Jacob's teacher has assigned a Flat Stanley project for her class. Stanley was a litle kid that was standing in front of a bulletin board - it dropped and smashed him flat. The bad news was that he was flat. The good news was that he could travel to distant places by mail. This is the story of Flat Jacob. Flat Jacob lives in Tennessee, but Flat Jacob is a very curious boy and will accept any invitation to visit distant and interesting places. Flat Jacob already know something about adventure because his sister, Abby, told him about her the adventures of Flat Abby. First, the real Jacob and the real Flat Jacob at the front door with Rachel
Flat Jacob's dad grows coral. Flat Jacob likes very much to look at the aquarium.
Sometimes Flat Jacob plays in the bushes beside his mom's garden
Flat Jacob went with his family to visit his uncle in Louisville Kentucky. Then Flat Jacob decided the driving was boring and took too long so he decided to fly to New York. So off he went with his grandpa for a flying adventure to Singapore. This map shows where Flat Jacob's grandpa flew - with Singapore Airlines and Continental Airlines as well as driving from Chapel Hill to Charleston. In Charleston, Flat Jacob's grandpa is having a photo exhibit at the Karpeles Museum . While the flight from Singapore to Newark passes over Alaska and south of the North Pole, the return flight is due north to the North Pole, then due south, more or less, to Singapore. Here is the Newark - Singapore the polar flight path and the more southern Singapore - Newark flight path. (Click the image to explore the flight with Google Earth
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Here is a global view of the Asian flight paths and a global view of the US flight paths
He was invited to the cockpit to actually help the pilot. Here he is landing at Newark Airport.
And if you click here you can see a video of Flat Jacob landing the Continental Airlines jet
Here the pilot and co-pilot are helping Flat Jacob adjust the engine thrust
And here the pilot and co-pilot are just making big smiles because Flat Jacob learns very fast
Flat Jacob was having so much fun traveling by jet airplane that he decided to fly to Singapore. The Singapore Airlines flight, SQ 21 was just about to leave. Here is Flat Jacob checking in at the counter
The Airbus 340 took off and here is what New York looks like at 11:20 pm at night
Here is another view of the night lights
Here you can see the faint outline of the engine (on the right) and the wing light at the end of the wing
Here is Flat Jacob enjoying the inflight entertainment and National Geographic (Flat Jacob enjoys reading)
Here Flat Jacob is talking with the First Officer of SQ 21 - which, by the way is the longest non-stop commercial flight (18 hours from Newark NJ to Singapore
Here is a geography lesson - or rather problems the happen when a map is displayed as rectangular. Not the yellow track over the North Pole. In the jet, we cross 12 time zones in about a minute. But this presentation of the flight path suggests that it takes a long time because it appears as a long distance. The global map above provides a better presentation of the actual flight path.
Flat Jacob learned from the First Officer that the fastest way to fly to Singapore was to fly north to the North Pole. Flat Jacob is a high tech Jacob. He turned on his GPS so that he could locate the North Pole. Here is the day as seen at the North Pole (N 87 30.996, W 0 21.72 ).
Here is a Google Map of our route. With this, you can zoom and drag to explore the geography of our trip and understand why time flies when you fly over the North Pole.
Here is another view of the North Pole day and the wing of the SQ flight
Here Flat Jacob is talking with the Singapore Airlines flight crew
and after arriving at Changi Airport in Singapore, Flat Jacob rode the MRT (Singapore Mass Rapid Transit) to his granddad's apartment
Many people in Singapore like to eat at "Hawker centers". Grandpa is one of those people. He met Mr Song and his wife - they make Lime Juice. Here is Mr Song and his lime juice stall
Mr. Song's friend makes Fried Kway Teow - a sort of fried noodles
And Flat Jacob discovered Mr. Song's sugar cane. In addition to fresh lime juice, Mr. Song makes fresh sugar cane juice. Hmmmmmm - tasty.
Here is Mr Song and his helper, Mrs. Song
Saturday Craig and Dee Ann Stenberg invited Flat Jacob to dinner at Zhou's Kitchen - near Anchorpoint in Singapore. Flat Jacob ordered fried dumplings and herbal tea. He liked the fried dumplings but the herbal tea has some ways to go to catch up with sweet tea.
Flat Jacob visits Australia
We first visited Sydney where Flat Jacob enjoyed the monorail
Then Flat Jacob visited the Sydney Opera House and High Tea
Then to Alice Springs where Grandmother waited for the Airport Shuttle
Here is a typical street in Alice Springs
Then to Adelaide - where Jacob practiced take-off and landing
and some photos of the desert from the flight
I walked along Rundle Mall where there were some pigs that I visited
This guy was just walking but would not give me a ride
Hmmm - time for a Coke from the local Woolworths store. Happiness is a shop that opens at 7am
Here is the University of South Australia
Walking further, Flat Jacob found the hospital but hurt his arm while looking at the hospital sign
He decided to visit the Botanical Garden
Where he visited the Bicentennial Center
and the ducks in front
and the bees harvesting pollen
Flat Jacob is out of Australian money - so where else to turn than to your friendly ATM machine
C. Frank Starmer