the jet stream doesn't follow
great circle routes, so sometimes it's a crosswind instead of a tail
wind going east[1].

This might explain why it never seems to affect the flight as much as
300 mph would lead one to believe. As I said, all I can see in a
seven-hour flight is half an hour, though that of course is the
schedule, and perhaps one can't predict sufficiently far in advance
for a schedule. I certainly never recall being on a BOS-LON flight
that got there an hour early, never mind two hours!

We got fairly far north also. Several times I've flown to Italy, which
for me entailed flying first to Dulles (United). The first hour, it
seemed, had me retracing my route up the east coast (which does of
course move ENE, then NE) of the U.S. and Canada.

Must be quite a choice, between the Great Circle and the jet stream.
Or is the route absolutely determined by ATC, not the pilot?

BTW, if it's called jet stream because of jets, what did the 20th AF
call it in 1945?


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

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