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
Now wonder he and Trump are buddies. Two men who should have enjoyed their money quietly and kept their mouths shut so that people would not realize how stupid they actually are when addressing things outside of their “boxes.”
Given America….now the idiots will all be screaming on social media that their flight is not going in a straight line so there must be a conspiracy.
Did he not get a pilot’s license? I thought I heard that somewhere. Maybe he just bought one. Idk.
Why buy a pilot’s license, when you can just buy the pilot!
Because you can say you have it. Looked up, it’s true, says he got it in 50 hours, less than 2 weeks. Maybe he just paid attention to what he felt was valuable? Or as Matthew suggested he’s just trolling everyone. Idk
@ Eff Elon and Trump
At this point Elon stories are just printing cash for you Matt from clicks. You should be thankful for Trump and he for this alone, along with the extension of the tax cuts that are upcoming. And they aren’t just for the richest of us, like you and most of the posters here, but they also reduce taxes for the losers who work 3 jobs cleaning our toilets and houses. Assuming of course they are not paid in cash and make enough to contribute to society by paying Federal Income Tax, which is reach in most cases.
America’s most powerful man comments on aviation is newsworthy, not that Matt needs any justification to post on his own website.
Typical butthurt response…
@ Dave — Um, no the 2017 tax cuts were not for the “losers”. The 2017 tax cuts were tax INCREASES for those in the working class.
Well he is rich. So in the United States simply being rich makes your opinion on any single topic more valid even if it is a topic you have zero experience or first hand knowledge in whatsoever. What an embarrassment.
Not necessarily. There are measures voted on in elections to raise the taxes of other people so it is poorer people that may be voting to raise taxes on someone else but not themselves. It’s not just income tax but there are local property tax levies.
This is why Trump likes Musk so much. He’s thinks because he’s rich, he can say any nonsense and people will believe him.
Remember, Musk is the guy who got sued, and ultimately prevailed, in a defamation suit by the guy who was trying to rescue those kids in the cave in Thailand and turned down Musk’s offer of help.
Musk called the guy a pedophile, but he prevailed because he showed that he just throws around words and sentences all the time with no basis in fact.
Mr. Musk, I admire your achievements in SpaceX and Tesla. You shouldn’t have done anything else. Now someone please explain the GREAT CIRCLE ROUTE to you.
I want to see Area 51! Let’s start asking why waste all that fuel climbing up to 35,000?
I guess the phrase describing Trump applies to Musk: his ignorance is encyclopedic.
Sick and f** tired of Musk, Trump and all this MAGA corruption destroying America. Stick to travel. Musk deserves to rot in hell
Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius.