Nonstop flight route between Eloise Copper Mine, Queensland, Australia and Edwards, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Elrose Mine Airport (ERQ), Eloise Copper Mine, Queensland, Australia and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,644 miles (or 12,302 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 Elrose Mine Airport and Edwards Air Force Base, 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 Elrose Mine Airport and Edwards Air Force Base. 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 Elrose Mine Airport (ERQ):

• The closest airport to Elrose Mine Airport (ERQ) is Cloncurry Airport (CNJ), which is located 39 miles (62 kilometers) WNW of ERQ.
• Elrose Mine Airport (ERQ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Elrose Mine Airport (ERQ) is Agostinho Neto Airport (NTO), which is located 11,493 miles (18,496 kilometers) away in Ponta do Sol, Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
• Because of Elrose Mine Airport's relatively low elevation of 643 feet, planes can take off or land at Elrose Mine 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.

Facts about Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):

• In July 1942, Muroc Army Airfield became a separate airfield from March Field and was placed under the jurisdiction of Fourth Air Force.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• A water stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad since 1876, the site was largely unsettled until the early 20th century.
• The success of these programs attracted a new type of research activity to the base in late 1946.
• 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 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 base is next to Rogers Dry Lake, an endorheic desert salt pan whose hard dry lake surface provides a natural extension to Edwards' runways.
• With the arrival of the Bell Aircraft P-59 Airacomet jet fighter, the Mojave Desert station was chosen as a secluded site for testing this super-secret airplane.
• The first major aerial activity occurred at Muroc in 1937 when the entire Army Air Corps participated in a large-scale maneuver.