How do I find flights that avoid US airspace?
Persons on the US no-fly list are not only unable to fly to the US (obviously), but to board a flight which might enter US airspace e.g. in an emergency. Is there any way or online resource to find out which flight paths particular flights use, and which flight paths have or do not have the potential to be redirected to US airspace?
Edit for clarification: Thank you all for the resources. I am specifically looking for flights (or information on flights) which will not enter US airspace including (to the extent foreseeable) on an emergency basis. I am assuming that whether or not a flight will or might enter US airspace is foreseeable and part of the organization of commercial flight-paths?
Best Answer
All the resources in @kiltannen's Answer will allow you to see historical flight paths between airports.
What you then need to do is eliminate all city pairs where a routing has had a US airfield as the nearest suitable landing point at any time. You can use gcmap.com to overlay direct paths and airports.
For example, you would not be able to fly from Eastern Australia or New Zealand to Japan because at some point, the nearest airport is Guam or other US territories.
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Where are the no fly zones in the US?
Permanent Prohibited Areas- Thurmont, Maryland, site of Presidential retreat Camp David (Prohibited Area 40 or P-40)
- Amarillo, Texas, Pantex nuclear assembly plant (P-47)
- Bush Ranch near Crawford, Texas (P-49)
- Edwards Airforce Base.
- Area 51.
- Kennedy Space Center.
- Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia (P-50)
Where are planes not allowed to fly?
Mecca. This is an incredibly significant religious and historical site, and no passenger aircraft is allowed to fly over Mecca, especially the Holy Kaaba.Why are non stop flights so hard to find?
As airlines splinter their networks into increasingly frustrating fragments, finding nonstop, direct flights is more difficult than ever. Here's where to look. Ever since the airline industry returned from its pandemic-enforced slumber, carriers have struggled to maintain consistent schedules.Are flights avoiding Russian airspace?
Russia has blocked access to its airspace for the airlines of 36 countries, including the U.K., EU nations and Canada. In addition, the airlines of many countries not among those 36 nations, including the U.S., are avoiding Russian airspace out of caution.See What Happens When A Plane Violates Presidential Airspace | TODAY
More answers regarding how do I find flights that avoid US airspace?
Answer 2
There are a few options for you to look into:
Flight Stats provides comprehensive flight information for all flights originating in the United States and also fairly comprehensive coverage for overseas flights in Europe. For other countries, the data you receive is hit or miss.
The content it provides (on US flights) is comprehensive. You can see the flight path on a variety of maps, all powered by Google Maps.
Flight View offers much of the same information as Flightstats above. You get a live map (although not as pretty as Flightstats) time and delay information, and more. The one area where Flightview really shines is mobile apps. They offer free mobile flight tracking apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and other platforms.
Flight Wise Might be the best as it is geared more towards the technical information about a flight. And this may allow you to work out the potential for diversion into US and whether there is a flyover of US airspace.
There are quite a few other tracking sites, but these seem to be pretty popular for data about US flights, which I think is what you are more focused on right?
Answer 3
Another difficulty not mentioned so far is that in an emergency planes can and will land anywhere including military airfields. Hell, once a civilian plane landed at Kitsap of all places (it was not allowed to take off after). Now, of course most US military bases are on US soil but there are foreign ones and I have no idea whose law applies should your plane land at Ramstein Air Base for example. It's a mess based on my readings.
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