On a chart based on the Lambert Conformal projection, a straight line is

• A. a great circle
• B. a constant track across earth
• C. a rhumb line
• D. varies depending on what altitude your route is flown at

Answer: (A)

On a Lambert Conformal chart, straight lines represent great-circle paths on the Earth. This projection is conformal, preserving angles locally, and its geometry tends to map the shortest path between two points—a great circle—onto a straight line on the chart. A rhumb line (constant bearing) would not generally appear as a straight line on this projection, and altitude doesn’t affect the map projection. So the straight line on the chart corresponds to a great-circle route.