Look Up: Montana’s Airspace is a Superhighway of International Flights

Watching airplanes in Montana.

Are you familiar with that old country song from Gary Allen about "sitting around watching airplanes"? It's kind of cheesy, but it's a good one. On yesterday's not-quite-spring day, I found myself sitting on a lawn chair on my patio, soaking up the afternoon rays for a bit.

Springtime in Montana is the best, I thought. That country song about watching airplanes was humming through my head as I gazed skyward at jumbo jets crisscrossing the Big Sky.

Thousands of Europeans fly over Montana every month.

This is dorky, but I'm kind of addicted to my flight tracker app. Watching airplanes fly over Montana's brilliant blue sky is way more interesting when I can tap on the little airplane icon and see where the jet is headed, where it took off from, the airline, the type of jet, and so forth.

I also daydream about where the passengers are headed and if they're enjoying their 12-hour non-stop flights across the globe. Are they gazing out the airplane window right now, looking at Fort Peck Lake or rugged, snowcapped Montana mountain ranges?

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From London to LA, you'll fly across the Treasure State.

Daily, there were multiple non-stop international flights zooming over Montana, all with essentially the same flight path. Most commercial non-stop flights from any major city in Western Europe to destinations like LA and Las Vegas will all fly over a relatively narrow strip of Montana airspace.

Because the earth is round, flying over Montana is a shortcut.

International flights from London, Frankfurt, and Zurich to the southwestern United States fly up and over Greenland and Canada because it's shorter than flying a straight path across the Atlantic and over the entire United States.

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What is the longest non-stop flight you've ever been on?

As someone who is not a frequent flyer, air travel remains somewhat exciting for me and my family. Sure, TSA and airport delays suck, but otherwise it's usually, "Yay! We're going on vacation. A real vacation, on an airplane!" Even so, any flight longer than 3 or 4 hours starts to get not-fun, especially with kids. I'd guess the twelve-hour flight to Europe is arduous, even for the most patient travelers.