The North American cities of Toronto and Miami are approximately 2,000 km apart, and on a conventional map, Toronto is located due north of Miami. However, a pilot flying from one city to the other cannot simply fly 2,000 km north or south and land in the other city. A plane flying in a straight line south from Toronto would end up somewhere west of Miami; from the perspective of a person in Miami, the plane would seem to have arced to the pilot's right. Why? While the plane is the air, the earth continues to rotate on its axis. For this reason, pilots flying north or south must account for the rotation of the earth, which deflects their path relative to stationary points on the earth's surface. Furthermore, because the earth is a sphere, points near the equator are rotating faster than points near the poles. Air masses are similarly affected by the rotation of the earth