Nonstop flight route between Hemet, California, United States and Bilbao, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Hemet-Ryan AirportRyan Field (HMT), Hemet, California, United States and Bilbao Airport (BIO), Bilbao, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,688 miles (or 9,154 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 Hemet-Ryan AirportRyan Field and Bilbao Airport, 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 Hemet-Ryan AirportRyan Field and Bilbao Airport. 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 Hemet-Ryan AirportRyan Field (HMT):

• In 1977 Cal Fire began a two-week pilot helitack program utilizing a contracted helicopter.
• Hemet-Ryan AirportRyan Field (HMT) has 2 runways.
• The airfield was opened in September 1940 by the United States Army Air Corps.
• In 1992 Cal Fire acquired several of the larger Bell UH-1H helicopters with Hemet-Ryan Helitack receiving one of the first buildups.
• The United States Forest Service commenced air tanker loading operations in 1957, and in 1959 California Division of Forestry began their operation at Ryan field.
• From the beginning of Ryan Air Attack Base, Cal Fire and the USFS used privately owned contracted World War II vintage aircraft.
• The furthest airport from Hemet-Ryan AirportRyan Field (HMT) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,471 miles (18,460 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2008, the airport had 75,444 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 206 per day.
• Apart from hosting Cal Fire air attack operations, the Hemet-Ryan is also home to a Riverside County Sheriff's Department aviation unit.
• The closest airport to Hemet-Ryan AirportRyan Field (HMT) is Banning Municipal Airport (BNG), which is located only 16 miles (26 kilometers) NE of HMT.

Facts about Bilbao Airport (BIO):

• Because of Bilbao Airport's relatively low elevation of 137 feet, planes can take off or land at Bilbao 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.
• There has been some criticism of Santiago Calatrava's design by Aena, the Spanish airport authority, because it seems difficult to make further enlargements in the terminal's capacity because the design is too closed.
• Bilbao Airport handled 3,800,789 passengers last year.
• The airport has seen a constant increase in its traffic numbers, the old terminal was already saturated and obsolete in 1990, although it had been renewed only a few years earlier.
• In February 2009 plans were announced to expand the terminal building, the facilities and the car parking so as to double the current capacity to 8 million passengers.
• Bilbao Airport (BIO) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Bilbao Airport (BIO) is Vitoria-Gasteiz Airport (VIT), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) SSE of BIO.
• On 19 February 1985, an Iberia flight from Madrid crashed into Mount Oiz, all passengers and crew died.
• Between 1964 and 1965, an instrumental ILS landing system and a meteorological radio for storm detection were installed.
• The furthest airport from Bilbao Airport (BIO) is Hood Aerodrome (MRO), which is nearly antipodal to Bilbao Airport (meaning Bilbao Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hood Aerodrome), and is located 12,260 miles (19,730 kilometers) away in Masterton, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Bilbao Airport", another name for BIO is "Bilboko aireportua (eu) Aeropuerto de Bilbao (es)".