
Moscow-Cuba flight skirts US airspace, prompts speculation Snowden is aboard - RockyMcNuts
http://rt.com/news/snowden-plane-route-cuba-965/
======
smkelly
We sent the following to the media this morning:

Hello from FlightAware.com,

We are receiving a large volume of calls about Aeroflot 150, en route from
Moscow to Havana asking if the Southern routing across the Atlantic Ocean is
typical and asking if this routing avoids US airspace. 

Because of winds (which blow East), the flight generally takes a more Northern
route, up over Iceland, through Canada, and down the Eastern seaboard. 
However, on days when the winds are light or unusual, it can be more favorable
to take a more Southern route which also avoids the additional overflight fees
from Canada and the US.  The route being flown today is comparable distance to
the Northern/Canada route, although it appears significantly more direct due
to flat projections of a curved Earth.  The flight duration today is about the
same as the last couple weeks, which suggest they're taking this routing due
to winds/overflight fees.  The last two times we saw this flight take a similar
route were June 20 and June 8. 

On the route it's flying today, it will fly in US airspace; the US controls
most of the Western half of the North Atlantic.  To actually avoid US airspace,
a flight from Moscow to Havana would likely have to fly South to
(approximately) Western Sahara and then West, which would be about 30% further
than either of the routings discussed above. 

~~~
lvs
I'm confused about the distinction between air traffic controlled airspace and
sovereign airspace.  It seems that international law would only allow
sovereignty over airspace within 12 nautical miles of the coastline.  Can you
comment? 

~~~
smkelly
the US provides ATC services for the western half of the mid-north atlantic,
even if it's not our sovereign airspace. 

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Titanous
The flight does appear to be completely avoiding the US. 

Previous flight on this route:
[http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130708/1...](http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130708/1400Z/UUEE/MUHA)

Current flight:
[http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130711/1...](http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130711/1005Z/UUEE/MUHA)

~~~
tinbad
Maybe they're taking a shortcut to save kerosine? :)  Interesting to see
though, as I would expect for flights to Cuba always to avoid US airspace. 

~~~
Fuzzwah
Great circles are the shortest route. 

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Circle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Circle)

~~~
jlgreco
I'm sensing a great circle joke with s/kerosene/kero _sine_ /

~~~
foobarbazqux
Please don't drag the conversation off onto a tangent. 

~~~
foobarbazqux
Ok, so admittedly that was a lesser circle joke. 

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dpapathanasiou
It turns out the change in path was because of the weather in the North
Atlantic today:
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/07/11...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/07/11/turns-
out-that-aeroflot-flight-to-havana-is-diverting-because-of-turbulence-over-
greenland/)

Though if it hasn't landed yet, who knows, maybe he _is_ on board. 

------
msandford
Yeah but look at these flights:

[http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130707/2...](http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130707/2108Z/UUEE/MUHA)

[http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130702/2...](http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130702/2100Z/UUEE/MUHA)

[http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130701/2...](http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130701/2123Z/UUEE/MUHA)

All of those nearly miss US airspace.  This flight just happens to miss it a
bit more. 

~~~
ErikAugust
Between this and the crash at SFO - be interested to see how much
Flightaware's traffic has spiked. 

~~~
DavidChouinard
David from FlightAware here.  The last few days have indeed been very hectic on
the ops side. 

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_k
Here's a Washington Post update : unusual turbulence over Greenland. 
:[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/07/11...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/07/11/snowden-
watch-todays-moscow-havana-flight-taking-a-very-odd-detour-that-avoids-the-
u-s/)

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swamp40
It is absolutely amazing that we have this information (and the ability to
graph it) at our fingertips. 

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ChuckMcM
My guess is that it isn't anything special.  It flew over France after all and
France denied the Bolivian Presidential plane access to French airspace on
suspicion that Snowden was aboard. 

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smackfu
Here's the great circle route on a map: [http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=svo-
hav](http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=svo-hav)

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k-mcgrady
The article mentions weather but can anyone explain in more detail why flights
don't always take this (bypassing USA) route?  It seems much more direct.  My
only guess is safety (nowhere to make an emergency landing for most of this
shorter route). 

~~~
glesica
The world is a sphere, the projections shown in the article don't reflect
that.  Russia is near the "top" of the world, so flying north is the quickest
way to go south, on the opposite "side" of the planet. 

~~~
k-mcgrady
Good point, I never thought about that. 

------
pcvarmint
[http://cryptome.org/](http://cryptome.org/)

~~~
pcvarmint
Notice that the Cryptome URLs say "manning-flight" instead of "snowden-
flight".  Freudian slip? 

------
Zhenya
Would love to watch the Soviet err I mean Russian reaction if the US tried to
force the plane down in ATL or MIA.