FLIGHT PATHS
Ask any pilot about southern-hemisphere routes and watch the awkward pause. Sydney to Santiago, Johannesburg to São Paulo, Auckland to Buenos Aires — on a globe these are strange, sweeping arcs with puzzling stopovers and diversion stories. On the flat-earth azimuthal map they're nearly straight lines across the plane. Follow the flight paths.
Continent positions are approximate and illustrative. The three gold routes are near-straight on the azimuthal plane — ask yourself what they look like wrapped on a ball.
THE ROUTES
| Route | Globe-model distance | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney (SYD) – Santiago (SCL) | ~11,300 km | On the globe this is a long southern arc — yet scheduled flight times rival far "shorter"-looking northern routes. On the flat map it's a near-straight run across the plane. Track it live and ask which geometry the flight time obeys. |
| Johannesburg (JNB) – São Paulo (GRU) | ~7,400 km | Southern-hemisphere hops like this one are famous for odd stopovers and re-routings. The globe model demands a wide southern swing; the flat map shows a direct chord. Why do these flights so rarely fly the "short" way? |
| Auckland (AKL) – Buenos Aires (EZE) | ~10,400 km | Follow real-time trackers on this route — the track hugs the far south in a way that puzzles globe believers and delights flat-earthers. Research the ETOPS rules that govern how far twin-engine jets may stray from diversion airports, then ask which map the diversions fit. |
YOUR HOMEWORK
Open any live flight tracker, pull up a southern-hemisphere route, and compare the published flight time against the globe distance. Then draw the same route on the azimuthal map above. The movement's talking points write themselves — but never fabricate incidents. Stick to the routes, the times, and the questions.