Nonstop flight route between Freetown, Sierra Leone and Pituffik, Greenland:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from HGS to THU:
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- About this route
- HGS Airport Information
- THU Airport Information
- Facts about HGS
- Facts about THU
- Map of Nearest Airports to HGS
- List of Nearest Airports to HGS
- Map of Furthest Airports from HGS
- List of Furthest Airports from HGS
- Map of Nearest Airports to THU
- List of Nearest Airports to THU
- Map of Furthest Airports from THU
- List of Furthest Airports from THU
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Hastings Airport (HGS), Freetown, Sierra Leone and Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,127 miles (or 8,251 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 Hastings Airport and Thule Air 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 Hastings Airport and Thule Air Base. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | HGS / GFHA |
| Airport Name: | Hastings Airport |
| Location: | Freetown, Sierra Leone |
| GPS Coordinates: | 8°23'39"N by 13°7'41"W |
| Area Served: | Freetown |
| Elevation: | 60 feet (18 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from HGS |
| More Information: | HGS Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | THU / BGTL |
| Airport Names: |
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| Location: | Pituffik, Greenland |
| GPS Coordinates: | 76°31'51"N by 68°42'11"W |
| View all routes: | Routes from THU |
| More Information: | THU Maps & Info |
Facts about Hastings Airport (HGS):
- The furthest airport from Hastings Airport (HGS) is Ulawa Airport (RNA), which is nearly antipodal to Hastings Airport (meaning Hastings Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ulawa Airport), and is located 12,088 miles (19,454 kilometers) away in Arona, Ulawa Island, Solomon Islands.
- The closest airport to Hastings Airport (HGS) is Lungi International Airport (FNA), which is located only 16 miles (26 kilometers) NNW of HGS.
- Hastings Airport (HGS) currently has only 1 runway.
- Because of Hastings Airport's relatively low elevation of 60 feet, planes can take off or land at Hastings 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.
Facts about Thule Air Base (THU):
- A board of Air Force officers headed by Gordon P.
- In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".
- The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
- A delegation from NATO's Parliamentary Assembly visited Thule in early September 2010 and were told by the base commander that, at that time, approximately 600 personnel were serving at Thule, a mix of mostly U.S.
- The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
- After the German occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940, Henrik Kauffmann Danish Ambassador to the United States, made an agreement "In the name of the king" with the United States authorizing the United States to defend the Danish colonies on Greenland from German aggression - this agreement faced Kaufmann with a charge of high treason.
- Originally established as a Strategic Air Command installation, Thule would periodically serve as a dispersal base for B-36 Peacemaker and B-47 Stratojet aircraft during the 1950s, as well as providing an ideal site to test the operability and maintainability of these weapon systems in extreme cold weather.
- Knud Rasmussen was the first to recognize the Pituffik plain as ideal for an airport.
- Thule Air Base or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport, is the United States Air Force's northernmost base, located 1,207 km north of the Arctic Circle and 1,524 km from the North Pole on the northwest side of the island of Greenland.
- In 1959, the airbase was the main staging point for the construction of Camp Century, some 150 mi from the base.
