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Salt Lake City → Memphis

SLC–MEM · Salt Lake City International Airport to Memphis International Airport

Best bet

Left side

Slight edgeEnough to break a tie, not enough to change seats over.

It is close. The left edges it, mostly on Uinta Mountains, but the right is not a bad seat.

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.

SLC to MEM: 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.SLCMEMLEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE12345
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. Wasatch Range

    RightEarly17 mi off the route

    Wasatch Range sits close enough to SLC that the runway in use and the procedure of the day decide whether it shows up at all.

    Runway dependent

  2. Uinta Mountains

    LeftEarly16 mi off the route

    Early in the flight, Uinta Mountains sits roughly 16 miles to the left.

    Good possibility

  3. Mount Elbert

    RightQuarter in46 mi off the route

    Look right about a quarter of the way in for Mount Elbert, about 46 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  4. Longs Peak

    LeftQuarter in41 mi off the route

    Longs Peak is about 41 miles off the left, about a quarter of the way in.

    Distant possibility

  5. Pikes Peak

    RightQuarter in45 mi off the route

    About a quarter of the way in, Pikes Peak sits roughly 45 miles to the right.

    Distant 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

1,259 mi
Great-circle distance
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?

Memphis → Salt Lake CityRight 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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