Nonstop flight route between Mount Pleasant, Utah, United States and Shemya, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Mount Pleasant Airport (MSD), Mount Pleasant, Utah, United States and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,510 miles (or 5,649 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 Mount Pleasant Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Mount Pleasant Airport and Eareckson Air Station. 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 Mount Pleasant Airport (MSD):

• In addition to being known as "Mount Pleasant Airport", other names for MSD include "MSC" and "43U".
• The closest airport to Mount Pleasant Airport (MSD) is Salina-Gunnison Airport (SBO), which is located 39 miles (64 kilometers) SSW of MSD.
• Because of Mount Pleasant Airport's high elevation of 5,830 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MSD. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MSD a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Mount Pleasant Airport (MSD) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,037 miles (17,762 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Mount Pleasant Airport (MSD) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• The furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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.
• By the end of 1944, several hundred American airmen had been interned by the Russians after their crippled aircraft landed on Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Shemya also continued to support the Great Circle Route for MATS and later Military Airlift Command transports between Japan and Elmendorf AFB.
• The aerial photos taken on the raid showed the Japanese were building up forces in the area, transferring aircraft presumably from air bases on Hokkaido.
• The station was also used by SAC Cobra Ball and other related projects which monitored missile-associated signals and tracks missiles during boost and re-entry phases to provide reconnaissance for treaty verification and theater ballistic missile proliferation.
• With the successful completion of the Aleutian Campaign in August 1943, Eleventh Air Force came within striking distance of the Japanese Kurile Islands, the northernmost being 750 miles to the south-southwest of Shemya.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".