Living on a ball
On a thread on garpu's journal, I was discussing great-circles. It also became apparent that Cambourne is pretty much the same distance from Los Angeles as it is from Seoul (approx 5450 statute miles). Far from obvious if you look at a flat (Mercator or similar) map of the world.
So anyway, I fired up Google Earth and drew a couple of lines.
Los Angeles:
Seoul:
So it looks like I got it wrong when I suggested that the LA route passes anywhere Chicago or the Great Lakes. It does go over Hudson Bay, though.
I should probably also mention that the actual routes that aircraft take are influenced by political and meteorological forces and are likely to deviate somewhat from the pure great-circle path.
So anyway, I fired up Google Earth and drew a couple of lines.
Los Angeles:
Seoul:
So it looks like I got it wrong when I suggested that the LA route passes anywhere Chicago or the Great Lakes. It does go over Hudson Bay, though.
I should probably also mention that the actual routes that aircraft take are influenced by political and meteorological forces and are likely to deviate somewhat from the pure great-circle path.