Going Over the Top
Kind of an interesting exploration of the use of Polar routes on commercial flights in today's Chicago Tribune. The fuel savings seem like a no-brainer, so I'm surprised they haven't been doing this more consistently since the early nineties, when Russia opened up its airspace. When I took my trip to Hong Kong, we went across central Alaska in both directions, hewing well south of the North Pole or even the open Arctic Ocean. Solar flares to blame? I'll never know.