Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Shizuoka, Honshu, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Shizuoka Airport (FSZ), Shizuoka, Honshu, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,001 miles (or 17,704 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 Mount Pleasant and Shizuoka 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 Mount Pleasant and Shizuoka 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 Mount Pleasant (MPN):

• Flights of Phantoms were rotated through the airfield until 1992 when they were replaced with Tornado F3s.
• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.
• RAF Mount Pleasant is the newest permanent airfield in the Royal Air Force.
• Additionally, every Saturday LAN Airlines operates a scheduled commercial flight to Presidente Carlos Ibáñez del Campo International Airport of the Punta Arenas city in southern Chile, stopping at Río Gallegos, Argentina once a month.
• The British government felt that Stanley airfield was not the best option for a large, permanent station and decided to construct a new RAF station and make it the centrepiece of considerably strengthened air defences for the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
• There is also a Joint Communications Unit providing the electronic warfare and command and control systems for the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.
• The furthest airport from RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Mohe Gulian Airport (OHE), which is nearly antipodal to RAF Mount Pleasant (meaning RAF Mount Pleasant is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mohe Gulian Airport), and is located 12,353 miles (19,879 kilometers) away in Mohe, Heilongjiang, China.

Facts about Shizuoka Airport (FSZ):

• The airport was originally scheduled to open in March 2009, but was delayed by the shortening of the runway from 2,500 m to 2,200 m, by the use of a displaced threshold that cannot be used for takeoff or landing, due to environmental and noise concerns.
• Shizuoka Airport (FSZ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport is located in Makinohara and Shimada.
• The closest airport to Shizuoka Airport (FSZ) is Nagoya Airfield (NKM), which is located 78 miles (126 kilometers) WNW of FSZ.
• Free parking for 2,000 cars is available at the airport.
• In addition to being known as "Shizuoka Airport", other names for FSZ include "静岡空港" and "Shizuoka Kūkō".
• Because of Shizuoka Airport's relatively low elevation of 433 feet, planes can take off or land at Shizuoka 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 Shizuoka Airport (FSZ) is Diomício Freitas/Forquilhinha Airport (CCM), which is located 11,824 miles (19,029 kilometers) away in Criciúma, Santa Catarina, Brazil.