Nonstop flight route between Baku, Azerbaijan and Edwards, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD), Baku, Azerbaijan and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,173 miles (or 11,543 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 Heydar Aliyev International 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 Heydar Aliyev International 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 Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD):

• There is an onsite emergency rescue team, available 24 hours a day, and their equipment includes Mil Mi-8 helicopter, high flotation vehicle equipped with longwave and upper sideband radio station, motor-car lift crane, BelAZ towing tractor, iron ski, hydraulic elevators, safe blocks and standard tows.
• In addition to being known as "Heydar Aliyev International Airport", another name for GYD is "Heydər Əliyev adına beynəlxalq hava limanı".
• The airport is located 20 km northeast of the capital Baku and is linked to the city by two modern highways - Airport Highway and Zigh-Airport Highway.
• Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD) has 2 runways.
• A new terminal in the Baku International Airport is under construction and will be commissioned in 2013.
• The furthest airport from Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD) is Totegegie Airport (GMR), which is located 11,202 miles (18,028 kilometers) away in Mangareva, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia.
• Because of Heydar Aliyev International Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Heydar Aliyev International 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 closest airport to Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD) is Lankaran International Airport (LLK), which is located 135 miles (218 kilometers) SSW of GYD.

Facts about Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):

• 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.
• Four months later on 10 February 1948, Muroc AAF was re-designated Muroc Air Force Base with the establishment of the United States Air Force as a separate military service.
• 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 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 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.
• 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.