Time discrepancy

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A time discrepancy exists between the Island and the outside world. There have been at least five evidences of varying degrees of this difference any time someone or something is shown leaving or coming to the Island:

• Eight hours after take-off at 2:15 pm would put Oceanic 815 on the Island around 10:15 pm Sydney time, later local time since they were flying eastward (Fiji is 2 time zones later, Tahiti is 4). However, it is clearly mid-day when the plane lands. ("Pilot, Part 1"), ("The Other 48 Days") In fact we discover from the log printout that it was at 4:16 pm, presumably local time. ("Live Together, Die Alone") If the Island is west of the International Date Line, then they skipped 10 to 12 hours back; if they are east of the line, they skipped 12 to 14 hours forward.

• Daniel Faraday set up an experiment in which he called for a payload to be sent from the freighter to the Island. The payload arrived much later than expected, and the freighter's clock showed a time 31 minutes and 18 seconds later than Daniel's clock. ("The Economist") While it seems the payload skipped ahead in time, the extra time on the clock would prove otherwise. The payload must therefore have travelled through a period where the relative time sped up.
• When Sayid and Desmond leave the Island on Frank Lapidus' helicopter, it takes them almost a day to reach the boat in Island time. ("Eggtown") But from the helicopter's point of view, Sayid notices they took off at dusk and landed in the middle of the day for what seemed to be just several minutes or maybe a few hours. ("The Constant") The helicopter also seems to have either travelled through a faster time, or skipped ahead in time by half a day despite travelling the opposite direction as the payload.

• When Ray's body washed ashore on the Island, he was still alive on the freighter. ("The Shape of Things to Come") Two days later, Ray is killed and his body thrown overboard. ("Cabin Fever") Thus his body must have skipped back in time by over two days.

• Ajira Flight 316 is flying to Guam in the middle of the night. Suddenly a bright flash of light occurs and the plane is suddenly in the middle of the day with the Island looming ahead of them. ("Namaste") The flight appears to have skipped back in time an unknown number of months from January 2008 to sometime in 2007.

While the following do not seem to be a result of the time discrepancy, they are other examples of time skipping from leaving the Island:

• When Benjamin Linus turns the frozen wheel, ("There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3") he skips ten months into the future. ("The Shape of Things to Come")
• When John Locke turns the frozen wheel, ("This Place Is Death") he skips almost three years into the future. ("The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham")