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Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight
I believe the rocket was behind.
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I double-checked and the timer on the rocket was 31 minutes ahead of Daniel's watch.
There are a couple theories that I have read about that can explain this.
1. Time on the island is slower than time in the outside.
This explains why Richard Alpert hasn't aged. Why "ghost Walt" is taller (he's off the island). Maybe even why Aaron is growing so fast (children age at the standard rate while adults don't). But it doesn't explain how they are able to communicate with the outside in real time. The voices from the ship would be frequency shifted up.
Also, GPS uses time to triangulate positions. Highly accurate time pieces are required for better precision. If time on the island were slower then the GPS phone and transponders would not accurately show their locations. And if they were off by as much as 31 minutes it would probably not even locate them on earth.
2. There's a curve in time surrounding the island that varies by trajectory.
This can explain things much better. If some trajectories off the island don't have a time dilation then communications are still possible given that radio waves travel in all directions. But then there would still be echoes making communications difficult. And, as was pointed out above, why Daniel made sure to tell the pilot to follow the exact course they came in on.