Nonstop flight route between Bankstown (near Sydney), New South Wales, Australia and Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Bankstown Airport (BWU), Bankstown (near Sydney), New South Wales, Australia and RAF Ascension (ASI), Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,388 miles (or 15,108 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 Bankstown Airport and RAF Ascension, 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 Bankstown Airport and RAF Ascension. 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 Bankstown Airport (BWU):

• The terminal plays host to numerous events year round such as the annual Sydney Aviation Model Show.
• Bankstown Airport (BWU) has 3 runways.
• During the war, several "dummy houses" were built to make Bankstown Airport and its surrounds appear as a farm, hangars were disguised as houses with fake roads to further confuse the enemy.
• Because of Bankstown Airport's relatively low elevation of 34 feet, planes can take off or land at Bankstown 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.
• De Havilland Australia has been affiliated with the airport opening a factory at the airfield in 1942, occupying the area to the south of the runway.
• In addition to being known as "Bankstown Airport", another name for BWU is "Sydney/Bankstown Airport".
• One of its hangars is being used for the filming of Top Gear Australia, however none of the track sections were filmed at Bankstown as it is too busy.
• Bankstown has its own dedicated air traffic control tower, operated by Airservices Australia, and uses Class D airspace procedures.
• Runway 11C has a straight-in RNAV approach procedure.
• The closest airport to Bankstown Airport (BWU) is Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport (SYD), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) E of BWU.
• The furthest airport from Bankstown Airport (BWU) is Santa Maria Airport (SMA), which is nearly antipodal to Bankstown Airport (meaning Bankstown Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Santa Maria Airport), and is located 12,135 miles (19,529 kilometers) away in Santa Maria, Portugal.
• The airport's master plan was approved in March 2005 by the Minister for Transport and Regional Services.
• Bankstown Airport was originally planned in 1929.

Facts about RAF Ascension (ASI):

• The closest airport to RAF Ascension (ASI) is Sasstown Airport (SAZ), which is located 965 miles (1,553 kilometers) NNE of ASI.
• In addition to being known as "RAF Ascension", another name for ASI is "Wideawake Airbase/Field".
• The furthest airport from RAF Ascension (ASI) is Ujae Airport (UJE), which is nearly antipodal to RAF Ascension (meaning RAF Ascension is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ujae Airport), and is located 12,370 miles (19,907 kilometers) away in Ujae Atoll, Marshall Islands.
• RAF Ascension, more commonly known as RAF Ascension Island, and sometimes known as Wideawake Airfield or Ascension Island Base, is a British Royal Air Force station on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Equator.
• Ascension serves as a diversion airport for ETOPS aircraft crossing the Atlantic.
• The NASA Tracking Station at Devil's Ashpit and the Cable & Wireless Earth Station at Donkey Plain were built in the "mid-sixties" for space operations and communications, including the latter's use for transmitting "microwave borne data via the Early Bird Satellite back to the NASA facility at Andover, Maine.