Why is that when you fly to america you go up over canada etc but don't on the way back?

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Janet712inEngland

Flying over Canada is the shortest distance. However, on the way back, you catch the Jet Stream, which flows like a river from west to east. This will almost always make your trip back much faster, even if longer.

Other Answerers are right as well; there certainly are "flying lanes" at 40,000 feet!

Lew W

You most certainly can expect to traverse over Canada on your return trip to the U.S. depending on your destination. If you are returning to an East Coast airport, you may not enter Canadian airspace if the route of flight does not have you doing so, this is usualy for weather conditions, (i.e. jet stream/winds aloft). The routes over the atlantic ocean are changed on a daily basis mainly to take advantage of the winds aloft. These routes, called North Atlantic Tracks, (or NATs for short) are usually from between 32,000 to 40,000ft. Also spoken in Flight levels, FL320 to FL400. Each track is one-way only because it would be entirely too difficult for air traffic controllers to calculate separation standards for on-coming traffic on a particular track. This is why each track is either eastbound or westbound only.

Now, onto Canadian airspace. I'll use a specific flight I have been on numerous times, and now control at least once on a weekly basis.

American Airlines Flight No.71, (AAL71 in the atc system), flies from Frankfurt, Germany, to Dallas-Fort Worth, pretty much on a daily basis. Each day they come to us from Minneapolis Center on a heading of about 200 heading towards DFW. This obviously means they have come from Canadian airspace. And I can account for that. They typically traverse North-Central Illinois, around the Rockford Area. I've seen them as far east as Lake Michigan as they received a abbreviated routing from atc earlier than normal for that day.

Many of the transatlantic flights from Houston are also typically on this same flight path.

By the time that we at Chicago En Route Control, (aka Chicago Center), see these aircraft, they have been cleared to their first fix in their arrival procedure, and are cruising anywhere from FL360 to FL400, depending on aircraft type and weight load. Usually they are Boeing 777-200 models. With a few Airbus' and other Boeing variants sprinkled in. Also by this time, because they are flying direct to their initial fix, they are now not on any specific "road in the sky". ATC keeps other aircraft from getting too close either laterally or vertically. Big sky theory, ya know?! (hahaha).

I hope this has helped, and please pardon any typos along the way. This has gotten rather lengthy and Yahoo doesn't like to spellcheck for an answer of this length.

dsclimb1

its the shortest route.
If you picture the earth like an apple we are fairly close to the top and the US is not far down the other side. So a route up and over, is shortly than straight around the circumference.

Find a globe, it will make sense then.

It has nothing to do with the jet stream, which moves according to season and climatic conditions. There are flight corridors for east and west bound jets, but these are not separated by huge distances or heights. They tend to work with one flying odd numbered heights the other evens.

Konga

PLease clarify the route u ask about
As without the route info, the question cannot be answered
Will send actual flight paths to you if u state the route

Goggie

To avoid collision course with other aircraft on the same routes

Dry Dreamer

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line which is fine if the earth was flat, but it's not it's round so to save fuel they fly around the earths curvature that's if your flying from Europe of course, it also means they are never more than two hours from the nearest airport should an emergency occur

We need more COPS !!!

depends where you fly from, and yes there are air traffic rules that airlines have to follow

for example, if you are flying east from Illinois, you'd fly over part of southern Ontario, same as if you were flying from Maine to Wasington State. Look at a map you'll understand.

Many Americans will think you're a weirdo when you tell them that Toronto is further south than WA, MT, ND, MN, and WI, until they actually look at a map.

purmusuk

The route taken from the UK to USA is the shortest route known as the 'great circle' route. If you look at a flat map it will appear that the shortest route is along the lines of latitude. However, if you take a globe and a piece of string and hold one end on the UK and the other on the USA you will find that the string goes up over Canada, Greenland etc.

customcat2000

I know they fly certains ways due to air current.

David H

Its the "one-way system" they`ve introduced.

weedram52

Where u flying from??????????

arnold j rimmer

must be a kinda one way system!

anna

To America from where? England? Australia? Details, please.

OnlyOne

I think it has something to do with clearance from the FAA. You may be able to fly over certain territories depending on what area the plane is coming from. US may have less restrictions than other countries, therefore when leaving you wouldn't need to detour.

whay????

I would say to minimise the amount of air traffic and minimise the accidents that can be caused by having too many planes going back an forth at around the same hieght

BEN Roe

2 reasons:

1 wind direction

2 planes have roads

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