Nonstop flight route between High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom and Qingshan, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF High Wycombe (HYC), High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom and Xichang Qingshan Airport (XIC), Qingshan, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,238 miles (or 8,429 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 RAF High Wycombe and Xichang Qingshan 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 RAF High Wycombe and Xichang Qingshan 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 RAF High Wycombe (HYC):

• The actor David Jason officially opened the station's new welfare centre, named after Wing Commander Alan Oakeshott, in July 2011.
• The furthest airport from RAF High Wycombe (HYC) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,867 miles (19,098 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• An Armed Forces Community Covenant between the station and Wycombe District Council was signed on 16 April 2012, designed to strengthen the links between the military and the local community.
• The closest airport to RAF High Wycombe (HYC) is RAF Benson (BEX), which is located only 13 miles (22 kilometers) WSW of HYC.
• The site is a non-flying station and was home to RAF Strike Command before it became part of the newly formed RAF Air Command on 1 April 2007.
• From 1983 to 1984 there was a peace camp protesting against the building of a bunker there at that time to house RAF Strike Command.
• Operationally during the Cold War the Director UKWMO would have been located at the United Kingdom Regional Air Operations Command within Strike Command's Operations Centre nuclear bunker at RAF High Wycombe to instigate the national Four minute air raid warnings, with the Deputy Director located at a standby UK RAOC, described at the time as being "elsewhere in the UK", but has since been revealed as being at Goosnargh near Preston within the UKWMO Western Sector nuclear bunker.
• The location of the station was originally suggested by Wing Commander Alan Oakeshott when the Air Ministry was seeking a new, secure, site for Bomber Command away from London.
• To preserve secrecy, the station was known as "Southdown" in March 1940, as part of a directive by the Air Ministry.

Facts about Xichang Qingshan Airport (XIC):

• Because of Xichang Qingshan Airport's high elevation of 5,112 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at XIC. Combined with a high temperature, this could make XIC a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Xichang Qingshan Airport (XIC) is Zhaotong Airport (ZAT), which is located 107 miles (171 kilometers) ESE of XIC.
• Xichang Qingshan Airport (XIC) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Xichang Qingshan Airport", other names for XIC include "西昌青山机场" and "Xīchāng Qīngshān Jīchǎng".
• The furthest airport from Xichang Qingshan Airport (XIC) is La Florida Airport (LSC), which is nearly antipodal to Xichang Qingshan Airport (meaning Xichang Qingshan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from La Florida Airport), and is located 12,015 miles (19,337 kilometers) away in La Serena, Chile.