Elon Musk Weighs In On Flight Path Of United Airlines 737 MAX 9
World’s richest man, Elon Musk, may be busy crusading against government waste, but he still had time to reply to a tweet wondering about the flight path of a United Airlines 737 MAX 9.
Elon Musk Thinks United 737 MAX 9 Should Have Traveled In A Straight Line Flight Path…
Ryan Petersen, the founder and CEO of Flexport, a global logistics platform, wondered aloud on X why his United Airlines flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Houston (IAH) was not traveling in a straight line. He was specifically referencing UA2266 on February 25, 2025, operated by a Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft.
Elon Musk responded, “It should be.”
It should be
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 25, 2025
A “community note” was added by other X users explaining, “This route deviates from a direct path of a flight from San Francisco to Houston, there are reasons for this such as winds, traffic, and storm systems that the pilots are trying to avoid. The earth is also curved, meaning the most direct path is not necessarily a straight line.”
Other helpful explanations pointed out that the flight path avoided bad weather and followed the jetstream, giving the aircraft a strong tailwind to save on fuel and flight time.
They managed to catch a direct tail wind both ways. Seems pretty efficient to me. The east bound leg was over 100kts. pic.twitter.com/NBTs2mhGhW
— Adam King (@VickVinegar_99) February 26, 2025
Some of the airspace was also restricted:
There are numerous restricted areas (R-2508, R-2505, R-2515, etc …) that are used for military training.
See attached picture.
The route flew south of the airspace … and we need all the airspace we can get. pic.twitter.com/GbObhPINeD
— Matthew Carlton (@MCarlton_) February 25, 2025
I’m not posting this to poke fun at Elon Musk…I’m just curious why he would respond in the way he did and why he would suggest a flight should be traveling in a straight line…is he just trolling us like the Nazi salute? Because the statement does not give me a lot of confidence, though I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt…
Musk photo: Gage Skidmore