Nonstop flight route between Misawa, Aomori, Japan and Sand Point, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō (MSJ), Misawa, Aomori, Japan and Sand Point Airport (SDP), Sand Point, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,775 miles (or 4,466 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 Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō and Sand Point 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 Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō and Sand Point 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 Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō (MSJ):

• Before the outbreak of World War II, Lake Ogawara at Misawa was used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service to practice for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• In addition to being known as "Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō", another name for MSJ is "Misawa AB".
• The Misawa Passive Radio Frequency space surveillance site was used for tracking satellites using the signals they transmit.
• The closest airport to Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō (MSJ) is JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base (HHE), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) SSE of MSJ.
• On March 1, 1952, the 39th Air Division was established at Misawa, and through January 15, 1968, the Air Division controlled all of the units responsible for the air defense of north Japan, which included northern Honshū and Hokkaidō islands and the contiguous territorial waters.
• The first Japanese Air Self-Defense Force units were activated at Misawa in October 1954, and the first Japanese Northern Air Defense Force units began operations in 1957.
• What is now called Misawa Air Base has been used by the military since the Meiji period, when it was used as a cavalry training center for the Imperial Army.
• In 1870, the Japanese Emperor established a stud farm for the household cavalry in the area that later became Misawa AB, and kept his own cavalry there until 1931, when the Sino-Japanese conflict required their use in China.
• The furthest airport from Misawa Air Base 三沢飛行場 Misawa Hikōjō (MSJ) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is located 11,479 miles (18,473 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.

Facts about Sand Point Airport (SDP):

• The furthest airport from Sand Point Airport (SDP) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,961 miles (17,641 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Because of Sand Point Airport's relatively low elevation of 21 feet, planes can take off or land at Sand Point 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 Sand Point Airport (SDP) is Port Moller Airport (PML), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) N of SDP.
• Sand Point Airport resides at elevation of 21 feet above mean sea level.
• As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 4,296 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 3,957 in 2009, and 4,281 in 2010.
• Sand Point Airport is a state owned, public use airport located two nautical miles southwest of the central business district of Sand Point, a city in the Aleutians East Borough in the U.S.
• Sand Point Airport (SDP) currently has only 1 runway.