Nonstop flight route between East London, South Africa and Topeka, Kansas, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between East London Airport (ELS), East London, South Africa and Forbes Field (FOE), Topeka, Kansas, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,516 miles (or 13,706 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 East London Airport and Forbes Field, 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 East London Airport and Forbes Field. 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 East London Airport (ELS):

• Because of East London Airport's relatively low elevation of 436 feet, planes can take off or land at East London 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.
• East London's airport is a small but bustling one that plays an important role in the growing economy of the Eastern Cape.
• In 1944 a new airport was built at Collondale, about 2 km west of the present terminal building.
• East London Airport (ELS) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to East London Airport (ELS) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 65 miles (105 kilometers) WSW of ELS.
• The furthest airport from East London Airport (ELS) is Kalaupapa Airport (LUP), which is located 11,569 miles (18,618 kilometers) away in Kalaupapa, Hawaii, United States.

Facts about Forbes Field (FOE):

• The closest airport to Forbes Field (FOE) is Allegheny County Airport (AGC), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) SSE of FOE.
• Forbes Field had an original capacity of 25,000, the largest in the league at the time.
• In addition to being known as "Forbes Field", another name for FOE is ""The House of Thrills""The Old Lady of Schenley Park""The Orchard of Oakland" [1]".
• The first batter at Forbes Field was future Hall of Famer Johnny Evers, the Cubs second baseman and lead off batter.
• The batting cage was placed just to the left of the 457-foot center field "Death Valley" marker during games, because it was believed impossible to hit the ball that far.
• The furthest airport from Forbes Field (FOE) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,496 miles (18,501 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The field itself consisted of natural grass grown in Crestline, Ohio.
• In 1909, Forbes Field's opening season, the Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.
• Barney Dreyfuss "hated cheap home runs and vowed he'd have none in his park", which led him to design a large playing field for Forbes Field.
• With such a large outfield space, triples and inside-the-park home runs were common.
• On June 29, 1909, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Chicago Cubs by a score of 8–1 at Exposition Park.