Nonstop flight route between Fort Worth, Texas, United States and Invercargill, New Zealand:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base (FWH), Fort Worth, Texas, United States and Invercargill Airport (IVC), Invercargill, New Zealand would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,000 miles (or 12,874 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 Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base and Invercargill 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 Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base and Invercargill 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 Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base (FWH):

• On September 20, 2009, the airport was used as a refueling stop for the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft piggybacking the Space Shuttle Discovery back to the Kennedy Space Center from Amarillo after STS-128.
• The base's runway is also used by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, as their large Fort Worth assembly facility is located adjacent to the base.
• Carswell AFB was selected for closure under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 during Round II Base Closure Commission deliberations.
• In addition to being known as "Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base", another name for FWH is "Carswell Field".
• The closest airport to Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base (FWH) is Fort Worth Meacham Int'l Airport (FTW), which is located only 6 miles (9 kilometers) NE of FWH.
• Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, part of Navy Installation Command's Navy Region Southeast, is a joint defense facility which plays a pivotal role in training and equipping air crews and aviation ground support personnel.
• Several United States Navy headquarters and operational units are based at NAS Fort Worth JRB, including aviation squadrons, intelligence commands and Seabees.
• The furthest airport from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base (FWH) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,950 miles (17,623 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.

Facts about Invercargill Airport (IVC):

• When the Government nationalized all airlines to create NAC in 1947, the Electra service was replaced by de Havilland DH.89s.
• Invercargill Airport (IVC) has 4 runways.
• A fully covered baggage carousel was commissioned in 2001.
• Although only ever a backup airport during World War II, military operations have remained rare due to Christchurch being chosen as the main Operation Deep Freeze Base in 1949 and what was then Dunedin's Taieri Aerodrome acting as a departure point for shorter range aircraft heading south.
• Invercargill Airport handled 27,092 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Invercargill Airport (IVC) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) SSW of IVC.
• The runway was lengthened periodically over the years to cater for larger aircraft in time, such as NAC Fokker F27s, NAC Vickers Viscount, culminating with NAC's Boeing 737-200 type in 1975.
• Today the airport is visited by aircraft of the United States ANG, Australian RAAF, Italy's Aeronautica Militare and RNZAF as part of Antarctic flight diversion training.
• Because of Invercargill Airport's relatively low elevation of 5 feet, planes can take off or land at Invercargill 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 Invercargill Airport (IVC) is A Coruña Airport (LCG), which is nearly antipodal to Invercargill Airport (meaning Invercargill Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from A Coruña Airport), and is located 12,168 miles (19,582 kilometers) away in A Coruña, Spain.
• Today's airport is located on what was a tidal estuary lake.
• Since July 2012, Air New Zealand has used Invercargill as a technical stop when conditions in Queenstown restrict aircraft from taking off with sufficient fuel to fly direct to Australia due to weather or operational reasons.