Some people have told me it is actually a shorter route, others have told me that the routes are controlled this way to keep planes from being too far away from land if an emergency were to occur. Anybody know?
2007-08-26 10:30:37 · 10 answers · asked by Cap'n C 3 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Aircraft
Take a look at a globe sometime. Grab a string and put one end on say San Francisco and the other on Hong Kong and stretch it out all the slack. See if you don't come close to Alaska. You won't be over it but close. The earth is a big ball and if you look at it on a flat map it'll deceive you every time. We call this a great circle route. When we go from San Francisco to Paris, we fly nowhere near New York but way up into Canada and over Greenland. It's the shortest route.
2007-08-26 10:38:23 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
When aircraft fly on a northerly route they are following a 'Great Circle' route. A 'Great Circle' route is the shortest distance across a sphere (the Earth).
All the meridians (longitudes) and the equator are Great Circles. If the sphere (the Earth) could be cut into two equal hemispheres the plane of the cut is a Great Circle. There are many more Great Circles, but their common characteristic is the line of the Gt Circle across the surface of the sphere will cut the sphere into two equal hemispheres.
2007-08-26 17:47:58 · answer #2 · answered by lenpol7 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its all about money.
The earth is a sphere, therefore a direct line route is not always the shortest route from airport A to airport B, and so, in this case, it would not be the least cost route to fly directly from the west coast USA to Asia. It is more efficiently done by tracking north near Alaska.
2007-08-26 17:41:20 · answer #3 · answered by herkco 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Find a world globe and using a piece of string measure the distance going straight across the Pacific and then up across the polar route. You'll find that the polar route is much shorter due to the curvature of the earth.
2007-08-26 17:38:39 · answer #4 · answered by mustanger 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It IS a shorter route, called a 'great circle route`.
It only looks curved on your map because of the way the map is drawn.
Stretch a string between the two points on a globe, and you'll see it.
2007-08-26 17:40:07 · answer #5 · answered by Irv S 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Commercial flights do not always take the shortest routes. There is also the weather factor. Sometimes we plan to take routes to catch the jet streams so as to save fuel and time.
2007-08-26 18:13:54 · answer #6 · answered by crapcrusader 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go back to high school geography. Commerical aircraft always take the shortest route between two points unless weather, turb, or wind speed intervenes. Especially with the cost of fuel it is a critical factors, so trust me, if you fly commercial you will take the shortest route.
2007-08-26 18:00:44 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is the shortest route across a globe.
The view over a 2-d map is misleading.
2007-08-26 17:55:55 · answer #8 · answered by Anthony M 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's the second. Flying that way keeps the plane above land for the majority of the flight. By limiting the amount of time the plane is above water, the plane always has somewhere to land in case of an emergency. It takes a little longer, but it's for your safety.
2007-08-26 17:39:16 · answer #9 · answered by s8n_spawn 3 · 1⤊ 3⤋
The answers above are correct. this site gives a great visual demonstration of what they all mean:
http://gc.kls2.com/
2007-08-26 18:50:47 · answer #10 · answered by kaiwan58 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋