Originally Posted by
Greenpen
I am a bit boring, but I carry a compass. Coming back from AUH today it was showing us flying in a south easterly direction when we should have been going north west. I naturally assumed we had been hijacked but spotted the Greek island of Santorini (it has a very characteristic shape) drifting past in the correct direction so all seemed well. Later, over Belgium, it had us flying north east rather than north west but by that time I was too drunk to care.
Aircraft do not fly the shorest most direct route. There are "airways" where traffic is directed. Aircraft can also be stacked up and go around in circles to get into order and/or spacing and/or for landing clearance. The sky is congested.
http://flightaware.com/ can show the actual flight path
Last edited by Mwenenzi; Feb 18, 2016 at 12:54 am