Nonstop flight route between Edwards, California, United States and Ust-Kut, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States and Ust-Kut Airport (UKX), Ust-Kut, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,604 miles (or 9,019 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 Ust-Kut 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 Ust-Kut 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):

• 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.
• In the spring of 1942, however, the immense volume of flight test already being conducted at Wright Field, in Ohio, was one of the factors driving a search for a new site where a "Top Secret" airplane could undergo tests.
• 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 first major aerial activity occurred at Muroc in 1937 when the entire Army Air Corps participated in a large-scale maneuver.
• 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.
• Jurisdiction of Edwards AFB was transferred from Air Materiel Command on 2 April 1951 to the newly created Air Research and Development Command.
• 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.
• Edwards is also home to several other units from DOD, Air Force, Army, Navy, FAA, USPS and many companies that support the primary mission or the personnel stationed there.

Facts about Ust-Kut Airport (UKX):

• The furthest airport from Ust-Kut Airport (UKX) is Ushuaia International Airport (USH), which is nearly antipodal to Ust-Kut Airport (meaning Ust-Kut Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ushuaia International Airport), and is located 12,167 miles (19,580 kilometers) away in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
• Ust-Kut Airport handled 24,291 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Ust-Kut Airport", another name for UKX is "Аэропорт Усть-Кут".
• Ust-Kut Airport (UKX) currently has only 1 runway.
• Reconstruction plan for the airport is included in the federal program of revival of significant airports, but in 2009 the airport "Ust-Kut" is "not necessarily important for the partners." Despite this, according to the General Director of JSC "Ust-Kut Airport" by Yuri Samorokov, it is expected that full-scale reconstruction would still be carried out in 2015.
• The closest airport to Ust-Kut Airport (UKX) is Kirensk Airport (KCK), which is located 108 miles (173 kilometers) NE of UKX.
• New airport construction began in 1963, about 12 km north of Ust-Kut on top of a hill.
• Airport "Ust-Kut" is the third the size of the airport of regional significance in the Irkutsk Oblast.