Nonstop flight route between St. Helens, Tasmania, Australia and Spokane, Washington, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between St Helens Airport (HLS), St. Helens, Tasmania, Australia and Fairchild Air Force Base (SKA), Spokane, Washington, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,400 miles (or 13,519 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 St Helens Airport and Fairchild 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 St Helens Airport and Fairchild 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 St Helens Airport (HLS):

• The furthest airport from St Helens Airport (HLS) is Corvo Airport (CVU), which is nearly antipodal to St Helens Airport (meaning St Helens Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Corvo Airport), and is located 12,317 miles (19,823 kilometers) away in Corvo Island, Azores, Portugal.
• St Helens Airport (HLS) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of St Helens Airport's relatively low elevation of 158 feet, planes can take off or land at St Helens 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 St Helens Airport (HLS) is Launceston Airport (LST), which is located 57 miles (92 kilometers) WSW of HLS.

Facts about Fairchild Air Force Base (SKA):

• In June 1992, with the inactivation of Strategic Air Command, the B-52 portion of the wing became part of the newly established Air Combat Command and was re-designated the 92d Bomb Wing.
• The closest airport to Fairchild Air Force Base (SKA) is Spokane International Airport (GEG), which is located only 6 miles (9 kilometers) E of SKA.
• At the time of the shooting, Fairchild's hospital was an ungated facility.
• Over 5,100 active duty Air Force, Air National Guard, and tenant organization military and civilian employees work on Fairchild, making the base the largest employer in Eastern Washington.
• The host unit at Fairchild is the 92d Air Refueling Wing assigned to the Air Mobility Command's Eighteenth Air Force.
• In addition to being known as "Fairchild Air Force Base", another name for SKA is "Fairchild AFB".
• As military operations in Vietnam escalated in the mid-1960s, the demand for air refueling increased.
• The weapons storage area for the bombers was located south of the runway at Deep Creek Air Force Station, a separate installation constructed from 1950 to 1953 by the Atomic Energy Commission and operated by the Air Materiel Command.
• In 1956 the wing began a conversion that brought the B-52 Stratofortress to Fairchild, followed by the KC-135 Stratotanker in 1958.
• The furthest airport from Fairchild Air Force Base (SKA) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,665 miles (17,163 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.