Nonstop flight route between Gilgit, Pakistan and Edwards, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gilgit Airport (GIL), Gilgit, Pakistan and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,480 miles (or 12,039 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 Gilgit 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 Gilgit 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 Gilgit Airport (GIL):

• Gilgit Airport (GIL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Gilgit Airport (GIL) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,793 miles (18,979 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• Because of Gilgit Airport's high elevation of 4,796 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at GIL. Combined with a high temperature, this could make GIL a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Gilgit Airport (GIL) is Chilas Airport (CHB), which is located 37 miles (59 kilometers) SSW of GIL.

Facts about Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):

• Notable occurrences at Edwards include Chuck Yeager's flight that broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, test flights of the North American X-15, the first landings of the Space Shuttle, and the 1986 around-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager.
• The P-59s were tested at Muroc from October 1942 through February 1944 without a single accident and, though the aircraft did not prove to be combat worthy, the successful conduct of its test program, combined with the success of the Lockheed XP-80 program which followed it in early 1944, sealed the future destiny of the remote high desert installation.
• The Main Base is also the home of the Benefield Anechoic Facility, an electromagnetic and radio frequency testing building.
• The first major aerial activity occurred at Muroc in 1937 when the entire Army Air Corps participated in a large-scale maneuver.
• The initial use for Muroc was IV Bomber Command Operational Unit training.
• 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.
• 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.