Nonstop flight route between Mercury, Nevada, United States and Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from DRA to TWU:
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- About this route
- DRA Airport Information
- TWU Airport Information
- Facts about DRA
- Facts about TWU
- Map of Nearest Airports to DRA
- List of Nearest Airports to DRA
- Map of Furthest Airports from DRA
- List of Furthest Airports from DRA
- Map of Nearest Airports to TWU
- List of Nearest Airports to TWU
- Map of Furthest Airports from TWU
- List of Furthest Airports from TWU
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Desert Rock Airport (DRA), Mercury, Nevada, United States and Tawau Airport (TWU), Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,951 miles (or 12,796 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 Desert Rock Airport and Tawau 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 Desert Rock Airport and Tawau Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | DRA / KDRA |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Mercury, Nevada, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 36°37'9"N by 116°1'58"W |
Operator/Owner: | Mercury, Nevada |
Airport Type: | United States Department of Energy/Nevada |
Elevation: | 1010 feet (308 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from DRA |
More Information: | DRA Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | TWU / WBKW |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia |
GPS Coordinates: | 4°18'47"N by 118°7'18"E |
Area Served: | Tawau Division, Sabah, East Malaysia |
Operator/Owner: | Government of Malaysia |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 57 feet (17 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from TWU |
More Information: | TWU Maps & Info |
Facts about Desert Rock Airport (DRA):
- Desert Rock Airport (DRA) currently has only 1 runway.
- The furthest airport from Desert Rock Airport (DRA) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,271 miles (18,139 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
- The closest airport to Desert Rock Airport (DRA) is Creech Air Force Base Indian Springs Auxiliary Army Airfield (1961) Indian Springs Air Force Base (1951) Indian Springs Army Airfield Indian Springs Airport eponyms: Indian Springs, Nevada &Wilbur L. Creech[1] (INS), which is located only 20 miles (32 kilometers) E of DRA.
- In addition to being known as "Desert Rock Airport", another name for DRA is "NV65".
Facts about Tawau Airport (TWU):
- Because of Tawau Airport's relatively low elevation of 57 feet, planes can take off or land at Tawau 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.
- The closest airport to Tawau Airport (TWU) is Nunukan Airport (NNX), which is located 34 miles (54 kilometers) WSW of TWU.
- However on 15 September 1995, a Malaysian Airlines Fokker 50 from Kota Kinabalu touched down 500 m before the end of the 2,200 m long runway.
- Tawau Airport handled 1,202,344 passengers last year.
- According to a survey, the old airport has one of the shortest runways in the country.
- In addition to being known as "Tawau Airport", another name for TWU is "Lapangan Terbang Tawau".
- An airport police station is located just at the opposite of the main terminal building.
- The furthest airport from Tawau Airport (TWU) is Coari Airport (CIZ), which is nearly antipodal to Tawau Airport (meaning Tawau Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Coari Airport), and is located 12,350 miles (19,875 kilometers) away in Coari, Amazonas, Brazil.
- Open air car park is provided with 500 parking lots.
- In 2008, 768,967 passengers went through the airport with 10,546 aircraft movements.
- Tawau Airport (TWU) currently has only 1 runway.