Nonstop flight route between Alta, Norway and Edwards, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Alta Airport (ALF), Alta, Norway and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,935 miles (or 7,942 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 Alta 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 Alta 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 Alta Airport (ALF):

• Avinor decided in February 2007 to build a new passenger terminal and tower for NOK 300 million.
• Alta Airport handled 353,051 passengers last year.
• Plans for expanding the 1,670-square-meter terminal facilities were first articulated by the Civil Airport Administration in the 1990s.
• In addition to being known as "Alta Airport", another name for ALF is "Alta lufthavn".
• Alta Airport is an international airport serving Alta, a town and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway.
• Activity at Alta Airport peaked in the following years.
• Because of Alta Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Alta Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• The first airport in Alta was built by the Wehrmacht during the German occupation of Norway.
• The closest airport to Alta Airport (ALF) is Lakselv Airport, Banak (LKL), which is located 38 miles (62 kilometers) E of ALF.
• The furthest airport from Alta Airport (ALF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,502 miles (16,901 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Alta Airport (ALF) currently has only 1 runway.
• A proposal by a consultant company, ordered by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in 2011, suggested that starting in 2013 the subsidized routes in Finnmark should follow a coastal route, leaving those to Kirkenes and the county capital of Vadsø as the only subsidized routes remaining at Alta.
• SAS bought Braathens in 2001, resulting in the latter taking over the service to Oslo starting on 1 April 2002.
• The location in Elvebakken was somewhat controversial in Alta, especially as the airport would be located so close to the town center, potentially causing noise pollution.

Facts about Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):

• 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.
• There are a vast array of organizations at Edwards that do not fall under the 412th Test Wing.
• The initial use for Muroc was IV Bomber Command Operational Unit training.
• The first major aerial activity occurred at Muroc in 1937 when the entire Army Air Corps participated in a large-scale maneuver.
• As with virtually all of the test programs conducted during the war years, most of the actual flight test work on the P-59 was conducted by the contractor.
• In December 1949, Muroc was renamed Edwards Air Force Base in honor of Captain Glen Edwards, who was killed a year earlier in the crash of the Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing.
• 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.
• It is the home of the Air Force Test Center and is the Air Force Materiel Command center of excellence for conducting and supporting research and developmental flight test and evaluation of aerospace systems from concept to combat.