Nonstop flight route between Hawker, South Australia, Australia and Gaborone, Botswana:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wilpena Pound (HWK), Hawker, South Australia, Australia and Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE), Gaborone, Botswana would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,540 miles (or 10,524 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 Wilpena Pound and Sir Seretse Khama International 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 Wilpena Pound and Sir Seretse Khama International 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 Wilpena Pound (HWK):

• Point Bonney was named after the Crown Commissioner of Lands Charles Bonney, while Rawnsley's Bluff is named after the surveyor H.C.
• The wall of mountains almost completely encircles the gently-sloping interior of the Pound, with the only breaks being the gorge at Wilpena Gap and a high saddle in the south-western range over which the Heysen Trail passes.
• Because of Wilpena Pound's relatively low elevation of 0 feet, planes can take off or land at Wilpena Pound 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 Browne brothers eventually won the claim for Wilpena from Bagot, and the young Henry Strong Price opened up and ran the 40,000-hectare station for them.
• After the immense labour of constructing a road through the torturous Wilpena Gap, they built a small homestead inside the Pound, which still stands today, and cleared some open patches in the thick scrub of the interior.
• The furthest airport from Wilpena Pound (HWK) is Flores Airport (FLW), which is located 11,642 miles (18,736 kilometers) away in Flores Island, Azores, Portugal.
• The closest airport to Wilpena Pound (HWK) is Leigh Creek Airport (LGH), which is located 67 miles (108 kilometers) N of HWK.

Facts about Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE):

• On October 11, 1999, an Air Botswana pilot, Captain Chris Phatswe, commandeered a parked Aérospatiale ATR 42 aircraft A2-ABB without authorization in the early morning and took off.
• Botswana Defence Force Air Wing VIP Flight Wing is based at the airport.
• Airline sources say the pilot had been grounded on medical reasons, refused reinstatement and regrounded until February 2000.
• The furthest airport from Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is nearly antipodal to Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (meaning Sir Seretse Khama International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hana Airport), and is located 12,149 miles (19,552 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.
• Airport before expansion
• Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE) is Lobatse Airport (LOQ), which is located 46 miles (74 kilometers) SSW of GBE.