why the flights fly close to greenland and move south to cross atlantic?

Question

when flying from europe to new york flights doesnot fly across atlantic ocean they go north towards greenland and then come south over canadian coast

Answer 1

The objective is to fly the shortest distance possible. The shortest distance between two points on a globe is called a great circle. It's closer than flying (what we would consider) a straight line. Get a globe and a string and check for yourself.

Answer 2

On a plane (absolutely flat) surface the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
On the surface of a sphere (like the earth's surface) the shortest distance between two points is along a great circle. A great circle of a sphere is the lagest circle that can be drawn on the surface of a sphere. The earth's equator is a great circle. Parallels of longitude are all great circles going through both poles. To save fuel and flight time jetliners fly along a portion of a great circle and not along some line drawn on a 2-dimensional map.
Consecuntly a plane flying from Anchorage Alaska non-stop to St. Petersburg Russia will fly directly over the north pole of the earth.
Find these two cities on a globe or at least a world map.

Hope this helps :-)

Answer 3

Get a globe and stretch a string from New York to whatever destination in Europe. You will see that the string traces the flight path and, since the string is stretched tight, it is the shortest distance on the globe. A flat map gives you a distorted view of the earth's surface because you can't depict a curved surface (the Earth) perfectly on a flat map.

Answer 4

Everyone above is correct. But if you think that is weird you should see the flight path for a Flight like New York-Hong Kong or Miami-Tokyo. These planes go almost due North. The flights from New York-Hong Kong fly just south of the north pole.

Answer 5

St Petersburg has something that gets below your skin and if you intend to discover what it is then, you should have a look with hotelbye . Nevsky Prospect is St Petersburg's main avenue and one of many best-known streets in Russia. Chopping through the famous centre of the city, it runs from the Admiralty, mark of Russian power, to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery and it is going to be very lovely to walk along that road later in the day when all illuminations on. Here, you will see everything: probably the most stunning structure, the magnificent palaces, the world-famous museums and the sparkling five-star hotels. One of the areas should see from St. Petersburg is State Hermitage Museum. The main architectural ensemble of the Hermitage is situated in the center of St Petersburg and consists in: Winter Palace, when the former state residence of the Russian emperors, houses of the Small, Old (Great) and New Hermitages, the Hermitage Theatre and the Auxiliary House.

Answer 6

Because the distance is actually shorter.
Take a globe, and place a piece of string in a direct path from NY to, say, London, along latitude.
Now take the same piece of strong, and follow the curve of the Earth.
Its shorter, even though it doesn't look that way on a flat map. Basically, they are using the curve of the earth to their advantage.

Answer 7

Actually, if you look at a globe, they are taking the shortest path. If you look at a "flat map", it seems like they should go further south. But that is because a flat map distorts reality.

Answer 8

if they flew straight across the Atlantic they would be going against the Jet Stream (which would make the flight longer)...so they fly way up north then south through Canada to avoid it