Nonstop flight route between Columbus, Mississippi, United States and Cocos Islands, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Columbus Air Force Base (CBM), Columbus, Mississippi, United States and Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), Cocos Islands, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,918 miles (or 17,570 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 Columbus Air Force Base and Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport, 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 Columbus Air Force Base and Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport. 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 Columbus Air Force Base (CBM):

• About half the pilots in the Air Force today went through basic and primary flight training at Columbus AFB.
• During World War II, the training load gradually increased until Columbus was graduating 195 pilots per month.
• The closest airport to Columbus Air Force Base (CBM) is Columbus-Lowndes County Airport (UBS), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) SSE of CBM.
• In 1965 the 454th converted to B-52D, which was re-engineered for conventional bomb missions over Southeast Asia, although some B-52Cs were also assigned during 1968–69.
• Columbus Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 9 miles north of Columbus, Mississippi.
• On 8 January 1943, the War Department constituted and activated the 30th Flying Training Wing at Columbus and assigned it to the AAF Eastern Flying Training Command.
• In addition to being known as "Columbus Air Force Base", another name for CBM is "Columbus AFB".
• The furthest airport from Columbus Air Force Base (CBM) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,088 miles (17,844 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• In addition, Columbus Air Force Base was designated as an alternate NASA Space Shuttle Landing Site when that program was in operation.

Facts about Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK):

• Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport handled 15,712 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport", other names for CCK include "Lapangan Terbang Pulu Koko" and "YPCC".
• The airfield was built during World War II to support Allied aircraft in the war against Japan.
• Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK) is Corn Island International Airport (RNI), which is nearly antipodal to Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (meaning Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Corn Island International Airport), and is located 12,429 miles (20,003 kilometers) away in Corn Island, Nicaragua.
• The closest airport to Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK) is Christmas Island Airport (XCH), which is located 612 miles (985 kilometers) E of CCK.
• Because of Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Cocos (Keeling) Island 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.