Far below you mighty Sky Gods there are plenty of people trying to fly in straight lines. I say trying because "the air traffic police" may send them on different straight lines to their chosen ones. Their chosen straight lines are called rhumb lines. Now the really rum thing is that having flown a straight line you appear to in real time to have flown round the S-bend.
Now this problem was brought home to me when I flew from Seattle Tacoma to Narita. We took off and flew up Paget Sound. Oh well must be a noise abatement thing. We continued on with no apparent turn East of Victoria and slowly over Vancouver Island and out to sea. I consulted my magazine for the film and audio channels. I studied the fold out map and there was our route a slight curve over the Pacific to Japan. Now lunch was served and cleared away when an announcement was made that we were now 60 miles North of Anchorage! I decided to take a serious interest in where we being taken. Kodiak Island past below and we were going East. Soon the sea was full of icebergs next stop Siberia! Now we all know what happens when you pass into Russia but what could I do about it back in seat 54g. Many boring hours later there were suddenly paddy fields going past my window.
That's how I learnt how much a great circle can vary from the simple old rhumb straight line well away from trigger happy blokes in Migs.