I've become quite fond of doing landscape photos from commercial flights. However, I've come to realize quite quickly that depending on what side of the plane I'm sitting on, the views can be drastically different from simply having the cool views on the other side or having the sun on the wrong side(glare).

So, is there any way to tell what path a commercial flight will take? Is there a high degree of chance or do most flights follow the same path?

Whats the biggest thing for me is what side of the plane the downtown highrise area of a city is on during take off and landing. Those make some of the coolest views. Natural land features too but I figure thats harder to predict, right?

http://shaozhang.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Infrared-From-the-Sky-Nov-2008

[Edited 2013-01-10 11:09:38]

What is your route? With the info you listed, I can't help much.

I was speaking more generally as I don't know what routes I'll be traveling in the future. Just looking for what resources I could use to determine it myself.

However, I do end up flying LAX to PHX a lot.

All of my outbound flights will be from LAX usually to a domestic hub and then to somewhere on the east coast. Usually Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Philly.

[Edited 2013-01-10 11:24:42]

Flying into LAX, 99% of the time downtown will be on the right. The other 1%, you'll be landing from over the ocean anyway.

You can use flightaware (www.flightaware.com) to look at previous routes.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot

Work out where the sun will be and sit opposite. You don't any glare in your shots.

That's what I do when I book a plane seat. I check flightaware's history on that flight and choose my side depending which might be in view of something interesting like a big city. Unless its a very early morning flight, well I know that if I'm on the side facing east I'll be in blinding sun so I'll pick the opposite side. And, when I flew non-rev I didn't have a choice but I prayed there would be a window available. When the airline booked my ride for company business the first thing I did was go into my res and change my seat....because I could.  


Bruce