Nonstop flight route between Edwards, California, United States and Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States and Shark Bay Airport (MJK), Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,341 miles (or 15,033 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 Shark Bay 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 Shark Bay 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):

• Its curriculum focused on the traditional field of performance testing and the relatively new field of stability and control, which had suddenly assumed critical importance with the dramatic increases in speed offered by the new turbojets.
• 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.
• 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 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 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.
• The base is next to Rogers Dry Lake, an endorheic desert salt pan whose hard dry lake surface provides a natural extension to Edwards' runways.
• A water stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad since 1876, the site was largely unsettled until the early 20th century.

Facts about Shark Bay Airport (MJK):

• The furthest airport from Shark Bay Airport (MJK) is JAGS McCartney International Airport (GDT), which is nearly antipodal to Shark Bay Airport (meaning Shark Bay Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from JAGS McCartney International Airport), and is located 12,008 miles (19,325 kilometers) away in Grand Turk Island, Turks and Caicos Islands.
• Because of Shark Bay Airport's relatively low elevation of 111 feet, planes can take off or land at Shark Bay 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 Shark Bay Airport (MJK) is Carnarvon Airport (CVQ), which is located 70 miles (113 kilometers) N of MJK.
• Shark Bay Airport (MJK) currently has only 1 runway.