GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Detailed explanation-1: -“The great circle distance is the shortest distance between any two points on the surface of the Earth measured along a path on the surface of the Earth.”

Detailed explanation-2: -great circle route, the shortest course between two points on the surface of a sphere. It lies in a plane that intersects the sphere’s centre and was known by mathematicians before the time of Columbus.

Detailed explanation-3: -This is because aircraft don’t fly in a straight line according to the Mercator map, but instead tend to take the shortest flight route between two points. This is the Great Circle Route and is easy to see with a piece of string and a globe but when shown on a Mercator map the route looks more like this.