Why is Europe to Miami route same as route to more northerly airports?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2010
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Why is Europe to Miami route same as route to more northerly airports?
Why do flights going from Europe to Miami take the same route as a plane day going to New York. Why don’t they take a more southern route direct to Florida.
#2
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 75
Great Circle routing is the shortest routing. Maps are flat, the earth isn’t. If you look at a globe it will make sense. Maps are distorted because they are by nature, flat.
Google “great circle mapper” and plug in a couple airports: I.e. FRA and MIA and it will show you the shortest route
Google “great circle mapper” and plug in a couple airports: I.e. FRA and MIA and it will show you the shortest route
#3
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In addition to the GC routing mentioned above, it all depends on the time of year and how the jetstream is moving. In these cases where a Europe to MIA flight flies down the east coast, taking a more southerly route would most likely end up flying head on into the jetstream, and thus an even longer flight time, more fuel burn, etc.
#4
Join Date: Nov 2017
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Great Circle routing is the shortest routing. Maps are flat, the earth isn’t. If you look at a globe it will make sense. Maps are distorted because they are by nature, flat.
Google “great circle mapper” and plug in a couple airports: I.e. FRA and MIA and it will show you the shortest route
Google “great circle mapper” and plug in a couple airports: I.e. FRA and MIA and it will show you the shortest route
#5
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#6
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Palm Beach
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I've definitely not always flown over the Northeast going to Europe from MIA - though I have sometimes. Madrid and Lisbon, for example, regularly route several hundred miles offshore. And because of winds, return flights are often much further south and east - I've flown over Bermuda several times ex Europe to MIA.
Fun fact for the flat-earthers....Maine is the closest US state to Africa.
Fun fact for the flat-earthers....Maine is the closest US state to Africa.
#7
Join Date: May 2001
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But to the OP's point, living in Miami, my most common European landing is London, we often fly right up the East Coast of the US.
Thanks!
#8
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Winds aloft as well as Great Circle routes influence routing (as well as occasional political conditions). That’s how one can fly LAX-HKG and fly up the US and Canada west coast to s.e. Alaska before making the turn towards HKG.
#9
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Great Circle routing is the shortest routing. Maps are flat, the earth isn’t. If you look at a globe it will make sense. Maps are distorted because they are by nature, flat.
Google “great circle mapper” and plug in a couple airports: I.e. FRA and MIA and it will show you the shortest route
Google “great circle mapper” and plug in a couple airports: I.e. FRA and MIA and it will show you the shortest route
#10
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The spherical shortest routes (geodesics) are visually closer than a straight line on a flat map. Winds could then either bunch them together or spread them apart.
#11
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Adding to the Great Circle Mapper detail provided by CPRich, MIA-JFK-FRA is only 113 miles farther than MIA-FRA.
Great Circle Mapper
Visual Treat: The Great Circle Route for Anchorage-Johannesburg goes right over Helsinki, Finland - not Miami.
Great Circle Mapper
Visual Treat: The Great Circle Route for Anchorage-Johannesburg goes right over Helsinki, Finland - not Miami.
#13
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 163
You will also often see large variation going east vs going west, winds aloft play in quite a bit. Recall a flight to ICN that the route looked crazy in the morning when I looked at it, then captain explained the route was to avoid a 200+ headwind. Fortunately, the return trip took advantage of it, and we arrived close to 2 hours early.
#14
Join Date: Nov 2009
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