Nonstop flight route between Horn Island, Queensland, Australia and Fairbanks / Fort Wainwright, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Horn Island Airport (HID), Horn Island, Queensland, Australia and Ladd Army Airfield (FBK), Fairbanks / Fort Wainwright, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,313 miles (or 10,160 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 Horn Island Airport and Ladd Army Airfield, 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 Horn Island Airport and Ladd Army Airfield. 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 Horn Island Airport (HID):

• Horn Island Airport (HID) has 2 runways.
• Because of Horn Island Airport's relatively low elevation of 43 feet, planes can take off or land at Horn Island 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 Horn Island Airport (HID) is Kubin Airport (KUG), which is located 25 miles (41 kilometers) N of HID.
• The furthest airport from Horn Island Airport (HID) is São Filipe Airport (SFL), which is located 11,497 miles (18,503 kilometers) away in Fogo, Cape Verde.

Facts about Ladd Army Airfield (FBK):

• From the late 1940s into the 1950s, Ladd AFB served as the northern hub for Air Force activities in Alaska.
• In addition to being known as "Ladd Army Airfield", another name for FBK is "(Ladd Air Force Base)".
• Because of Ladd Army Airfield's relatively low elevation of 454 feet, planes can take off or land at Ladd Army Airfield 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 Ladd Army Airfield (FBK) is Fairbanks International Airport (FAI), which is located only 7 miles (12 kilometers) WSW of FBK.
• Ladd Army Airfield (FBK) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Ladd Army Airfield (FBK) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,286 miles (16,554 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• The airplanes arrived at Ladd were stripped of all but basic instrumentation and armament.
• Alaska's transportation infrastructure at the time was so limited and the problem of military supply so acute, it also made sense to concentrate the bases along existing supply lines near Anchorage and Fairbanks.