Nonstop flight route between Glendale, Arizona, United States and Værøy, Nordland, Norway:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field (LUF), Glendale, Arizona, United States and Værøy Heliport (VRY), Værøy, Nordland, Norway would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,893 miles (or 7,874 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 Værøy Heliport, 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 Værøy Heliport. 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):

• In addition to being known as "Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field", another name for LUF is "Luke AFB".
• Although continually modified during the war years, the course of advanced flight training at Luke averaged about 10 weeks and included both flight training and ground school.
• In 1955, the Air Force selected the swept-wing F-84F Thunderstreak as their second aircraft.
• 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.
• Luke Field, Oahu, Hawaii Territory was previously named in his honor.
• The base population includes about 7500 military members and 15,000 family members.
• 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.
• Ground school, or classroom training for the advanced flying course, varied from about 100 to 130 hours and was intermingled with flight time in the aircraft.
• In addition to flying and maintaining the F-16, Luke airmen also deploy to support on-going operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and to combatant commanders in other locations around the world.

Facts about Værøy Heliport (VRY):

• The furthest airport from Værøy Heliport (VRY) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 10,759 miles (17,314 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Værøy Heliport (VRY) is Røst Airport (RET), which is located only 19 miles (30 kilometers) WSW of VRY.
• The airport was closed immediately after the accident.
• In addition to being known as "Værøy Heliport", another name for VRY is "Værøy helikopterhavn".
• Værøy Heliport handled 10,210 passengers last year.
• With state-financed operations the service was made subject to public service obligations.
• Because of Værøy Heliport's relatively low elevation of 15 feet, planes can take off or land at Værøy Heliport 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 first aircraft to land in Værøy was a Noorduyn Norseman of the Royal Norwegian Air Force in 1948.