Nonstop flight route between Glendale, Arizona, United States and Melbourne, Victoria, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field (LUF), Glendale, Arizona, United States and Essendon Airport (MEB), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,215 miles (or 13,220 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 Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field and Essendon 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 Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field and Essendon 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 Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field (LUF):

• Effective 5 March, the 127th was redesignated as the 127th Pilot Training Wing.
• On 25 May 1953 the 3600th Air Demonstration Team was officially organized and established at Luke, still officially carrying this designation, now known as the United States Air Force Thunderbirds.
• The furthest airport from Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field (LUF) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,450 miles (18,426 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In addition to being known as "Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field", another name for LUF is "Luke AFB".
• Soon after combat developed in Korea, Luke field was reactivated on 1 February 1951 as Luke Air Force Base, part of the Air Training Command under the reorganized United States Air Force.
• The closest airport to Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field (LUF) is Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR), which is located only 7 miles (12 kilometers) S of LUF.
• Luke Air Force Base is an active-duty F-16 Fighting Falcon training base with 170 F-16s assigned.
• Luke Air Force Base was named after Second Lieutenant Frank Luke.

Facts about Essendon Airport (MEB):

• Essendon Airport (MEB) has 2 runways.
• In 2001, the Commonwealth Government sold its management rights for the airport to Edgelear Pty.
• The closest airport to Essendon Airport (MEB) is Melbourne Airport (MEL), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NW of MEB.
• In addition to being known as "Essendon Airport", another name for MEB is "Melbourne/Essendon".
• Because of Essendon Airport's relatively low elevation of 282 feet, planes can take off or land at Essendon 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 1920s period saw the great pioneering aviation flights of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith who visited the airport on several occasions.
• The furthest airport from Essendon Airport (MEB) is Flores Airport (FLW), which is nearly antipodal to Essendon Airport (meaning Essendon Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Flores Airport), and is located 12,192 miles (19,620 kilometers) away in Flores Island, Azores, Portugal.
• The major passenger airlines using Essendon in the postwar years until scheduled air services were transferred to Tullamarine were Ansett Airlines and Trans Australia Airlines.