Nonstop flight route between Falkland Islands and Diebougou, Burkina Faso:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands and Diébougou Airport (XDE), Diebougou, Burkina Faso would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,433 miles (or 8,744 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 Diébougou 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 Diébougou 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 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.
• 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.
• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• RAF Mount Pleasant has a wide range of social and sporting facilities including a gym, swimming pool, golf course, diving centre, karting, laserquest, library, cinema, bowling, climbing wall and indoor and outdoor sports pitches.
• A flight of Westland Sea King helicopters for support and search and rescue has been located at Mount Pleasant since November 2007.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Diébougou Airport (XDE):

• Diébougou Airport (XDE) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Diébougou Airport's relatively low elevation of 984 feet, planes can take off or land at Diébougou 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 Diébougou Airport (XDE) is Gaoua Airport (XGA), which is located 39 miles (64 kilometers) S of XDE.
• In addition to being known as "Diébougou Airport", another name for XDE is "Diébougou Airport (Diébougou)".
• The furthest airport from Diébougou Airport (XDE) is Funafuti International Airport (FUN), which is nearly antipodal to Diébougou Airport (meaning Diébougou Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Funafuti International Airport), and is located 12,201 miles (19,635 kilometers) away in Funafuti, Tuvalu.