Is it true that, when flying from the U.S. to Europe or Asia, planes are actually heading towards Greenland?

Question

Is it true that, when flying from the U.S. to Europe or Asia, planes are actually heading towards Greenland, due to the Earth's circumference or rotation, or for any other reason?
Please state your credentials for providing an accurate answer to this question.
Thanks for your help! :o)

...Either heading towards or over Greenland, etc.

Answer 1

Since I'm on the U.S side of the pond I'll answer with explanations travelling from the U.S.

Aircraft fly along a predetermined route over the ocean called a North Atlantic Track, called NATs. These routes are changed daily to make the best use of weather conditions. Eastbound routes are depicted with an alphanumeric character, S-Z and include flight levels 320-400.

Your aircraft will more than likely increase it's altitude duing the course of it's flight. Take for example; A Boeing 777-200 (I'll refer to it in atc terms as a B772),departing from Chicago O'Hare to London Heathrow. Because of the extraordinary weight at take-off, the B772 might only be able to climb to FL330, (33,000ft at standard atmospheric pressure setting of 29.92 inches of mercury). As the aircraft flies along, it will obviously burn off fuel and become lighter, enabling it to climb to a higher altitude. The final cruising altitude of your flight might be FL400. Stereotypically, the higher you are, the more fuel efficient the aircraft is.

Many times, your flight will take place close the to shores of, or directly over Greenland due to the flight routing of that particular day. Some aircraft are only certified to fly over water for shorter periods of time, (like the B737's and the B757's that received ETOPS certification), so they do make use of roting that allows them to fly over Greenland and Iceland so that they can have those portions of their flight over land.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Yes, I think it's because of the shape of the Earth, because we've been to U.S. from London around 9 times and we always head towards Greenland! On the way back as well, we head toward Greenand first and we even flew over it!

Answer 3

yes its true, planes travelling to or from europe head for the coast of green land as they travel from usa or europe, then down the coast line of the country they are travelling to or from. its a safety feature so they will always be close to the coast of a country in case of problems. they always maintain ground contact for as long as its possible for safety sake

Answer 4

it is true for sure they try to make it esier the earth turns its there and back

Answer 5

yes just look at a globe and youll see why.