Flying over the USA: what is below your window, route by route
New York to Los Angeles crosses twelve states in under six hours, and the emptiest stretch, over the Rockies and the high desert, is the one most worth watching. The table below lists the states and landmarks under the window on five common US routes, in order. SkyDot names the nearest town as you pass it, offline, from your phone’s GPS.
By Jahanzaib Akhter, developer of SkyDot
Which states do common US routes cross?
Each row follows the great circle, the shortest path between the two airports. Real flight plans bend around winds and weather, so treat the list as the usual picture rather than a promise, and reverse it for the trip home.
SkyDot shows the nearest town and the country. It does not label states, so the last column gives the cities and landmarks to watch for along the way.
Swipe the table sideways for every column →
| Route | Distance | States below, in order | Look for |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York → Los Angeles | 3,970 km | New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, California | Pittsburgh, Peoria, Pueblo, then the Four Corners and the Mojave Desert |
| New York → San Francisco | 4,150 km | New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California | Cleveland and Lake Erie, Chicago, Des Moines, the Wasatch Range, the Sierra Nevada |
| Chicago → Seattle | 2,760 km | Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington | The Mississippi, the northern Rockies, Spokane, the Cascades |
| Atlanta → Denver | 1,930 km | Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado | Huntsville, the Mississippi, Springfield, Wichita, the Front Range |
| Dallas → San Francisco | 2,350 km | Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California | Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon, the Sierra Nevada, the Central Valley |
Hours with very little underneath
New York to Los Angeles is close to six hours, and the memorable stretch is the two hours over the Rockies and the desert beyond them. Towns are far apart out there, so the name on screen can be a place some distance away.
None of it affects the position. GPS comes from satellites overhead, so the map keeps moving over the emptiest terrain in the country as reliably as it does over Chicago. A tracker that fetches positions from a server has nothing to reach in Airplane Mode, here or anywhere else.
- New York to Los Angeles
- 12 states
- Position source
- Satellites, not towers
Will the aircraft show you a map?
It depends on the airline and the aircraft. Many US narrowbodies have no seatback screen, and where wifi is fitted it does not come with a moving map. Which airline offers what is covered on the airlines without wifi page.
Download the North America map pack on the ground and the whole flight runs from your phone instead, with nothing to buy and nothing to sign in to.
Questions
Which states do you fly over from New York to Los Angeles?
On the great circle: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and California. Flight plans bend around winds and weather, so the list on the day can differ.
Do US domestic flights still have moving maps?
Some do. It depends on the airline and the aircraft type, and many single-aisle aircraft have no seatback screen at all. The airlines without wifi page lists who has screens and who does not.
Does it work over remote areas with no cell service?
Yes. GPS is satellite positioning, so coverage over Nevada or Wyoming is the same as over a city. The map itself is already on your phone.
Do I need to buy inflight wifi to use it?
No. Download the North America map pack on the ground and the whole flight runs offline, with no session to pay for and no screen needed in the seatback in front of you.