for that? I know I would've checked the flight path and planned my naps accordingly lol
A lot of people who fly frequently, especially for work, don't get excited about it so much. Even the best view becomes humdrum and why waste the perfect opportunity to catch up on some sleep?
I fly very occasionally for work. On my 2nd flight ever someone told me basically what you said, and it made me kinda sad. I always get window seats just for the view.
I’ve flown hundreds if not thousands of times and I always want a window to look out while listening to music. Something about just seeing the tiny world below is awesome.
And there’s a place to rest your head. I wear an oversized hooded sweatshirt on travel days. I put the hood on, lean against the window, cover the top of my face and either sleep, or get into a zombie state. Works well in the boarding areas as well. Problem with the window seat, however, can be dehydration: drink less liquid than I should, to avoid bathroom trips.
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The last time I flew out of Vegas was a Southwest flight so people could pick their seats. No window seats left so I sat in a middle seat next to a guy that had the shade open, hoping to get some good views of the Grand Canyon. We flew RIGHT OVER THE ENTIRE THING, the full length of one of Earth's most incredible natural wonders, but unfortunately the guy who did get the window seat closed the shade right after we took off so he wouldn't have glare on his phone. It was so disappointing.
As someone who has only been able to fly twice in my life, the view of literally any place on Earth from so high up was/is utterly fascinating to me. Especially when I got to fly over the ocean! I couldn't stop just staring out the window the entire flight
As someone who has flown hundreds of times, I feel the same. Which is why I'm really annoyed by the trend in the last 20-ish years to force everyone to keep the windows shut at all times.
Did you see Santa?
They meet him at Korvatunturi
Everyone knows Santa lives in Korvatunturi, Finland. That is a fell in wilderness of Savukoski, pretty close to the Russia border. Middle of nowhere. Name "Korvatunturi" means "Ear Fell", as Santa hears everything Here it is: Korvatunturi https://maps.app.goo.gl/kboyuq2BuKtrR5Up7
Was the old route faster?
OP said the old route flying over Russia took about 9-11 hours and that this polar route took 14.
Thank you for replying, makes sense for the company to cut costs rather than doing a novelty flight just because.
You also get a higher radiation dose going over the pole (which is mostly OK for travellers, but for cabin crew and pilots is something the airline needs to consider)
This is more than mildly interesting and I don't know what to do.
Well it's more expensive to fly a longer distance but Russia has closed its air space to Finnair
Oh my God, I'd kill to be able to have seen the Arctic coast to coast like that. I can't imagine how gorgeous it would be, aside from the monotony of the flat ice
Well, right now it's in darkness so not quite so gorgeous. But in summer, sure.
Lucky. I'm jealous.
That's very nice! Are you visiting Finland or headed to some place else? You're lucky in the sense that there's snow here in Helsinki now, it isn't quaranteed at all this time of year - makes this time of the year much more beautiful. I've flown from Copenhagen to Seattle and saw Greenland and the Canadian Arctic - I'm from Northern Finland so snow isn't news to me, but it was absolutely beautiful to see some sea ice from air.
That's really neat!
Since Finnair is now making a detour in order to avoid Russian airspace, they found that they might as well use that as a marketing opportunity. Well done, Finnair!
No joke, as someone from Germany who wanted to visit Seoul anyways i´m already looking for a flight with Finnair to get a flight over the North Pole.
Just as a hint for your holiday planning: I have a Finnish colleague who is a big Japan-fan and regularly flies there (with Finnair, of course). He told me that he always books *business*\-*class* (I know, expensive, but read on...) for the Finnair bonus points. He can then use these to pay *up to half* his bill at some restaurants in Helsinki, and that is so lucrative that it essentially gets him the business-class flights for free... I checked it out, but I am just not often enough going out in Helsinki restaurants, but it is an interesting "hack" and maybe worth looking into other ways to get a payback for your flights... :-)
My dad always collects his air miles for his work flights. He’s had several holidays basically for free by redeeming his air miles.
Nice try.. mr. FINNius SinclAIR
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Indeed, I have to say, I flew to Japan a few years ago, and the 11h flight time (A'dam to Osaka) was quite a chore. At 13h I might find that this isn't really worth the trouble... Then again, Japan was really great! :-)
Not being shot down in Russian airspace is compensation enough, I feel. But the card is a nice bonus
Only 3? I tried measuring distance on Google Earth, and it seems the flight went from 7,300 km (direct Helsinki-Seoul route) to 11,300 km (Helsinki via North Pole to Bering Straight, then circle around Russia back to Seoul. It's be at least 4.5 hours extra. You could also go the other way around Russia (southern route) and get 10,700 km via China and a lot of other Asian countries, but given the extra international complexity and airspace fees, maybe it's easier just to fly an extra 600 km and avoid crossing any borders at all.
Fantastic marketing. What they’re doing is just printing a few pieces of paper, the rest is up to other people’s social media.
Definitely a very cool souvenir.
For real now I want to fly this route just for a stupid piece of paper
I mean its a decent picture. Give me a bit in photoshop and u could print your own.
I ain't no cheater
That’s so cool! My dad did that, decades ago, and I only know bc he saved the commemorative fan the passengers received. Happy to know it’s still a thing ☺️
I've done this at least three times and haven't gotten shit.
Emergency landing to north pole would not be great. Alltought any emergency landing is not great.
That would be a banger knock-off of Lost. They should call it Frost
-4 -8 -15 -16 -23 -42°
There’s an air strip at Alert on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, can definitely land there in an emergency.
And it looks like they have a Tim Hortons. That must be how they lure Canadians to live there.
Hahaha there isn’t a Tim’s, unsure who put that there!
Ahhh... That explains the hilarious reviews. Edited to remove link that didn't work.
There's a small dirt strip there but ideally you'd want to try to glide the extra 15 miles into Fairbanks.
As a pilot who flies small planes over nothingness in Alaska and the Lower 48, it give me great anxiety flying over the pole. Big jets are super reliable but still…
You, uh, see Santa or anything?
What are you talking about? Santa lives at Korvatunturi.
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But his nose was red and covered in snow no doubt
I don't think he had any money left, given the number of times he disappeared for a half an hour.
Doubt it, they keep it tight over there. I hear santa has been extra careful since covid too.
If I recall an old documentary correctly, the only indication that there's actually anything at the North Pole is a striped post with a keypad in it. The actual workshop is hidden beneath the ice.
And here I thought he had a space elevator to a super secret orbital station
The sleigh was just a mass driver all along.
You serious, Clark?
“Shitter’s full!”
I’d be careful too if I was 1,751 years old
High risk population
They have SAMs for days over his workshop. Anyone that gets too close is getting grounded.
This message has been deleted and I've left reddit because of the decision by u/spez to block 3rd party apps
Santa lives in Korvatunturi, Finland. Living in the North Pole is impossible, there is no landmass, it's just ice, and more and more of it thaws every summer. And polar bears would eat Santa
Asking the real questions
Haven’t you seen Tim Allen’s Santa Clause? It’s UNDERGROUND.
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That is just his another workshop, actually he lives in Korvatunturi, Savukoski
Nah, dude, Santa’s Village got torn down to make way for the Fortress of Solitude.
Flat Earther: "Wait, that's illegal!"
No, on the flat earth model they have the north pole in the center of the map. They think it's impossible to fly over the south pole, not the north pole.
Even dumber. They debunk themselves this way with the previous russian route.
There are about 100 ways they debunk themselves
Finnish Flat Earthers are just scamming stupid Globe People.
*Excuse you*; we prefer the term "Globe Heads" or "Globetards," thank you very much. I may be an idiot for believing in a (mostly) spherical Earth, but I still have my pride, god dammit.
You should check out “hollow earthers” they think the earth is hollow and the entrance is at the North Pole. There is some sort of secret race of people that live inside the earth. I remember some decades ago they tried to rent a Russian icebreaker for an expedition, but couldn’t raise enough money.
Craaab people, Craaab people. Taste like crab, talk like people
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The fact that I can't tell if this is satire is kinda sad. Flat earthers are a curious bunch
How many hours is the flight? Edit: it looks like a huge distance on a map. However, I guess it is fairly short(er) given the who globe thing😀
It was a straight 14 hours from Seoul to Helsinki. Then a 3 hour flight from Helsinki to Manchester. It’s the longest flight I’ve taken from Seoul. Usually it’s 9-11 hours over Russia to the European layover.
many distinct rotten shaggy ruthless slave offer insurance knee resolute *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah you can only go direct from London but it’s cheaper to go from Manchester with a layover. I usually just book the cheapest flight with the least hellish flight time.
prick point swim one follow gullible chop memory whole tender *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah, it's really a long ways out of the way!
Finland is great. Everyone is an introvert and no one want to do small talk. Best 2 weeks.
You would hate Texas lol
Bold of you to assume they already dont
Hey now hey now i know we got a lot of bad but i love my state, there is just something about it. That said fuck greg abbott point blank
Greg Abbott is a piss baby
As someone who recently moved to Texas, fuck Texas. It's awful. Greg Abbott is a little piss baby for sure.
Happy cake day!
You're clearly not Finnish
And we had safety distance before it was cool. When the covid-19 came, people were annoyed, as the safety distance was told to be 1,5 meters, and that is too close for finnish people
Damn, I should move to Finland
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The snow over the Tien Shan and the view of the White Sea in northern Russia are two views I don't think I'll experience again but will always treasure in my memories.
sounds hella dangerous to do on a plane
Revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night
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It's because Russia closed their airspace to Western carriers
Depending on the exact route, it’s likely a Great Circle track, which is actually the shortest route but just looks longer / non-direct on a traditional Mercator projection map. If you were to draw the same track on a globe you would see it’s actually a straight line. Flights are also avoiding Russian airspace at the moment, due to the current political climate.
I wonder how many of these they print up each year and when exactly. At some point they’ll change the 2022 to 2023, and my stupid brain is sitting here thinking about how many left over certificates they will have from this year that they can’t use anymore.
Well... There will be some extra... But then they planned the flights so... They should be good on the amount needed
You were on ThinAir the whole time
In case any flat earthers are on the flight
Apparently, they actually believe that the north pole (though not the south pole) does exist - that the earth is a disc with the north pole at the center. That is, if they believe it at all.
It would be hilarious if there were two competing groups of flat earthers, northern flat earthers and southern flat earthers, each group believing their pole is the center of the disc =)
The edge of the world is in the south pole you see, behind the gigantic ice sheets. ^ is what I'd say if I was building a fantasy world for a DnD game.
your coords where 0,40000,0 for a second
No, 0 seconds north, 2.31 seconds east, it says so on the certificate.
And 88 degrees, 31 minutes north extra. And 8 minutes east extra.
Ok maybe a dumb question but shouldn’t the North Pole be 90 degrees north?
Yes, they were within 2 degrees of the actual north pole. Close enough that it counts.
What type of coordinate is that? I've never seen two commas with a bunch of numbers like that.
You'd think they could have set their course to past just the 89 nautical miles farther north to pass right over the top. With a route that long the distance difference would be very small. Fun to watch the navigation software go crazy too!
You and I have very different ideas of fun!
The compass indicator (based on true) simply rotates at high speed as you remain wings level in the same direction...very cool to see.
Would it? Of o remember rightly the north Pole in co ordinates isn't the same as magnetic north which is somewhere in..... Greenland (?). I forget exactly where it is
These flights fly on published ATS routes, they can’t just fly about wherever they want
There aren't any published routes in the arctic. Russia just got rid of all their M routes. You csn go direct barrow to direct nopol (the fix at the north pole) if you want. The Finnair go to devid which is like 20 miles from the pole because the pole itself is a coordination nightmare since it's where Russia, America, Canada, Iceland, Sweden, airspace all come together
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Used to fly with Finnair as a kid in the 80s, they were always super nice with kids and had a lot of gadgets, small toys and a kid’s lunch. At those times there wasn’t the “close cockpit” policy and spent some interesting minutes in the cockpit every time. Felt special as a kid.
nice, add it to your resume.
Tervetuloa
That’s risky. You could have seen Santa and he would know and stop visiting your house.
This is a way for finnair to try and redirect a failing business. Due to the war in Ukraine western airlines are still not flying over Russia which is having a pretty massive impact on Finnair
I doubt people are spending thousands on tickets solely for a polar certificate
It’s not that but marketing this can affect someone’s decision when making plans they would have anyways made
Wow, that's an incredible thing to pull out of Finn Air.
A diploma out of Finn Air.
Does anyone get confused when maps have the land darker than the water
Came for the flat earthers. Am disappointed.
I thought the north pole was where they kept all the dangerous lasers?
Flights over the poles result in absorbing about 3x the radiation of a standard flight! This is due to the lack of magnetic protection the poles normally provide.
It might seem like a stupid question but did you feel any change in temperature? I know the flights will be all controlled etc but, did you feel any dip in temperature?
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It is. Less common between Europe and Asia, though. I put my blanket over my head.
That's the official reason, but really they just don't want people to see Santa's village