Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Ishigaki Airport (ISG), Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,533 miles (or 16,951 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 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 Mount Pleasant 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 Mount Pleasant (MPN):

• On 10 November 2011, it was announced that Prince William would be serving as a Sea King pilot on the station for six weeks during February and March 2012.
• 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.
• On 2 March 2012, the Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner called for Aerolineas Argentinas flights to Buenos Aires to replace LAN Airlines flights to Chile.
• After the surrender of the Argentine ground forces on the islands, the British still faced the problem of potential Argentine air attacks from Argentina, so an aircraft carrier had to remain on station to guard the islands with its squadron of Sea Harriers until the local airfield was prepared for jet aircraft.
• 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 Ishigaki Airport (ISG):

• 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.
• Flight 611 of Southwest Air Lines is the only significant aircraft accident on record at Ishigaki Airport.
• In addition to being known as "Ishigaki Airport", other names for ISG include "石垣空港" and "Ishigaki Kūkō".
• Ishigaki Airport (ISG) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Ishigaki Airport (ISG) is Hateruma Airport (HTR), which is located 31 miles (50 kilometers) SW of ISG.
• To meet these needs New Ishigaki Airport was constructed on the eastern side of the island, replaced Ishigaki Airport.
• 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.