Nonstop flight route between Minami Daito, Okinawa, Japan and Tonopah, Nevada, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Minami-Daito Airport (MMD), Minami Daito, Okinawa, Japan and Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD), Tonopah, Nevada, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,213 miles (or 10,000 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 Minami-Daito Airport and Tonopah Test Range 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 Minami-Daito Airport and Tonopah Test Range 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 Minami-Daito Airport (MMD):

• Because of Minami-Daito Airport's relatively low elevation of 159 feet, planes can take off or land at Minami-Daito 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.
• In addition to being known as "Minami-Daito Airport", other names for MMD include "南大東空港" and "Minamidaitō Kūkō".
• Only a round flight from Naha, to Minami-Daito and Kitadaitō, back to Naha is operated everyday.
• Minami-Daito Airport (MMD) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Minami-Daito Airport (MMD) is Joinville-Lauro Carneiro de Loyola Airport (JOI), which is nearly antipodal to Minami-Daito Airport (meaning Minami-Daito Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Joinville-Lauro Carneiro de Loyola Airport), and is located 12,411 miles (19,973 kilometers) away in Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
• The airport was relocated to its present location and upgraded to accommodate larger flights in July 1997 with the present 1500 meter runway.
• The closest airport to Minami-Daito Airport (MMD) is Kitadaito Airport (KTD), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) NNE of MMD.

Facts about Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD):

• In May 1973, when Project HAVE IDEA was initiated for joint technical and tactical evaluation of Soviet aircraft types, the tactical evaluation flights of foreign aircraft were undertaken by Detachment 1, 57th Fighter Weapons Wing.
• What was learned during these projects prompted the US Navy to commence Top Gun exercises first at NAS Miramar, California and then NAS Fallon, Nevada.
• The furthest airport from Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,207 miles (18,036 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Foreign military sales of United States fighter aircraft to Indonesia and Egypt in the mid-1970s to replace the Soviet fighter aircraft allowed these nations to clandestinely transfer un-needed MiG-21 ultra modern MiG-23s aircraft to the United States for evaluation.
• None of the Soviet-designed aircraft at Tonopah flew in bad weather or at night.
• The closest airport to Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Tonopah Airport (TPH), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) NW of XSD.
• Beginning in October 1979 Tonopah Test Range Airport was reconstructed and expanded.
• The assets of the squadron could not go to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB, and the fate of them remains in some cases, still classified.
• The earliest known depiction of the airfield was on the July 1970 Air Force Tactical Pilotage Chart.