Nonstop flight route between Monrovia, Liberia and Shemya, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Spriggs Payne Airport (MLW), Monrovia, Liberia and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,350 miles (or 13,438 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 Spriggs Payne Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Spriggs Payne Airport and Eareckson Air Station. 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 Spriggs Payne Airport (MLW):

• Spriggs Payne Airport (MLW) currently has only 1 runway.
• In January 2011, newly-formed Fly 6ix, initially designated as the new national airline of Sierra Leone began operating from Freetown with a single Embraer ERJ-135 regional jet.
• The closest airport to Spriggs Payne Airport (MLW) is Roberts International Airport Roberts Field (ROB), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) E of MLW.
• Because of Spriggs Payne Airport's relatively low elevation of 25 feet, planes can take off or land at Spriggs Payne 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 Spriggs Payne Airport (MLW) is Nauru International Airport (INU), which is nearly antipodal to Spriggs Payne Airport (meaning Spriggs Payne Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Nauru International Airport), and is located 12,009 miles (19,327 kilometers) away in Yaren, Nauru.
• Elysian ceased operating in mid-2010, and the airport was left for a period without any scheduled commercial service.

Facts about Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• By the end of 1944, several hundred American airmen had been interned by the Russians after their crippled aircraft landed on Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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.
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".
• It also became a Strategic Air Command refueling site for B-52 Stratofortress bombers and KC-135 tankers as part of Operation Chrome Dome.
• Shemya also continued to support the Great Circle Route for MATS and later Military Airlift Command transports between Japan and Elmendorf AFB.
• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• The furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• On 28 May 1943, a small detachment of Alaskan Scouts began reconnaissance of Shemya, a small, flat, uninhabited island 35 miles to the east of Attu.
• In August, after the Soviet Union declared war against the Japanese Empire, B-24s were dispatched on reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions to observe the Russian activity in the Kuriles.