1bassoon Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 My dd is flying home from Italy today (yay!) I have a *slight* obsession with tracking flights, and I noticed - when she flew over, it was mostly straight across the Atlantic from Atlanta to Rome. But coming home, they're flying north over France, to the tip of Greenland, and then down over Canada through the states to Atlanta. Why? Just 'cuz I like to know things. .. . . . and the Hive is more fun than Google! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 The main reason is the jet stream. But it could also have to do with weather patterns, e.g., they are flying around a thunderstorm. Are you following her progress on Flight Aware? I love that site :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 This Wiki page is interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1bassoon Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 The main reason is the jet stream. But it could also have to do with weather patterns, e.g., they are flying around a thunderstorm. Are you following her progress on Flight Aware? I love that site :) Interesting. . .and the Wiki article helped, too. Actually, I'm just looking at Delta's site - they have a map where I can view satellite or hybrid/map, so I've got that pulled up. It's just amazing to see where she is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Here's the great circle from Rome to Atlanta. It marks the shortest distance between the two cities. Http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=Fco-atl&DU=mi&SU=mph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 That was interesting. I see that they keep the westbound to a more northern latitude and rather eastbound to a more southern. That makes sense. At least then pilots only have to contend with same direction traffic similar to an interstate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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