Edward Snowden's flight path to asylum fraught with risk
Plotting a great escape that doesn't cross airspace of US-friendly nations would be difficult
Beginning a third week holed up in a Moscow airport's transit zone, Edward Snowden finds himself far enough away to evade US authorities, but also too far from any of the sympathetic nations willing to shelter him.
Aviation experts say that even if Snowden accepts the tentative offers of Venezuela, Nicaragua or Bolivia to give him shelter, it's virtually impossible to chart a flight plan to those nations that doesn't include travelling over or refueling in a US-friendly country that could demand inspection of the plane - and detain him.
Nations have full, exclusive jurisdiction over their airspace, so any plane carrying Snowden could be forced to land if it flies over the territory of a country that's willing to help American authorities capture the fugitive intelligence contractor.
"Nations control their airspace up to the heavens," said John Mulligan, an aviation law expert at DePaul University's College of Law. "Just look at the map. It's probably possible to figure out a route that wouldn't touch the airspace of the United States or any friendly nations, but it wouldn't be easy."
Snowden's best hope for breaking out of the transit area most likely hinges on whether he could sneak onto one of five weekly, direct flights to Havana. The main drawback? The path takes the plane directly over the US, which could flout a standing treaty and force a scheduled commercial flight to land.