Nonstop flight route between Edwards, California, United States and Nagasaki, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States and Nagasaki Airport (NGS), Nagasaki, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,017 miles (or 9,684 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 Nagasaki 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 Nagasaki 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):

• It is the home of the Air Force Test Center and is the Air Force Materiel Command center of excellence for conducting and supporting research and developmental flight test and evaluation of aerospace systems from concept to combat.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• Previously known as Muroc Air Force Base, Edwards AFB is named in honor of Captain Glen Edwards.
• The success of these programs attracted a new type of research activity to the base in late 1946.
• 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 first major aerial activity occurred at Muroc in 1937 when the entire Army Air Corps participated in a large-scale maneuver.
• 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 Nagasaki Airport (NGS):

• In addition to being known as "Nagasaki Airport", other names for NGS include "長崎空港" and "Nagasaki Kūkō".
• Because of Nagasaki Airport's relatively low elevation of 8 feet, planes can take off or land at Nagasaki 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 current island runway and terminal opened on May 1, 1975.
• The closest airport to Nagasaki Airport (NGS) is Saga Airport (HSG), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) NE of NGS.
• The furthest airport from Nagasaki Airport (NGS) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is nearly antipodal to Nagasaki Airport (meaning Nagasaki Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Rio Grande Regional Airport), and is located 12,303 miles (19,799 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.
• The airport terminal and runway 14/32 are on an island, and the shorter runway 18/36 is on the mainland.
• Nagasaki Airport (NGS) has 2 runways.