Nonstop flight route between Hammerfest, Finnmark, Norway and Edwards, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Hammerfest Airport (HFT), Hammerfest, Finnmark, Norway and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,898 miles (or 7,882 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 Hammerfest 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 Hammerfest 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 Hammerfest Airport (HFT):

• Because of Hammerfest Airport's relatively low elevation of 262 feet, planes can take off or land at Hammerfest 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 Hammerfest Airport (HFT) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,456 miles (16,828 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Hammerfest Airport (HFT) is Hasvik Airport (HAA), which is located 38 miles (60 kilometers) WSW of HFT.
• In addition to being known as "Hammerfest Airport", another name for HFT is "Hammerfest lufthavn".
• Hammerfest Airport handled 120,503 passengers last year.
• Forty-two percent of the airport's traffic is generated from routes to Oslo and abroad, while twenty-nine percent is to Tromsø.
• The mid-1960s saw several proposals for regional airports in Finnmark.
• The helicopter operations were taken over by Norsk Helikpoter when they opened their base on 11 November 2004.Airport security was introduced on 1 January 2005.
• Avinor is considering building a new airport at Grøtnes, which would be built as reclaimed land 15 kilometers from Hammerfest.

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.
• The success of these programs attracted a new type of research activity to the base in late 1946.
• The first major aerial activity occurred at Muroc in 1937 when the entire Army Air Corps participated in a large-scale maneuver.
• In July 1942, Muroc Army Airfield became a separate airfield from March Field and was placed under the jurisdiction of Fourth Air Force.
• 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.
• As with virtually all of the test programs conducted during the war years, most of the actual flight test work on the P-59 was conducted by the contractor.
• Previously known as Muroc Air Force Base, Edwards AFB is named in honor of Captain Glen Edwards.
• 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.