Nonstop flight route between Songpan County, Sichuan, China and Big Spring, Texas, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (JZH), Songpan County, Sichuan, China and Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS), Big Spring, Texas, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,650 miles (or 12,311 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 Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport and Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield, 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 Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport and Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield. 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 Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (JZH):

• Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport is about 240 km from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, an aviation hub of Southwest China.
• Because of Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport's high elevation of 11,312 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at JZH. Combined with a high temperature, this could make JZH a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (JZH) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (JZH) is Viña del Mar Airport (KNA), which is nearly antipodal to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (meaning Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Viña del Mar Airport), and is located 12,156 miles (19,563 kilometers) away in Viña del Mar, Chile.
• The closest airport to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (JZH) is Mianyang Nanjiao Airport (MIG), which is located 116 miles (187 kilometers) SSE of JZH.
• In addition to being known as "Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport", other names for JZH include "九寨黄龙机场" and "Jiǔzhài Huánglóng Jīchǎng".

Facts about Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS):

• The closest airport to Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS) is Midland Airpark (MDD), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) WSW of BGS.
• Activated on 26 June 1942, the mission of Big Spring AAF was to train aviation cadets in high altitude precision bombing as bombardiers.
• The airfield was activated as Big Spring Air Force Base on 1 October 1951 by the United States Air Force Air Training Command and established the 3560th Pilot Training Wing.
• By the mid-1970s, the end of the Vietnam War, the associated financial costs of that conflict and related cuts in USAF force structure and future defense budgets meant a marked decrease in the need for Air Force pilots.
• In 1956, the Air Defense Command 331st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was transferred to Webb from Stewart Air Force Base in New York to defend the southern United States border on air intercept missions as part of the Central Air Defense Force.
• At that time, nearly 6,000 students had graduated and the field's training aircraft had flown approximately 400,000 hours and more than 60 million miles.
• The furthest airport from Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,166 miles (17,969 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The facility first was used by the United States Army Air Forces as Big Spring Army Air Field, opening on 28 April 1942 as part of the Central Flying Training Command.