Nonstop flight route between Armidale, New South Wales, Australia and Shemya, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Armidale Airport (ARM), Armidale, New South Wales, Australia and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,909 miles (or 9,510 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 Armidale Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Armidale Airport and Eareckson Air Station. 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 Armidale Airport (ARM):

• The furthest airport from Armidale Airport (ARM) is Santa Maria Airport (SMA), which is located 11,955 miles (19,239 kilometers) away in Santa Maria, Portugal.
• Armidale Airport (ARM) has 2 runways.
• Impulse Airlines operated services to Sydney and Brisbane from 1994 until it was taken over by Qantas in 2001.
• Armidale Airport was ranked 45th in Australia for the number of revenue passengers served in financial year 2012-2013.
• A Tamworth-Armidale-Brisbane route was served by QantasLink until 2002, when the service was taken over by MacAir Airlines until January 2003, after which time it was operated by Sunshine Express Airlines before the company ceased scheduled flying in 2006.
• The closest airport to Armidale Airport (ARM) is Inverell Airport (IVR), which is located 52 miles (84 kilometers) NNW of ARM.

Facts about Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• The mission of Eleventh Air Force was to take advantage of the new airfields on Shemya and Attu, and carry out offensive operations against the enemy forces in the Kuriles.
• By August, Eleventh Air Force B-24s were carrying out successful and accurate attacks on the Japanese military installations and the B-25s were successful in driving the Japanese fishing and much of the shipping out of the North Pacific.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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 furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• The base host squadron was re-designated the 5073rd Air Base Squadron on October 1962, and upgraded to a group on 15 October 1974 in recognition of the number and complexities of the tenant units it supported.
• By the end of 1944, several hundred American airmen had been interned by the Russians after their crippled aircraft landed on Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.