Nonstop flight route between Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China and Wichita Falls, Texas, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX), Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China and Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS), Wichita Falls, Texas, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,863 miles (or 12,654 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Qamdo Bamda Airport and Sheppard Air Force Base, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Qamdo Bamda Airport and Sheppard Air Force Base. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX):

• Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Qamdo Bamda Airport", other names for BPX include "昌都邦达机场" and "Chāngdū Bāngdá Jīchǎng".
• The airport is 2.5 hours by mountain road from the county seat of Qamdo.
• Because of Qamdo Bamda Airport's high elevation of 14,436 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at BPX. Combined with a high temperature, this could make BPX a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX) is Viña del Mar Airport (KNA), which is located 11,747 miles (18,904 kilometers) away in Viña del Mar, Chile.
• The closest airport to Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX) is Yushu Batang Airport (YUS), which is located 158 miles (254 kilometers) N of BPX.

Facts about Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS):

• Comptroller, transportation, and intelligence training moved to Sheppard from Lowry AFB, Colorado, in the fall of 1954.
• In addition to being known as "Sheppard Air Force Base", another name for SPS is "Sheppard AFB".
• Over the next three decades three training schools were stationed at the base training students in aircraft maintenance, transportation, communication, civil engineering, Aircrew Life Support and field training.
• The aircraft mechanics school was transferred to Sheppard from Keesler AFB, Mississippi in April 1949 to make room for expansion of electronic training at that base.
• The 80th Flying Training Wing, also at Sheppard, conducts the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program, a multi-nationally manned and managed flying training program chartered to produce combat pilots for both USAF and NATO.
• The furthest airport from Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,952 miles (17,626 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The Air Force School of Health Care Sciences offered training in dentistry, medicine, nursing, and health-services administration.
• The closest airport to Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS) is Kickapoo Downtown Airport (KIP), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) S of SPS.