Nonstop flight route between Edwards, California, United States and Kitale, Kenya:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States and Kitale Airport (KTL), Kitale, Kenya would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,400 miles (or 15,127 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 Edwards Air Force Base and Kitale 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 Edwards Air Force Base and Kitale 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 Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):

• Aircraft testing continued at this desert "Army Air Base", then on 8 November 1943, the base title was changed to "Muroc Army Air Field, Muroc".
• At this time, another colorful character in Edwards' history, Pancho Barnes, built her renowned Rancho Oro Verde Fly-Inn Dude Ranch that would be the scene of many parties and celebrations to come.
• The closest airport to Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Mojave Air and Space Port (MHV), which is located only 19 miles (30 kilometers) NW of EDW.
• The furthest airport from Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,414 miles (18,369 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• With the end of the war, Fourth Air Force relinquished command of Muroc Army Airfield on 16 October 1945 and jurisdiction was transferred to Air Technical Service Command, becoming Air Materiel Command in 1946.
• Notable occurrences at Edwards include Chuck Yeager's flight that broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, test flights of the North American X-15, the first landings of the Space Shuttle, and the 1986 around-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager.
• The P-59s were tested at Muroc from October 1942 through February 1944 without a single accident and, though the aircraft did not prove to be combat worthy, the successful conduct of its test program, combined with the success of the Lockheed XP-80 program which followed it in early 1944, sealed the future destiny of the remote high desert installation.
• As with virtually all of the test programs conducted during the war years, most of the actual flight test work on the P-59 was conducted by the contractor.
• The North Base is located at the north-west corner of Rogers Lake and is the site of the Air Force's most secret test programs at Edwards.

Facts about Kitale Airport (KTL):

• Because of Kitale Airport's high elevation of 6,070 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at KTL. Combined with a high temperature, this could make KTL a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Kitale Airport (KTL) is Atuona Airport (AUQ), which is located 11,701 miles (18,832 kilometers) away in Atuona, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.
• Kitale Airport (KTL) currently has only 1 runway.
• Its location is approximately 336 kilometres, by air, northwest of Nairobi International Airport, the country’s largest civilian airport.
• The closest airport to Kitale Airport (KTL) is Eldoret International Airport (EDL), which is located 44 miles (71 kilometers) SSE of KTL.