Nonstop flight route between Edwards, California, United States and Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States and Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX), Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,781 miles (or 14,132 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 Alula Aba Nega 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 Alula Aba Nega 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• Previously known as Muroc Air Force Base, Edwards AFB is named in honor of Captain Glen Edwards.
• The first major aerial activity occurred at Muroc in 1937 when the entire Army Air Corps participated in a large-scale maneuver.
• Jurisdiction of Edwards AFB was transferred from Air Materiel Command on 2 April 1951 to the newly created Air Research and Development Command.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• In July 1942, Muroc Army Airfield became a separate airfield from March Field and was placed under the jurisdiction of Fourth Air Force.

Facts about Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX):

• Because of Alula Aba Nega Airport's high elevation of 7,406 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MQX. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MQX a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• This airport was built in the late 1990s to replace an older one located 7 km from Mek'ele.
• The furthest airport from Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX) is Fangatau Airport (FGU), which is nearly antipodal to Alula Aba Nega Airport (meaning Alula Aba Nega Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Fangatau Airport), and is located 12,272 miles (19,750 kilometers) away in Fangatau, French Polynesia.
• In addition to being known as "Alula Aba Nega Airport", another name for MQX is "አሉላ አባ ነጋ ዓለም አቀፍ የአየር ማረፊያ".
• Alula Aba Nega Airport handled 112,060 passengers last year.
• Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Alula Aba Nega Airport (MQX) is Axum Emperor Yohannes IV Airport (AXU), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) NW of MQX.