Posted: 5/28/2010 6:28:19 PM EDT
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Sometimes when a plane goes over the house on an odd heading i check FlightAware to see where it is going. This one was going to Frankfurt from Denver. I am wondering why the course is not more of a point A to point B kind of thing? Seem like a lot of extra miles to fly.
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Do a search for the "great circle route". 
EDIT: This might help visualize things. http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch1en/conc1en/greatcircle.html |
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Quoted:
The curve is the fastest way to get from A to B when circling the globe. Just remember that in a sphere, that is more or less following the longtitude... Not sure what you mean by that... just because a flat map gives you one route as the shortest distance between points A and B doesn't mean it will hold true on a spherical globe. If you have a GPS unit put in a destination a few thousand miles away and look at the little pink line... it should be curved. |