Maybe this is a dumb question, but why do long-haul flights look curved on a map instead of flying in a straight line?

That is not a dumb question at all—it is actually one of the most common points of confusion in geography!

The reason flights look curved on a map is that most maps, like the flat ones we see in classrooms, are "projections." To represent a 3D sphere (the Earth) on a 2D piece of paper, the map has to stretch certain areas. This distortion makes straight paths look like arcs.

In reality, those flights are flying the shortest possible distance between two points on a sphere, which is called a Great Circle route.

If you were to take a string and pull it tight between two points on a globe, it would curve toward the poles. Because the Earth is round, the shortest distance between two points isn't a straight line across a flat map; it is an arc that follows the curvature of the planet.

So, while it looks like a detour on your flat screen, the pilot is actually taking the most direct, fuel-efficient path possible!