Nonstop flight route between Mildenhall, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom and Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), Mildenhall, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom and Ishigaki Airport (ISG), Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,148 miles (or 9,895 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 RAF Mildenhall and Ishigaki 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 RAF Mildenhall and Ishigaki 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 RAF Mildenhall (MHZ):

• On 1 February 2001, the Air Intelligence Agency was re-aligned under Eighth Air Force at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana.
• RAF Mildenhall hosts units from four different major USAF commands – Air Combat Command, Air Force Special Operations Command, Air Mobility Command and United States Air Forces in Europe.
• The 488th Intelligence Squadron a component of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, formerly the Air Intelligence Agency.
• The closest airport to RAF Mildenhall (MHZ) is RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) NE of MHZ.
• Closed for runway repairs throughout 1958, the Military Air Transport Service transferred its main United Kingdom terminal to Mildenhall from RAF Burtonwood on 1 March 1959, and the base became "The Gateway to the United Kingdom", for most U.S.
• In August 1979, the 6954th Security Squadron was designated as the 6954th Electronic Security Squadron to coincide with the designation of United States Air Force Security Service as the Electronic Security Command.
• The furthest airport from RAF Mildenhall (MHZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,829 miles (19,037 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• RAF Mildenhall and its sister base RAF Lakenheath have the largest United States Air Force presence in the United Kingdom.

Facts about Ishigaki Airport (ISG):

• Southwest Air Lines Flight 611 took off on runway 36 from Naha Airport on the island of Okinawa at 13:09 for a regular flight to Ishigaki Airport, Japan.
• In addition to being known as "Ishigaki Airport", other names for ISG include "石垣空港" and "Ishigaki Kūkō".
• The furthest airport from Ishigaki Airport (ISG) is Guaraní International Airport (AGT), which is nearly antipodal to Ishigaki Airport (meaning Ishigaki Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Guaraní International Airport), and is located 12,339 miles (19,858 kilometers) away in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.
• The closest airport to Ishigaki Airport (ISG) is Hateruma Airport (HTR), which is located 31 miles (50 kilometers) SW of ISG.
• The airport served about 1.8 million passengers a year, making it the second busiest third-class airport in Japan, behind Kobe Airport, and traffic grew steadily as the Yaeyama Islands become a popular tourist destination.
• Ishigaki Airport (ISG) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Ishigaki Airport's relatively low elevation of 86 feet, planes can take off or land at Ishigaki 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.