Glad You Asked: Why do flights to Asia fly more North than West?

 

Our viewer, Dennis from New Berlin, wrote in to ask why flights head more North than West?

Glad you asked.

Harold Mester, marketing and public relations manager for General Mitchell International Airport, says you can reach 160 international locations from Mitchell International with just one stop.

"If you fly Milwaukee to Detroit to Beijing, for instance," Mester said. "If you fly straight West, you're going across a wider section of the earth. If you take a more northerly route, that's actually the shortest distance and it actually takes you pretty close to the North Pole."

Mester demonstrated this difference with a string and a globe. Watch the video to see it.

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