Why do planes fly over Alaska instead of over the Pacific?

An aircraft would not be safe to fly over the Pacific Ocean due to the stormy weather and frequent lightning strikes that occur there. Most planes from the Americas bound for East Asia use the overland route through Canada and Alaska due to the more favorable weather conditions.



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There are no economically significant routes that would require flying over Antarctica. The southern hemisphere has a much smaller population than the northern, and there's almost no permanent habitation more than 45 degrees south. That's all.

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Unfortunately, airlines can't just fly eastward from Russia to the USA due to the curvature of the Earth. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and since our planet is round, flying in a straight line would mean that planes would eventually end up back where they started!

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Due to all of these reasons, the Sheffield School of Aeronautics writes that the only flights that regularly fly directly across the Pacific Ocean are westbound flights from the west coast of the United States to Australia — and these flights can be up to 14 hours long.

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What is the longest flight in the world by distance? The longest flight in the world by distance is New York (JFK) to Singapore (SIN) on Singapore Airlines clocking in at 9,537 miles. What plane can fly the farthest in the world?

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You might think circling the globe by airplane is no big deal anymore. But you'd be wrong. Surprisingly, circumnavigating the world via the North Pole to the South Pole in an airliner is a feat accomplished only three times.

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The Loganair Westray to Papa Westray route is the shortest scheduled passenger flight in the world. Flights on the route are scheduled for one and a half minutes, and actual flying time is closer to one minute. The record for the fastest flight is 53 seconds.

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Crossing the Pacific Ocean At its widest section, the Pacific Ocean covers approximately 11,000 miles. Currently there is only one jet that can cross the distance without stopping for fuel and that's the BBJ 777X, and it's one of the most expensive jets to charter privately.

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The Bering Strait This frigid waterway separates Russia and Alaska with 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) of ocean at its narrowest point between the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia) and Seward Peninsula (U.S.).

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The US prohibits flights across all North Korean airspace, including the oceanic part of the ZKKP/Pyongyang FIR over the Sea of Japan. Several other countries have airspace warnings in place which advise caution due to the risk posed by unannounced rocket launches.

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Further to the safety concerns, weather over the Pacific Ocean is actually quite unpredictable (per Executive Flyers). There are many thunderstorms that occur over the ocean which can lead to turbulence.

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