Jet WindowWindow seat by route · DXB to IAH
Dubai to Houston: which side of the plane?
Sun left by day, right in the evening.
It turns with the clock. On morning and midday departures the sun is mostly on the left; leave in the evening and it is mostly on the right. Find your departure time in the table.
The sun, by departure time
Where the light will be.
Departure times are local to Dubai. About 16 h 45 min in the air over 7,087 nautical miles.
| Leaving at | Winter (mid-December) | Summer (mid-June) |
|---|---|---|
| 7 a.m. | Left · sun on this side | Left · sun on this side |
| Noon | Left · sunset about 7 hours in | Left · sun on this side |
| 5 p.m. | Left · sunset about 1 hour in | Right · sunset about 13 hours in |
| 10 p.m. | Dark the whole way | Right · sunset about 10.5 hours in |
On a dark crossing, the right side faces north. If there is an aurora that night, that is where it will be. Jet Window checks the aurora forecast for your actual flight.
Out of the window
What you can look for.
A city of towers on the edge of the Arabian Gulf, with the desert at its back.
Along the way
- The Caspian Sea, the largest inland water on earth on the right, in daylight
- The Caucasus range between the Black Sea and the Caspian below you, so either side, in daylight
- The Norwegian fjords cut deep into the coast below you, so either side, in daylight
- Iceland, glaciers and black lava fields below you, so either side, in daylight
- The Greenland ice sheet, white to the horizon in every direction on the right, in daylight
- The Great Lakes, big enough to have a horizon of their own below you, so either side, in daylight
- Chicago along the lakefront, the grid running inland on the right
Leaving Dubai
The grid of Dubai gives way fast to bare sand dunes running to the horizon.
Arriving in Houston
Flat, wooded Gulf coastal plain of pine and subdivision; the downtown Houston skyline stands to the south.
How this was worked out
The same engine as the app.
These answers come from the model Jet Window uses on your phone: the sun's position from the cabin's own horizon at cruise, sampled along the great-circle path, with the landmark and airport notes the app shows. This page has to assume a departure time and a flight time, and a real flight bends with winds, airways and the runway in use. Cloud is not modeled.
In the app, Jet Window works it out for your actual flight, at its real departure time, and tells you when to look.
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