Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Washington, D.C. / Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Washington, D.C. / Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,375 miles (or 10,260 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 Washington Dulles International 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 Washington Dulles International 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):

• RAF Mount Pleasant is a Royal Air Force station in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands.
• RAF Mount Pleasant is the newest permanent airfield in the 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.
• 33 Engineer Regiment provides constant support and is part of the Joint Service Falkland Islands Detachment which consists of RAF and RLC EOD teams.
• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• 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.

Facts about Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD):

• As of 2012, the only Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority service to Dulles is the "Express" 5A Metrobus route.
• The furthest airport from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,659 miles (18,763 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The C and D concourses, completed in 1983 and designed by Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, were originally designed as a temporary base for United Airlines, which began hub operations at the airport in 1985.
• Washington Dulles Airport is the busiest airport in the Washington metropolitan area, and second busiest airport in the larger Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area with over 22 million passengers a year.
• The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has begun to gradually phase out the mobile lounge system for inter-terminal passenger movements in favor of the AeroTrain, an underground people mover which currently operates to Concourses A, B and C, and a pedestrian walkway system.
• Washington Dulles International Airport is a public airport in Dulles, Virginia, 26 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C.
• The civil engineering firm Ammann and Whitney was named lead contractor.
• Because of Washington Dulles International Airport's relatively low elevation of 313 feet, planes can take off or land at Washington Dulles International 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.
• Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) has 5 runways.
• By the 1980s, the original design, which had mobile lounges meet each plane, was no longer well-suited to Dulles' role as a hub airport.
• The closest airport to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) is Leesburg Executive Airport (JYO), which is located only 11 miles (17 kilometers) NNW of IAD.