Nonstop flight route between Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China and Bossier City, Louisiana, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX), Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China and Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD), Bossier City, Louisiana, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,023 miles (or 12,912 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 Barksdale 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 Barksdale 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):

• Visitors are warned before landing to move slowly on leaving the plane and that they may feel light headed or dizzy because of the thin air.
• The closest airport to Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX) is Yushu Batang Airport (YUS), which is located 158 miles (254 kilometers) N of BPX.
• Qamdo Bamda Airport (BPX) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Qamdo Bamda Airport", other names for BPX include "昌都邦达机场" and "Chāngdū Bāngdá Jīchǎng".
• 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.

Facts about Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD):

• Captain Harris selected what he felt was an adequate location for a military airfield.
• The furthest airport from Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is located 10,884 miles (17,516 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• By the mid-1930s, Barksdale Field was the headquarters and main base of the 3rd Attack Wing, equipped with the Curtiss A-12 and Northrop A-17.
• Barksdale Field was renamed Barksdale Air Force Base on 13 January 1948, with the designation of the United States Air Force as a separate service in 1947.
• The first SAC unit at Barksdale was the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing was reassigned to the base from McGuire AFB on 1 October.
• Also during World War II Barksdale played host to the major contingent of the Free French Air Forces and Nationalist Chinese aircrews.
• In addition to being known as "Barksdale Air Force Base", another name for BAD is "Barksdale AFB".
• The closest airport to Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD) is Shreveport Downtown Airport (DTN), which is located only 5 miles (9 kilometers) WNW of BAD.
• Units at Barksdale include the oldest bomb wing in the Air Force, the 2d Bomb Wing.