Secrets Your Pilots Know -- But You Don't
Planes never fly in straight lines.
On some long flights, passengers are shown a map with the trajectory of the flight. You can see that the aircraft does not fly directly but in a curve. Sometimes it even flies in zigzags. The thing is that our Earth is a flattened sphere, while the map on the screen is flat. The second reason is special requirements for flights, according to which all routes should always be near airports in order to have enough time to reach one in case of a forced landing. Weather conditions affect the trajectory as well.
