Nonstop flight route between Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and Richland, Washington, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA), Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and Richland Airport (RLD), Richland, Washington, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,902 miles (or 9,499 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 Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō and Richland 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 Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō and Richland 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 Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA):

• On 7 June 1946, Headquarters Eighth Air Force moved without personnel or equipment to MacDill AAF, Florida.
• The furthest airport from Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA) is Paulo Abdala Airport (FBE), which is nearly antipodal to Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (meaning Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Paulo Abdala Airport), and is located 12,381 miles (19,926 kilometers) away in Francisco Beltrao, Paraná, Brazil.
• In addition to being known as "Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō", another name for DNA is "Kadena AFB".
• Since November 1954, the 18th Wing under various designations has been the main United States Air Force operational unit at Kadena.
• In 1972, the 1st Special Operations Squadron was assigned, bringing their specialized Lockheed C/MC-130 Hercules aircraft to the wing.
• The closest airport to Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA) is Naha Airport (OKA), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) SW of DNA.
• Upon its reassignment to the Pacific Theater, Eighth Air Force was assigned to the U.S.
• What the Americans captured was a 4,600 feet strip of badly-damaged coral runway.

Facts about Richland Airport (RLD):

• Because of Richland Airport's relatively low elevation of 394 feet, planes can take off or land at Richland 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.
• For the 12-month period ending July 31, 2007, the airport had 29,000 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 79 per day.
• The closest airport to Richland Airport (RLD) is Tri-Cities Airport (PSC), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) ESE of RLD.
• The furthest airport from Richland Airport (RLD) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,783 miles (17,353 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Richland Airport (RLD) has 2 runways.