Nonstop flight route between Inyokern, California, United States and Pituffik, Greenland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Inyokern Airport (IYK), Inyokern, California, United States and Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,200 miles (or 5,149 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 Inyokern Airport and Thule Air 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 Inyokern Airport and Thule Air 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 Inyokern Airport (IYK):

• The closest airport to Inyokern Airport (IYK) is Trona Airport (TRH), which is located 30 miles (48 kilometers) ENE of IYK.
• The Inyokern Airport Dragstrip opened in 1954, and was the second oldest continuously operating dragstrip in the United States, behind Thornhill Dragstrip in Kenton, KY which opened in 1953.
• Inyokern Airport (IYK) has 3 runways.
• Inyokern Airport covers an area of 1,640 acres at an elevation of 2,457 feet above mean sea level.
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 11,149 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 11,081 enplanements in 2009, and 11,109 in 2010.
• The furthest airport from Inyokern Airport (IYK) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,366 miles (18,291 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.

Facts about Thule Air Base (THU):

• In 1818, Sir John Ross’s expedition made first contact with nomadic Polar Eskimos in the area.
• The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
• A delegation from NATO's Parliamentary Assembly visited Thule in early September 2010 and were told by the base commander that, at that time, approximately 600 personnel were serving at Thule, a mix of mostly U.S.
• The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
• In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".
• In the winter of 1956/57 three KC-97 tankers and alternately one of two RB-47H aircraft made polar flights to inspect Soviet defenses.
• Thule AB was constructed in secret under the code name Operation Blue Jay, but the project was made public in September 1952.