Great Circle Route Copy

A great circle is defined as any circle drawn on a globe (or other sphere) with a center that includes the center of the globe. Pilots use the "Great Circle Route" to navigate because it provides the shortest distance between any two points on the globe. In other words, if one cut the globe in a way that included the starting point, the end point, and the center of the globe, that segment would represent the great circle route.

[@youkrag]

Captain Tom. I hope you still see these notifications after 7 years! I'd seen great circle routes referenced before and couldn't grasp the concept. I saw them referenced again yesterday on the superb Flight Radar App so wanted to dig in and understand them. Your video was the first that made sense after watching 3 others and reading some intent waffle! Thank you for giving me a learning opportunity so early in my day today. Andrew, 57 years old and still curious!

[@tomferguson4996]

@youkrag Andrew - I can tell you that you've made MY day! Thank. You for the kind words! Sometimes we can't see...can't see...can't see, and then BANG, there it is! I'm glad to have been a part of your "I see the light" moment! Best regards! Tom

[@richhoule3462]

I'm 45 and I finally get it. Thank you!!!

[@tomferguson4996]

Thank YOU, Rich. Yes, I think most of us at some point have that "AH-HAA" moment, when suddenly it all makes sense. Glad it helped! Tom

[@dantchoblacksea]

the greatest explanation for home schooling. Thank you, Captain & Good Health to You!

[@erinserb]

Thank you Captain; this is perhaps the best example and explanation for flying the great circle. I was Navy in the late '70s and I know ships also take this into consideration for navigation. We spent 17 days (at 15 knots) crossing from San Diego to Okinawa JA and they would map it out as a straight line on a flat map LOL! But the QM's and Navigators knew better. Best to you!

[@tomferguson4996]

Thank YOU, Brian for your service! Yes, ships and planes, and for that matter, pedestrians too are all operating on a sphere, so the same physics applies. And like you, I had trouble looking at a track plot on a flat map and making much sense out of it. I'm glad that my quickly done, unedited little explanation was helpful, and thank you for the kind comments! Best regards, Tom

[@jburma]

Really clear discussion of the Great Circle Route method of finding the shortest distance between two points on a globe.

[@alexayala6791]

I'm 47 and I just got it. Thank you, Captain.

[@tomferguson4996]

I'm so happy to have helped! Thank you, Alex!

[@ronrico4741]

I’m a current B737 Captain at a charter airline going to interview with on of the big airlines in ironically, Hong Kong in a few months and doing some studying. Thanks skipper for the video.

[@tomferguson4996]

You're welcome, Ron! And good luck on your upcoming interview! That's an exciting event. Just relax and enjoy it. Tom

[@Vidwan827]

Thank you Captain, for your inspiring and educational lecture !!! By cutting the apple. through the center, you have made an indelible and inerasable impression in my mind about what the Great Cirlce is all about. I will never forget it. Maybe I WILL fly American Airlines soon.... ;-)

[@oscargrouchthegreeng]

Loved it.. You are one of those personalities that Love to fly with!!

[@yetithruhiker9230]

Thank you Capt Tom.

[@Alpha-tr7uf]

Thank you Captain 😊 Simple and Crispy explanation!!

[@menutrix5794]

Probably the best explanation I've seen on the internet. Thank you captain!

[@davidbrown8763]

Thank you Captain. That was so well explained, even I understood it.

[@218Mike]

Great job of simplifying the concept of great circle routes!

[@alexander.starbuck]

The first explanation, after a zillion others, that made it sit in my brain IMMEDIATELY! Thank you, Captain! ;)

[@tomferguson4996]

Al- I am greatly honored by your kind words! Thank you! Tom

[@김건중-e1e]

I am student pilot, I got difficulty to understand a great circle route but after watching your viedeo, i got it finally. thank you so much

[@tomferguson4996]

Glad it makes sense! This is one of those concepts that are a bit difficult to understand, but after the "AH-HA!" moment, makes sense and you'll never forget. - Tom

[@flatearthbanjo]

There's no great circle route. Earth is FLAT

[@aditimahalwala6719]

@@flatearthbanjo are you from ancient greek ..oh yeah your are one of the slaves of the greek who lived for years to prove that they were right that earth is flat and you are a fool

[@addysharma000]

Your video has been explained very precisely by you, Hope to fly with you sometime soon Cheers

[@tomferguson4996]

Thank you Aditya! I would love to fly with you, but alas, I'm now retired! Thank you for the kind words though! Tom

[@sangameshgadadmath8908]

Wow...great explanation thank you.

[@tomferguson4996]

Thank you, Sangamesh! I'm glad it helped!

[@yurid321]

Nicely explained captain

[@HavocStylesJoe]

Still is. Kids are going to pissed.

[@stormassasin1857]

yes 100% clear as cristal now, thank you so much Captain

[@riderofthemark6661]

Thank you Captain!

[@tomferguson4996]

Glad you enjoyed it! Tom

[@SudhanshuKumar-tq9ib]

Thanks sir for an explanation as clear as crystal 👌

[@tomferguson4996]

Thank YOU, Sudanshu! I'm honored to have been helpful! Tom

[@SudhanshuKumar-tq9ib]

@@tomferguson4996 You are so humble sir,have a nice day 👍👍

[@goatgoat0]

Great explanation. Wonderful job with visuals!

[@hunarsandhu4566]

I'd love to comment on this wonderful video

[@Ram_Mohammad_Singh_Adam]

Thanks captain!! U made it look so simple 😀

[@francescobalbo5932]

I love this guy!

[@vardhmanjain5912]

Thankyou captain this will has solved my doubts

[@alemayehusolomon941]

This guy is a fucking boss...look at that god damn machete!

[@adambauman8044]

Still makes no sense to me. How does cutting an apple show that taking a big loop to the side and back again helps to straighten the path that would otherwise follow the curvature of the earth. Oh well. I'm glad it helped the rest of you. Now I'm gonna search for more videos until it makes sense to me Ok I watched another video and I get it now. (Not that any of you care). Great circle routes only go left and right on a flat map. They are what you would expect on a globe.

[@tomferguson4996]

Glad you got it Adam. Sometimes all it takes is a different perspective (or a better teacher)!

[@adambauman8044]

Definitely wasn't your teaching. Everyone else who watched your video got it. Thanks for taking the time to make it.

[@martentrudeau6948]

It's a fact that an arc has a beginning, an ending and a center point, but, this doesn't prove the airplanes are flying arched flight paths and that we live on a ball earth! - On the contrary, there are massive evidences that indicates airplanes are flying over a flat plane and the majority of earth is covered by flat oceans which we use to reference all elevations world wide, above and below Sea Level. - A better way to explain flight paths is to plot them on the "Gleason's" - "New Standard Map of the World", on this map flight paths make sense and indicate the true flat nature of the our flat earth.

[@adambauman8044]

@@martentrudeau6948 I agree. Most people still think its spherical because the conspirators have tricked them with their accurate star movement predictions and demonstrations of the sun half below the ocean horizon but I know its flat because I bonked my head on the dome one time while jumping on my trampoline.

[@Tyrannosaurus_Wrexx]

How cool. And I'm in DFW, too

[@sotoleeis]

Thank you captain

[@feelingzhakkaas]

Fantastic explanations

[@jeffsmith4600]

Great Halloween gag. Rental called they want the outfit back.

[@tomferguson4996]

I would have worn my Navy flight suit, but somehow it has shrunk over the years and will no longer fit. ;) Tom.

[@Wanderer-zk2qu]

Excellent!

[@johnmav8309]

Thank you!

[@factandknowledgeworld]

Thank you sir

[@SirHicham]

Thank you Captain Tom!

[@intercept7965]

Thank You Sir for the best explanation. So from what I have understood.... The straight line connecting the 2 points, which passes through the sphere, must be a "chord" of a Great Circle. Am I right ? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thank you. Once again

[@5hami139]

thnks capt Tom

[@rohit.k26]

Brilliant explanation

[@martinsutoob]

I taught my kids this with a piece of string. Hold down one end on your starting point and the other end on your finishing point. Get them to pull the slack under your finger until the string is taught. At that point the string will be as short as it can be, so, if that's the shortest your string can be that's also got to be your shortest route. And when compared to a flat map it will be a curve.

[@tonemontone]

martinsutoob One point missed here is that the Earth is not a sphere, it's a spheroid, with the Equator bulging or larger. As a result, does that mean that the dissection North to South would always result in a shorter distances? I assume that's why they fly north over Siberia, etc.

[@Al-ud8qi]

@@tonemontone The total difference in distance between a polar circle and the equatorial circle is a whopping 41 miles. That's about a 0.16% difference, negligible.

[@ScubaDracula]

@@tonemontone You had it right at " Earth is not a sphere". It's a plane to see! ;)

[@jeanburk9539]

Your red line went opposite to what you said.

[@Al-ud8qi]

Anyone that listened already knows that, thanks for pointing that out anyway. :\

[@tomferguson4996]

Yep. The teacher has used that mistake as a "bonus question." Good catch!

[@maienduo]

Is there a great circle route from the tip of Argentina to New Zealand faster by slicing through the Antarctica. Why flying up to north American and crossing pacific ocean to new Zealand?

[@laidbackmedia]

You gave an example of a flight going from East to West. Great Circle Routes don't work on direct North or South flights do they?

[@tomferguson4996]

Thank you for your question, Laidback! When looking at lines of latitude, the only one that intersects the center of the earth is the equator. So that would be a great circle route. On the other hand, ALL lines of longitude intersect the earth's center, therefore are all great circle routes. Of course we rarely have courses that are purely North-South, so some errors will be present, but are not as pronounced as with more Easterly-Westerly tracks. That is a great question! Hope this helps. Tom

[@laidbackmedia]

That did not answer my question.@@tomferguson4996

[@marcg1686]

​@@laidbackmediaYou asked whether great circle routes apply to 'direct North or South flights'. In his answer to you, Captain Tom explained that lines of longitude are great circles. Lines of longitude run North to South. So the answer to your question is yes.

[@jasper_north]

Did this guy land in the Hudson???

[@raynic1173]

I think stressing the point, no pun intended, although you mention it, that the line has to pass thru the earth's center, like when you simulate the great circle path at the end with the globe. Because in reality you can manipulate the globe for those to points to create a plane in a thousand different ways without passing through the earth's center. Also, Mercator 2D maps are highly distorted in both there latitude and longitude. Although the manipulation of the lat and long. is trying to make up for this 3D to 2D transformation, it creates distortions in the size of area. Most people don't know that the size of the countries and continents are way out of proportion on 2d maps. Even the standard 2D globe maps you see in the background of newscasts are way off. I think the best proof of concept is to use a piece of string and prove that the smallest length of string falls on the great circle path. That would be a easy demonstration.

[@tomferguson4996]

Yep. The apple example was supposed to show that. Two points on the surface of a sphere which also includes the center. The string on the globe provides the most graphic (and memorable) demonstration. - Thanks! Tom

[@raynic1173]

@@tomferguson4996 thanks for the response. One thing that complicates great circle routes is that in order to stay on course one has to regularly adjust compass setting. Other factor of it's viability is prevailing wind, tide....circumstances.

[@tomferguson4996]

@@raynic1173 Ohhhh, it's so easy on the 777. You would love it! Once it's programmed in you hook it up and it goes. You simply monitor it, but they're seldom anything less than dead-on accurate. Of course garbage in, garbage out still applies. It's only as good as what you put into it.

[@nandinitiwari425]

Thank you now I can explain to my students

[@tomferguson4996]

Thank you Nandini! I'm glad it helped! Tom

[@malaysiaatpltutor1540]

Thanks sir

[@larryscott3982]

That could've been so much better with just a little planning. A piece of yarn taped to the globe would've been effective. And try cutting a melon next time.

[@apexkilla]

2:24 well…I thought I could identify places on the world map. Turns out I’ve been way off.

[@koffeus9764]

why a great circle route is shorter than rhumb line? Pls answer ty

[@tomferguson4996]

Good question. The best answer (and easiest to find) is by Googling rhumb line. It shows a picture depicting the difference. A rhumb line is an arc crossing all longitudinal lines at the same angle. It looks fairly normal at low latitudes, but gets "squirrely" near the poles. It would obviously not be the shortest distance. Incidentally, a rhumb line IS a great circle line in longitude in that the plane intersects the center of the sphere (earth). Also the equator, zero degrees latitude, is a great circle for the same reason. I don't think I ever thought about it like that until just now! Thanks!

[@putci76]

Sir your video reminds me of Freddy Kruger and Chucky

[@BarzOverAll]

Thanks for explaining flat earth Captain

[@steffenleo5997]

Great and easy to understand Capt... Thank you... Hope to see you someday on american airlines flight... 👍👍👌

[@ZackWolfMusic]

The reason for the great circle route is because no commerical aircraft can fly over the North Pole that is why we have the great circle route. The great circle route is the secondary fastest route to a destination, where as flying over the Northh Pole would be the fastest route because you are flying straight across from one point to another. Only reason why great circle route works on a globe is because you can't fly straight across the globe since the globe is a sphere. The real reason for the great circle is because Earth is flat and the north pole is in the center of the earth, no airplanes can fly over the North pole, all pilots know this because they are told to take the arc route aka great circle route. Only reason why great circle routes works on the globe is because no one can fly straight across a sphere therefore they have to go around earth, that is the only reason why great circle routes works on a globe. So you may ask me, how do you know earth is flat and that the North pole is in the center of the earth? How i know earth is flat is by noticing their is no curvature of earth, if earth is a globe the great circle route would have to account for earth's curvature and it does not because no airplane dips it's noise to go around curvature of earth. On the globe the great circle route should be renamed too great curve route to account for earth's curvature since earth is supposedly a sphere. But obviously earth is not a sphere it is a flat plane how I know North pole is in center of earth is because the polar star is above the North pole. All pilots are liers and are in on in hiding the North pole along with the shape of earth! If the North pole is at the top of earth as the globe shows well then the curvature of earth should be noticeable and it is not. GLOBE EARTH DEBUBKED NAIL IN THE COFFIN!!!!!!!!!!

[@tomferguson4996]

Well, there ya go.

[@ZackWolfMusic]

@@tomferguson4996 When have you ever saw curvature of earth in a cockpit of a airplane? Because if we really live on a sphere, curvature will be noticeable in a airplane.

[@ZackWolfMusic]

@@tomferguson4996 here is a better understanding for you>>> kzbin.info/www/bejne/gX67gmyiiapjq68

[@SMHman666]

Chris You are hilarious. Thanks for the laughs.

[@ZackWolfMusic]

@@SMHman666 Joke is on you! Have fun taking the long ass routes!🤣😅😆😁😄😃😂

[@bpr1717]

Send this to a flat earther

[@johnnyhicks2386]

You can't fool me captain but good try.

[@ScubaDracula]

Or it's the shortest distance because the Earth is flat and the AE map makes more sense. Just some food for thought. As a pilot i'm sure you realize planes don't dip their noses down to adjust for curvature right? Nor do planes fly the opposite direction of the so called rotation of the globe to arrive faster... Am I wrong?

[@tomferguson4996]

You're probably teasing, but you're correct in that planes don't "dip their noses" to adjust for curvature. By flying an attitude that .maintains a path tangential to the center of the earth they are able to follow the curvature. Or flatness too for flat earthers. As for flying in opposite direction, spinning or not, two points are the same distance apart regardless of direction. The time differences are accounted for by winds. Just curious, how is it that one can travel in only one direction and end back up at the origination? Wouldn't that be difficult on a flat earth? Thanks for the comment! Tom

[@MatthewGalpin89]

The great flat earth route

[@KaranSingh-oy3qp]

please continu

[@mikeoxlong5304]

I still don’t understand

[@laidbackmedia]

Understandable you feel so. Captain is very sneaky when he states "Pilots use the "Great Circle Route" to navigate because it provides the shortest distance between any two points on the globe." This is true, however, it only applies to journeys attached to terra firma. Airplanes detach from our rotating planet, think about it.

[@conned]

Columbus sailed Etops route...n lost

[@tomferguson4996]

@@conned Ha! If he had had all those ETOPS rules to comply with he'd probably not even gone! :)

[@MGoudsmits]

you did fine until 2:25 when you have all mixed up and mirrored

[@tomferguson4996]

Ha! Yep, you're right. I told the teacher to give the kids a bonus point if they could discover the error. I guess you get the extra point! (We were already LATE getting this video done, and didn't take the time to reshoot the error. Good catch! :)

[@MGoudsmits]

Tom Ferguson happens to me so once in while also but you van on youtube put an anotation to correct it cheers

[@joecooksey4331]

Try explaining this to the flat earthers..... they just don't get it.

[@ScubaDracula]

Actually this proves a Flat Earth. Flatten the globe, use the AE map to see how obvious it is. Most questionable flight paths make way more sense on a FE.

[@laurencedorazio2798]

i.redd.it/urpqanbtj7y71.jpg

[@rodneybaker2629]

The great circle route has another name...the flat earth route.

[@wynand988]

Good sir, the Earth is demonstrably not a globe. please be honest with your audience and show how navigation works on a Flat Earth map.

[@tomferguson4996]

Hi Wynand, I'd be interested in hearing how the earth is demonstrably not a globe. I'm afraid I've not been shown that. There is much science and evidence otherwise, but I shall remain open to other thoughts. Thanks, Tom

[@wynand988]

@@tomferguson4996 thank you for your reply! Once you start looking the evidence for a motionless plane keeps piling up. It's just that the sky reflects sphericity but that is another topic lets stick to the Earth. In regards to the great circle routes, a great proof would be to note whether or not one must still correct to the north when traveling south past the equator or if the correction changes and one must correct to the south. Someone in your position might know of some sea travelers in the south that could answer this.

[@ferrazcouto9885]

Portuguese make the discovery not colombo

[@utubeVIPmember]

so ... you are one of those pilots that don't know the earth is flat ... :D :D :D

[@raedwahsheh]

If you consider the earth is flat, there will be distortions either in direction, distance, form and area.

[@ScubaDracula]

@@raedwahsheh The globe is the distortion. How big is Greenland anyway?

[@isthebiblefromheavenisthee4923]

The Earth is Flat!