Nonstop flight route between St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom and Fairbanks, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between St Mary's Airport (ISC), St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom and Eielson Air Force Base (EIL), Fairbanks, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,246 miles (or 6,833 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 Mary's Airport and Eielson 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 Mary's Airport and Eielson 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 Mary's Airport (ISC):

• A public footpath passes within a few metres of the southern end of the runway.
• The furthest airport from St Mary's Airport (ISC) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is nearly antipodal to St Mary's Airport (meaning St Mary's Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Dunedin International Airport), and is located 12,117 miles (19,501 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• St Mary's Airport (ISC) has 2 runways.
• St Mary's Airport handled 89,170 passengers last year.
• On 15 September 1937, Olley Air Service's subsidiary Channel Air Ferries started the first scheduled service between Land's End and St Mary's, flying de Havilland Dragons.
• In addition to being known as "St Mary's Airport", other names for ISC include "Isles of Scilly Airport" and "Scilly Isles/St Mary's Airport".
• In 1975, a new terminal was opened by the then incumbent Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
• In May 2013, the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company and the Council of the Isles of Scilly submitted a joint bid for finance from the European Regional Development Fund for improvements to the terminal, new lighting and navigational systems and runway resurfacing, together with runway resurfacing at Land's End Airport.
• The closest airport to St Mary's Airport (ISC) is Tresco Heliport (TSO), which is located only 3 miles (5 kilometers) NW of ISC.
• Because of St Mary's Airport's relatively low elevation of 116 feet, planes can take off or land at St Mary's 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.

Facts about Eielson Air Force Base (EIL):

• The closest airport to Eielson Air Force Base (EIL) is Ladd Army Airfield (FBK), which is located only 19 miles (31 kilometers) NW of EIL.
• For the next 34 years, the 5010th served as host-unit at Eielson.
• Headquarters USAF General Order 2, dated 13 January 1948, redesignated Mile 26 as Eielson AFB.
• The base reopened in September 1946, once again as a satellite of Ladd Field.
• In addition to being known as "Eielson Air Force Base", another name for EIL is "Eielson AFB".
• Operational uses of Mile 26 were few.
• The Air Defense Command deployed interceptors to Eielson during the 1960s.
• The 6th SW flew RC–135 strategic reconnaissance missions with an assigned squadron, and, with KC–135s deployed to Eielson from SAC, AFRES, and the ANG, conducted Alaska Tanker Task Force missions to support reconnaissance and numerous exercises for the Air Force and Navy.
• A month later, contractors and civilian crews from Ladd Field started laying out the new airfield.
• The furthest airport from Eielson Air Force Base (EIL) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,295 miles (16,568 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.