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Tucson → Salt Lake City

TUS–SLC · Tucson International Airport to Salt Lake City International Airport

Best bet

Left side

Good betA real difference, not a rounding error.

San Francisco Peaks 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.

TUS to SLC: 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.TUSSLCLEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE12345678
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 40 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. Sedona red rocks

    LeftQuarter in31 mi off the route

    Sedona red rocks is about 31 miles off the left, about a quarter of the way in.

    Distant possibility

  2. Meteor Crater

    RightQuarter in14 mi off the route

    About a quarter of the way in, Meteor Crater sits roughly 14 miles to the right.

    Distant possibility

  3. San Francisco Peaks

    LeftHalfway21 mi off the route

    Look left around the halfway mark for San Francisco Peaks, about 21 miles out.

    Good possibility

  4. Grand Canyon

    LeftHalfway39 mi off the route

    Grand Canyon is about 39 miles off the left, around the halfway mark.

    Good possibility

  5. Lake Powell

    Either sideHalfway0 mi off the route

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

    Strong candidate

  6. Bryce Canyon

    LeftThree quarters32 mi off the route

    Look left about three quarters of the way for Bryce Canyon, about 32 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  7. Capitol Reef

    RightThree quarters26 mi off the route

    Capitol Reef is about 26 miles off the right, about three quarters of the way.

    Distant possibility

  8. Wasatch Range

    RightNear the end13 mi off the route

    Whether Wasatch Range appears comes down to how you come into SLC, 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

602 mi
Great-circle distance
355°
Course out of TUS
354°
Course into SLC
6
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?

Salt Lake City → TucsonRight 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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