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Chicago → Kahului

ORD–OGG · Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Kahului Airport

Best bet

Right side

Good betA real difference, not a rounding error.

Wasatch Range leads it, with 3 more on the same side.

Flight paths move around. Treat this as the better bet, not a promise.

What you might see

In flight order, with distance measured from the representative route.

ORD to OGG: where each landmark sits relative to the routeA diagram of the representative route running left to right, with the departure airport at the left and the arrival airport at the right. Landmarks on the left side of the aircraft are plotted above the route line and landmarks on the right side below it, each at its distance from the route. The numbered list below this diagram carries the same information as text.ORDOGGLEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE12345678
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 46 miles); the shaded ends are the 40-mile zones around each airport where the runway in use decides the view. Numbers match the list below. Hollow markers didn't count toward the recommendation.

  1. Uinta Mountains

    RightQuarter in21 mi off the route

    Uinta Mountains is about 21 miles off the right, about a quarter of the way in.

    Good possibility

  2. Wasatch Range

    RightQuarter in17 mi off the route

    About a quarter of the way in, Wasatch Range sits roughly 17 miles to the right.

    Good possibility

  3. Mono Lake

    LeftHalfway41 mi off the route

    Look left around the halfway mark for Mono Lake, about 41 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  4. Lake Tahoe

    RightHalfway46 mi off the route

    Lake Tahoe is about 46 miles off the right, around the halfway mark.

    Distant possibility

  5. San Francisco Bay

    Either sideHalfway7 mi off the route

    San Francisco Bay passes almost directly beneath around the halfway mark, which is the one place a window seat can't help you.

    Strong candidate

  6. Golden Gate

    Either sideHalfway8 mi off the route

    Golden Gate passes almost directly beneath around the halfway mark, which is the one place a window seat can't help you.

    Strong candidate

  7. Point Reyes

    RightHalfway30 mi off the route

    Point Reyes is about 30 miles off the right, around the halfway mark.

    Distant possibility

  8. Haleakalā

    LeftNear the end17 mi off the route

    Whether Haleakalā appears comes down to how you come into OGG, which is not something we can know in advance.

    Runway dependent

The sun

Flying soon? Add your date and departure time and we'll work out where the sun should be, and which side gets less of it.

Airport codes or city names. SEA, Seattle, and Seattle-Tacoma all work.

Skip the date and you still get the landmark answer. Add it and we work out where the sun will be, using the departure airport's local time.

The route we used

4,178 mi
Great-circle distance
272°
Course out of ORD
233°
Course into OGG
5
Landmarks that counted

That is the shortest path between the two airports, used as a representative corridor rather than a flight plan. The first and last 40 miles are treated as uncertain, because that part of the flight is shaped by the runway in use and the published departure or arrival procedure. Anything in those zones is listed and marked, never counted toward the recommendation.

Left and right, from where?

Left and right are from your perspective sitting in the cabin, facing the front of the aircraft. Seat letters are not a reliable guide to which side you are on, because aircraft are configured differently.

Why this isn't guaranteed

Flights don't follow the same path every day. Runway configuration, weather deviations, traffic, and air traffic control all move the track around, and none of it is knowable in advance. We also have nothing to say about cloud cover, which is the other thing standing between you and Mount Rainier. The full method.

Flying the other way?

Kahului → ChicagoLeft side

Calculated from scratch, not by flipping this one. The landmarks arrive in the opposite order, the sun is somewhere else entirely, and the answer changes with them.

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