Originally Posted by
broadreach
Unctuous’s post No 48 and other linked maps show an elliptical flight path, around the south of Sulawesi, rather than a direct one which would have been pretty much over the centre of the island.
I don't know that this is the case for this specific flight, but the shortest distance between two points on a sphere (e.g., the Earth) will appear curved when translated to a flat two dimmensional map using some charting techniques.