Nonstop flight route between Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia and Wichita Falls, Texas, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH), Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia and Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS), Wichita Falls, Texas, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,042 miles (or 12,942 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 Lord Howe Island Airport and Sheppard 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 Lord Howe Island Airport and Sheppard 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 Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH):

• Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH) currently has only 1 runway.
• Lord Howe Island is an important transit and refueling point for light aircraft flying between Australia, Norfolk Island and New Zealand.
• Lord Howe Island Airport served 33,385 revenue passengers during financial year 2009-2010,ranking it 64th amongst airports in Australia.
• Because of Lord Howe Island Airport's relatively low elevation of 17 feet, planes can take off or land at Lord Howe Island 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.
• The furthest airport from Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH) is Madeira Airport (FNC), which is nearly antipodal to Lord Howe Island Airport (meaning Lord Howe Island Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Madeira Airport), and is located 12,181 miles (19,604 kilometers) away in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal.
• The closest airport to Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH) is Coffs Harbour Airport (CFS), which is located 363 miles (584 kilometers) WNW of LDH.

Facts about Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS):

• The 80th Flying Training Wing began conducting the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program in 1981.
• Sheppard AFB shares one runway with Wichita Falls Municipal Airport under a joint civil-military arrangement.
• The furthest airport from Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,952 miles (17,626 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Sheppard Field reached its peak strength of 46,340 people while serving as a separation center for troops being discharged following World War II from September through November 1945.
• Additionally, officers from all 13 participating nations fill subordinate leadership positions throughout the wing.
• The host unit on Sheppard Air Force Base is the 82nd Training Wing whose mission makes it the most diversified training base within the Air Education and Training Command.
• The closest airport to Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS) is Kickapoo Downtown Airport (KIP), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) S of SPS.
• In addition to being known as "Sheppard Air Force Base", another name for SPS is "Sheppard AFB".
• Over the next three decades three training schools were stationed at the base training students in aircraft maintenance, transportation, communication, civil engineering, Aircrew Life Support and field training.