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Why Did the Rebels Have to Fly Along the Deathstar Trench?

Is there a bigger reason why the rebels had to fly through the long corridor for minutes in order to target the ventilation shaft?

Couldn't they just fly in there at the right spot for a few seconds, fire and leave?

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I think this may be a duplicate –  DVK Mar 11 '12 at 18:55
 
Also, the correct term is "trench" –  DVK Mar 11 '12 at 18:56
 
Note that duplicates should not be downvoted, but flagged appropriately. –  bitmask Mar 11 '12 at 19:48
 
This is arguably not a duplicate. The other question asks why fly along the trench at all, while this one seems to ask why fly down the trench so far? If we accept the premise that flying down the trench is necessary, a question of how much of this in-trench flight is required could be one on its own. –  Iszi Mar 12 '12 at 5:55
 
If they just popped the torpedos from 5k away there would be no awesome cinematics or chase scene.... the script called for a chase scene... we got a chase scene. –  Chad Mar 12 '12 at 20:51
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marked as duplicate by Tango, Kevin, Gilles Mar 11 '12 at 20:04

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

2 Answers

There are two parts of this, first of all, calculate the circumference of a circle that has a radius of several thousand kilometers, then remember that the scene has to be fairly long in order to utilize cinematics effectively. I personally think that it is also self-justifying because there were only a few holes in the extensive point defense networks and they were fairly far away from that hole to the reactor.

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Though it was heavily defended by blaster weapons, being in the corridor reduced the total number of weapons on the Deathstar that could be trained on the Rebel ships in the corridor. The higher up from the Deathstar the Rebel craft were, the higher the amount of weapons that could be aimed at them from the surface of the Deathstar. So, as deadly as it was, being in the corridor put them below the horizon of most of the weapons on the Deathstar making it safer than not being in the corridor. In addition, the corridor was much easier to locate on the huge Deathstar than the target within the corridor. Following the corridor to the shaft was the surest way to the target.

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The main point of this argument is effectively rendered pointless by the fact that the Rebels would have faced the same surface-mounted weapons on their way directly to the target from above, as they did when entering the trench in the first place. –  Iszi Mar 12 '12 at 5:06
 
@Iszi I take it you're not a paintball player. The point is once the trench had been reached, it would have been easier to both find and strike the target from the realitive safety of being below the horizen of most of the weapons on the Deathstar. I didn't say getting to the trench would be easy. –  Major Stackings Mar 12 '12 at 6:04
 
Finding the target is a non-issue. They have the schematics, so they already know where it is. Shooting it from the trench definitely has its benefits. But, again, they spent way more time in the trench than was needed for this. Why not enter the trench at a closer location? –  Iszi Mar 12 '12 at 16:01
 
Maybe they came up on the death star many kilometers away from the port, and rather than orbiting the Death Star further out, they chose to enter closer in and orbit the Death Star, also saving distance –  SSumner Jun 25 '12 at 19:22
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