5 ms·

Sometimes you wonder if they could possible move the route a little to the side. I live on an island close to Seattle, and airplains flying from California will

Sometimes you wonder if they could possible move the route a little to the side. I live on an island close to Seattle, and airplains flying from California will fly straight over the island, almost like it is on purpose. You wonder why they couldn't move the route a little to the west or a little to the east and fly over the sea instead. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASA1041 https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASA1041

neffy 8y ago
There are two answers to this. The obvious one is, yes of course they could. The annoying one, is that it has to be negotiated, world wide flight maps would have to be updated, flight traffic control reprogrammed, and it is just easier by far in terms of bureaucracy not to do this stuff. After all, people must have known when they chose to live there... The flight plan into Keflavik in Iceland goes directly over Mount Hekla (the way point is Mount Hekla, which probably made more sense back in the days of visual navigation). Mount Hekla is a fairly active Volcano, and is a little overdue for its next explosion, for which there might be at most about half an hours warning time. After all, people must know the risks when they choose to fly...
btgeekboy 8y ago
FlightAware on mobile isn’t letting me zoom in to see which island you’re on. There’s a few pilots on HN; we can help you look it up. It’s probably not on purpose as in “haha let’s fly over this guy’s house” but more likely to that it keeps traffic in the busy Seattle area flowing smoothly. You can certainly write to the local Flight Standards District Office and ask them to consider using new waypoints and procedures, or ask them for an official explanation.
- 333c 8y ago
  It looks like Vashon Island (from Google Maps).
  - btgeekboy 8y ago
    That one’s easy then - to the west, and you’re on the approach path to JBLM. To the east, you’re too close to SEA to properly intercept the final approach course. Vashon Island is also far less populated than the land to the east of SEA.
    - chihuahua 8y ago
      For those not familiar with the Seattle area, JBLM is Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where McChord is an air force base.

neffy 8y ago

There are two answers to this. The obvious one is, yes of course they could. The annoying one, is that it has to be negotiated, world wide flight maps would have to be updated, flight traffic control reprogrammed, and it is just easier by far in terms of bureaucracy not to do this stuff. After all, people must have known when they chose to live there... The flight plan into Keflavik in Iceland goes directly over Mount Hekla (the way point is Mount Hekla, which probably made more sense back in the days of visual navigation). Mount Hekla is a fairly active Volcano, and is a little overdue for its next explosion, for which there might be at most about half an hours warning time. After all, people must know the risks when they choose to fly...

btgeekboy 8y ago

FlightAware on mobile isn’t letting me zoom in to see which island you’re on. There’s a few pilots on HN; we can help you look it up. It’s probably not on purpose as in “haha let’s fly over this guy’s house” but more likely to that it keeps traffic in the busy Seattle area flowing smoothly. You can certainly write to the local Flight Standards District Office and ask them to consider using new waypoints and procedures, or ask them for an official explanation.

333c 8y ago
It looks like Vashon Island (from Google Maps).
- btgeekboy 8y ago
  That one’s easy then - to the west, and you’re on the approach path to JBLM. To the east, you’re too close to SEA to properly intercept the final approach course. Vashon Island is also far less populated than the land to the east of SEA.
  - chihuahua 8y ago
    For those not familiar with the Seattle area, JBLM is Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where McChord is an air force base.