Nonstop flight route between Junction City, Kansas, United States and Mackay, Queensland, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Marshall Army AirfieldMarshall Air Force Base (FRI), Junction City, Kansas, United States and Mackay Airport (MKY), Mackay, Queensland, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,396 miles (or 13,512 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 Marshall Army AirfieldMarshall Air Force Base and Mackay 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 Marshall Army AirfieldMarshall Air Force Base and Mackay 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 Marshall Army AirfieldMarshall Air Force Base (FRI):

• Air Force operations at Marshall ended in late 1953, and on 19 November 1953, the first three Sikorsky H-19D helicopters purchased by the Army arrived fresh from the factory to be used in training at Marshall AAF.
• In addition to being known as "Marshall Army AirfieldMarshall Air Force Base", another name for FRI is "Marshall AAF".
• MAAF is the home of the 1st Infantry Division's Combat Aviation Brigade.
• The closest airport to Marshall Army AirfieldMarshall Air Force Base (FRI) is Manhattan Regional Airport (MHK), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) NE of FRI.
• A base detachment activated in January 1941 to operate the field was designated in January 1942 as the 305th Air Base Squadron, but in June it was renamed the 305th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron.
• In 1921, Colonel Fred Herman selected the Smoky Hill Flats across the Kansas River as the location for a new airfield.
• When the United States entered World War II Marshall possessed two hangars and three unsurfaced landing strips, the biggest strip being 3,700 feet long.
• The furthest airport from Marshall Army AirfieldMarshall Air Force Base (FRI) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,654 miles (17,146 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Late in 1946 the Army Cavalry School and the Cavalry Intelligence School at Fort Riley were inactivated and the Ground General School was established there.
• With the establishment of the United States Air Force in September 1947, the name of Marchall was changed to Marshall Air Force Base.

Facts about Mackay Airport (MKY):

• Because of Mackay Airport's relatively low elevation of 19 feet, planes can take off or land at Mackay 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 furthest airport from Mackay Airport (MKY) is Agostinho Neto Airport (NTO), which is located 11,973 miles (19,269 kilometers) away in Ponta do Sol, Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
• The closest airport to Mackay Airport (MKY) is Great Barrier Reef Airport (HTI), which is located 58 miles (94 kilometers) NNW of MKY.
• In 1938, the airport held an airshow featuring ten aircraft, which attracted over 8,000 spectators.
• Despite the collapse of airlines Ansett Australia and Flight West Airlines in 2001, Mackay Airport has experienced considerable growth in recent years, due to the use of the airport by Virgin Australia and the expansion of QantasLink services, and handles over 620,000 passengers through the terminal per annum but that has slowed and the airport is up for sale.
• In 1941, the Commonwealth Government took control of the airport from the Mackay City Council, and built a new passenger terminal in 1953.
• Mackay Airport (MKY) has 2 runways.
• Moves to establish an airport at Mackay began in 1927, when Captain Ron Adair selected the site of the town commons for the construction of an aerodrome, and landed the first plane in Mackay there, his own Avro biplane.
• Mackay Airport handled 1,049,172 passengers last year.