will be flying over the Pacific Ocean for 5 hours

[ademoglu]

Hi,

*self-made*

- They will be flying over the Pacific Ocean for 5 hours.

I would like to ask if the sentence is OK or should I use 'they will have been flying over the Pacific Ocean for 5 hours'?

Thanks.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think they have different meanings, but I am not a teacher.

'They will be flying for five hours.'── Five hours will have not yet passed.
'They will have been flying for five hours.'── Five hours will have passed.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


James: I'm taking a spaceship to Mars tomorrow. They won't be serving any food.
Mona: Shall I fix a lunch for you to take?
James: That won't be necessary. We [will] leave at 10 a.m. and [will] arrive at 3 p.m.
Mona: Oh, I see what you mean. You will be flying for only five hours. So you won't starve!

*****

James: I'm taking a spaceship to Jupiter tomorrow.
Mona: What's the schedule?
James: It leaves at 10 a.m. and arrives at 8 p.m.
Mona: Is it OK if I call you at 3 p.m. just to see how you're doing?
James: Sure, no problem. We will have been flying for five hours, so there should be problem if you contact me by phone at 3 p.m. tomorrow.

 

[Matthew Wai]

James: That won't be necessary. We [will] leave at 10 a.m. and [will] arrive at 3 p.m.
Mona: Oh, I see what you mean. You will be flying for only five hours. So you won't starve!

I think James will be flying for five hours when Mona is having lunch, but I am not a teacher.

 

[Barb_D]

I think James will be flying for five hours when Mona is having lunch, but I am not a teacher.

No. If Mona eats at noon, he will have been flying for two hours at that time.

By the time he lands, he will have been flying for five hours.

 

[Matthew Wai]

- They will be flying over the Pacific Ocean for 5 hours.

Can it mean 'They will be in the middle of a flight whose intended duration is five hours'?

 

[Barb_D]

The tenses in your sentence don't work for me. She won't be eating for five hours while he is flying for five hours.

You can say that he will be in the middle of his five-hour flight while she's having lunch. (That doesn't mean she eats at exactly the 2.5-hour mark -- just that it's not quite at the start or at the end.)