A Pilot’s Perspective After 40 Years in the Air

Over the years, I’ve been asked many questions—both from the cockpit and beyond. But one, in particular, has surfaced more frequently in recent times:

“Captain Dale… after flying all over the world… do you believe the earth is flat?”

That is an honest question. And rather than offer a forceful opinion, I would simply like to share what I have observed over four decades of flying—along with a few points of evidence for you to consider thoughtfully and personally.

Let’s begin with something highly practical: navigation.

Every flight I have ever conducted—from short regional legs to long international routes—has been planned using charts and systems based on a spherical Earth model. These are not theoretical constructs. They are precise, working tools relied upon by pilots across the globe every single day.

When flying long distances, we do not travel in straight lines across a flat grid. Instead, we follow what are known as great circle routes—the shortest distance between two points on a sphere. If you have ever seen a flight path from Los Angeles to Tokyo curve northward toward Alaska on a map, that is the reason. It appears curved on a flat projection, yet it is in fact the most direct path over a curved surface.

After 40 years in aviation, I can tell you this with confidence:

These routes work—perfectly, consistently, and without exception.

If the Earth were flat, these navigation systems would introduce increasing errors over distance. But they do not. Whether flying 300 miles or 7,000 miles, we arrive precisely where the flight plan predicts.

Now consider time zones.

As one travels east or west, time shifts in a consistent and measurable way—approximately one hour for every 15 degrees of longitude. This pattern aligns naturally with a rotating sphere illuminated by the sun at varying angles.

Over the course of my career, I have repeatedly experienced what pilots often call “chasing the sun” or “outrunning the night.” I have departed in daylight, flown west, and landed in daylight—effectively extending the length of a single day. Conversely, flying east, I have watched night arrive far more quickly than expected.

Even more personally, for decades I would land in a distant country—often 10 to 12 hours from home—and call my wife. Without exception, when it was daytime for me, it was nighttime for her. This pattern held true every single time, across continents and years.

These are not random occurrences. They are precise, repeatable, and entirely consistent with a spherical Earth rotating on its axis.

Now let’s consider something every pilot becomes familiar with: altitude and the horizon.

At cruising altitude—around 35,000 feet—you do not see a dramatic curvature as sometimes portrayed in extreme high-altitude imagery. That is important to understand, because at that height, you are still relatively close to the Earth compared to its full scale.

However, there are subtle and measurable effects:

• The horizon drops slightly below eye level as altitude increases
  • The visible distance expands significantly with height
  • And over long distances, objects disappear from the bottom up—not all at once

That final point is especially revealing. Ships at sea, for example, do not simply shrink into the distance. They disappear hull-first, followed by the mast. This is consistent with a curved surface.

Now consider the broader system: global aviation itself.

Thousands of flights operate daily across every continent, using shared standards, shared charts, and shared physical principles. Pilots from different nations—many of whom have never met—can plan and execute flights with complete agreement on position, distance, and timing.

There are no hidden corrections required. No regional discrepancies. No conflicting models.

In all my years of flying, I have never encountered a situation where real-world results failed to align with the spherical model used in aviation.

Additionally, I have had the privilege of knowing professionals in related fields—engineers, navigators, and even a former NASA astronaut who later became my personal physician. Their training, their work, and their lived experience all reflect the same consistent understanding.

So rather than asking you to accept a conclusion, I would simply invite you to reflect on a few additional observations:

• Long-distance flight paths consistently follow great circle routes—the geometry of a sphere
  • Time zones and daylight patterns remain perfectly synchronized worldwide, without exception
  • The night sky changes as you travel north or south—different constellations become visible in different hemispheres
  • During a lunar eclipse, the Earth casts a consistently round shadow on the moon—every single time
  • And for over 40 years, traveling across continents, I have personally experienced perfectly consistent time separation between distant locations—never once out of alignment

Each of these stands on its own. But together, they form a pattern—one that is coherent, repeatable, and remarkably unified.

You are, of course, free to draw your own conclusion.

But from where I sit—after tens of thousands of hours in the air—

the evidence has always been consistent, dependable, and quietly compelling.

1 Kings 10:8 (NKJV)
“Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!”

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