Nonstop flight route between Abha / Khamis Mushait, Saudi Arabia and Edwards, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Abha Regional Airport (AHB), Abha / Khamis Mushait, Saudi Arabia and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,549 miles (or 13,758 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 Abha Regional Airport and Edwards 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 Abha Regional Airport and Edwards 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 Abha Regional Airport (AHB):

• In addition to being known as "Abha Regional Airport", another name for AHB is "مطار أبهـــا".
• The design was carried out by the Dutch Consultants NACO.
• The furthest airport from Abha Regional Airport (AHB) is Pukarua Airport (PUK), which is nearly antipodal to Abha Regional Airport (meaning Abha Regional Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Pukarua Airport), and is located 12,415 miles (19,980 kilometers) away in Pukarua, Tuamotus, French Polynesia.
• The closest airport to Abha Regional Airport (AHB) is Bisha Domestic Airport (BHH), which is located 121 miles (194 kilometers) N of AHB.
• Construction of Abha Airport was started in mid-1975 by Laing Wimpey Alireza.
• The airport resides at an elevation of 6,858 feet above mean sea level.
• Abha Regional Airport (AHB) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Abha Regional Airport's high elevation of 6,858 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at AHB. Combined with a high temperature, this could make AHB a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The site was new construction area between the cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha and served both equally.

Facts about Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):

• The P-59s were tested at Muroc from October 1942 through February 1944 without a single accident and, though the aircraft did not prove to be combat worthy, the successful conduct of its test program, combined with the success of the Lockheed XP-80 program which followed it in early 1944, sealed the future destiny of the remote high desert installation.
• The closest airport to Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Mojave Air and Space Port (MHV), which is located only 19 miles (30 kilometers) NW of EDW.
• Its curriculum focused on the traditional field of performance testing and the relatively new field of stability and control, which had suddenly assumed critical importance with the dramatic increases in speed offered by the new turbojets.
• Notable occurrences at Edwards include Chuck Yeager's flight that broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, test flights of the North American X-15, the first landings of the Space Shuttle, and the 1986 around-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager.
• The furthest airport from Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,414 miles (18,369 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Conscious that March Field was located in an area of increasing growth, and with the need for bombing and gunnery ranges for his units, base and 1st Wing commander Lieutenant Colonel Henry H.
• The Main Base is also the home of the Benefield Anechoic Facility, an electromagnetic and radio frequency testing building.
• The North Base is located at the north-west corner of Rogers Lake and is the site of the Air Force's most secret test programs at Edwards.