Do Government Documents Admit That the Earth Is Flat?

In my 2019 book, Falling Flat: A Refutation of Flat Earth Claims, I evaluated many of the claims that flat-earthers make. With so many flat-earth claims and with more of them arising since publication of my book, I didn’t cover all the flat-earth claims out there. That is why I continue to update my study of the flat-earth movement with new web articles and blog posts. Some people may think it is a waste of time to discuss the flat-earth movement. However, the flat-earth movement presents a danger to the church. Self-professed biblical flat-earthers apply a flawed hermeneutic to Scripture. Their hyper literal approach to poetic and prophetic books wrings unfounded meanings from those passages. Flat-earthers must create in their minds a vast satanic conspiracy about the earth’s shape to support belief that the earth is flat. This often results in a caustic attitude that damages couples, families, and churches. Many flat-earthers end up leaving their churches and not assembling with fellow believers as we are commanded to do. Therefore, it is important that I continue researching the flat-earth movement and report on new developments in that movement.
One of the flat-earther arguments that I have not examined before is claims that there are many government documents admitting the earth is flat. I thank Michael Toon for compiling a list of 44 government documents that some flat-earthers claim admit that the earth is flat (hereafter, I will simply refer to this as “the list”).
Probably the most common government document that flat-earthers cite as admitting the earth is flat is a report titled “Derivation and Definition of a Linear Aircraft Model” produced by three researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. Sure enough, one does not have to read very far (the first sentence of the text) in this report to see that this paper derived a linear model for an aircraft “flying over a flat, nonrotating earth.” For most flat-earthers, that is all they need to see. They reason, “Why would NASA go to the trouble to derive a model of aircraft flying over a flat, nonrotating earth, if the earth is spherical and rotating?” This is typical of the way flat-earthers make their arguments—they focus on one or two words and ignore the context and the other words around the few words they focus on. Here is the first sentence in this report:

This report documents the derivation and definition of a linear aircraft model for a rigid aircraft of constant mass flying over a flat, nonrotating earth.

Flat-earthers focus on the description of the earth as being flat and nonrotating and ignore the description of the aircraft as being rigid and having constant mass. Aircraft are not rigid. When seated over the wing of an airliner, I often watch the wingtip rise a few feet as we take off. Materials flex when forces are applied to them. In the case of the wings of aircraft, the lift generated is applied to the wings, and the wings flex upward in response to lift. The control surfaces of aircraft also move, departing from the assumption that aircraft are rigid. Hence, aircraft are not rigid. Nor do aircraft have constant mass. As the flight proceeds, stored fuel is consumed, reducing the mass of the aircraft considerably.

This article, by Dr. Danny R. Faulkner on September 15, 2023, so I'll stop here. It's obvious that, in spite of what some may think, Believers in Christ are the ones who are not flat-earthers.

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