Why do planes fly to the other side of the earth E/W or W/E, instead of N/S or S/N? Isn't cold air better for engines? Shouldn't they always fly the shortest distance?
by 
msummers10
ANSWERS: 4
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I think its due to the jet stream, flying the jet stream makes the flight faster.
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They DO fly the shortest distance. It's called a great circle route and yes, the jet streams do go more or less E/W, W/E, but not necessarily at the altitude or direction that can be assigned to the aircraft. The pilots can ask for that altitude, but it may not be available due to possible air traffic control conflicts. I hate using wikipedia because of the rampant vandalism lately, but here's a good article explaining great circle routes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_circle and here http://gc.kls2.com/, if you want to try plotting your own and see the distance saved.
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From what I can remember from talking to my driving instructor (who was also a qualified pilot), warmer air is less dense than cold air so planes achieve less lift - hence why colder air is desirable. So yes, I'm sure high-altitude flight does use less fuel. Flying upwards to go sideways would be just stupid, if you flattened the globe out and then plotted the flightpaths for a trip to the east coast of America from Germany (for example) which involved going up to the Arctic Circle first, that'd use almost twice as much fuel (if not twice as much, still a LOT). Why bother turning a corner when you can go in a straight line? The only time I've been on a flight which has even gone near Alaska was from the UK to San Francisco International - and we only did a very slight curve (to basically fly in a straight line).
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the jet stream thing its alot of wind that i think naturally occurs beacause of the way earth turns but im not sure and it makes it easier to fly i went to germany (from u.s) and it a couple more hours to fly back beacause of the wind
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