this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2025
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What’s that strange curve in Russia? Trying to avoid flying over something specific?
That would be the Ural mountains.
There are several trans-continental routes crossing Russia (N/S, most ending at Aktobe, Kazakhstan, continuing to Dubai), most of them are grouped either on the west or the east side of the Urals.
What would happen if you flew over the mountains anyway? Would the turbulence spill your coffee or something worse?
Either ATC would have you copy a phone number, or the military would send you a high-explosive welcome package. Not sure which is worse.
I don't know exactly why, but there's a conspicuous lack of navigation waypoints over the Urals. It's probably not a safe idea to have aircraft cross over a mountain range when it can be avoided. Most of the airways cross directly west-to-east.