Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Valaparaiso (near Fort Walton Beach), Florida, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS), Valaparaiso (near Fort Walton Beach), Florida, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,936 miles (or 9,554 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 Northwest Florida Regional 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 Northwest Florida Regional 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):

• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.
• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• A flight of Westland Sea King helicopters for support and search and rescue has been located at Mount Pleasant since November 2007.

Facts about Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS):

• The furthest airport from Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,174 miles (17,983 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• Delta Air Lines is the only airline currently flying mainline jets into the airport with Airbus A319, Boeing 717 and McDonnell Douglas MD-88 jetliners.Delta Connection flies Canadair CRJ-200s and Canadair CRJ-700s from VPS as well.
• Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Northwest Florida Regional Airport", another name for VPS is "Eglin Air Force Base".
• Because of Northwest Florida Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 87 feet, planes can take off or land at Northwest Florida Regional 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 closest airport to Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS) is Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport (DSI), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) SSE of VPS.