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San Francisco → Detroit

SFO–DTW · San Francisco International Airport to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

Best bet

Left side

Good betA real difference, not a rounding error.

Wasatch Range leads it, with 2 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.

SFO to DTW: 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.SFODTWLEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE12345
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 50 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. San Francisco Bay

    Either sideEarly1 mi off the route

    San Francisco Bay sits close enough to SFO that the runway in use and the procedure of the day decide whether it shows up at all.

    Runway dependent

  2. Lake Tahoe

    LeftEarly50 mi off the route

    Early in the flight, Lake Tahoe sits roughly 50 miles to the left.

    Distant possibility

  3. Mono Lake

    RightEarly38 mi off the route

    Look right early in the flight for Mono Lake, about 38 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  4. Wasatch Range

    LeftQuarter in13 mi off the route

    Wasatch Range is about 13 miles off the left, about a quarter of the way in.

    Good possibility

  5. Uinta Mountains

    LeftQuarter in15 mi off the route

    About a quarter of the way in, Uinta Mountains sits roughly 15 miles to the left.

    Good possibility

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

2,074 mi
Great-circle distance
69°
Course out of SFO
94°
Course into DTW
4
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?

Detroit → San FranciscoRight 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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