Do You Know Why Pilots Avoid Flying Over the Pacific Ocean?

(Patria) - You probably sometimes ask yourself why planes avoid flying over the Pacific Ocean?

The first reason is obviously logical - the Pacific Ocean is the largest in the world, and if something happens to the plane, it will be extremely difficult for the pilot to find a safe place to land.

Frankly, Alaska is not exactly overflowing with international airports, but landing in Alaska seems like an excellent option compared to landing in the ocean.

Pilots generally prefer routes with as many airports as possible.

The number of plane crashes is negligible compared to the number of planes taking off and landing daily from airports worldwide, but it's hard to imagine anything more terrifying than an engine failure 10,000 meters above the Pacific.

We are somehow sure that such a story would hardly have a happy ending.

Although it is often emphasized that safety is the absolute priority when flying, we should not forget that air transport is an extremely profitable business, and the goal of every company is to transport passengers via the shortest possible route, in the shortest possible time, and to save as much as possible.

This is why the shortest possible routes are always chosen, excluding the avoidance of certain natural disasters.

If we look at the line between North America and Asia (which crosses the Pacific Ocean) on a 2D map, it might seem like the fastest possible route.

However, the curvature of the Earth must be taken into account. If we look at the same distance on a globe, which more accurately displays the actual distances between points on Earth, you will notice that this distance is significantly greater.

When flying over large bodies of water, there is a high probability of encountering some weather phenomena.

Planes will relatively easily overcome tropical storms and some types of hurricanes, but storms with lightning are particularly dangerous, reports Punkufer.hr.

It is recommended that planes definitely avoid them instead of flying through or over them. Nowadays, it is very rare for planes to crash due to bad weather, but severe turbulence can cause panic and unrest among passengers.

When choosing a flight route, it is also important to consider air currents. They form in the troposphere, the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere.

Most weather (un)favorable conditions also occur in this layer. The troposphere borders the stratosphere. The altitude of this boundary is not constant but is located at an altitude of 6 to 19 kilometers.

Precisely because of these fluctuations in altitude and large differences in temperature and pressure, strong air currents are created, which can reach speeds of up to 320 km/h!

Flying in the direction of an air current can significantly shorten the flight, and flying in the opposite direction of the current can significantly slow it down.

Of course, if you want to get from, for example, America to Australia - then all bets are off. There is no other way than over the Pacific, so you will have to fly over the ocean anyway...