Question: I'm surprised no one has asked this question. The whole tense moment during the final battle is someone making it safely down the trench to shoot the exhaust holes and destroy the death star. Besides dramatic effect why would they all start from so far away?
Jeremy 'David Dancer' McLaurin
7th Oct 2014
Star Wars (1977)
Chosen answer: The trench near the exhaust port is protected by laser cannon batteries. To come in below them, the trench run has to be started from a long distance away.
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Answer: It's explicitly stated that the targeting computers will have difficulty targeting the small exhaust port. The long approach was to give the computers time to make their calculations as accurate as possible.