Nonstop flight route between Ruislip, England, United Kingdom and Yichang, Hubei, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Northolt (NHT), Ruislip, England, United Kingdom and Yichang Sanxia Airport (YIH), Yichang, Hubei, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,427 miles (or 8,735 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 Northolt and Yichang Sanxia 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 Northolt and Yichang Sanxia 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 Northolt (NHT):

• The furthest airport from RAF Northolt (NHT) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,871 miles (19,105 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Much media attention focused on the airfield when the body of Diana, Princess of Wales, arrived there from Villacoublay airfield, in Paris, France, after her death in a car crash in the city on 31 August 1997.
• The closest airport to RAF Northolt (NHT) is London Heathrow Airport (LHR), which is located only 6 miles (9 kilometers) SSW of NHT.
• Following Louis Blériot's first flight across the English Channel in 1909, the British Army considered the necessity of defending the United Kingdom from a future air attack.
• Thirty Allied airmen including servicemen from Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Poland and the United Kingdom were killed flying from RAF Northolt during the Battle of Britain, of whom ten were Polish.
• The outbreak of the First World War necessitated a new aerodrome for the Royal Flying Corps.
• In April 2013, the Ministry of Defence announced a proposal to increase the number of private flights from 7,000 to 12,000 per year as part of plans to increase the income generated by the airfield.
• Construction of the new aerodrome, to be named "RFC Military School, Ruislip", began in January 1915.
• Starting in 1946 the airfield was used by civil aviation during the construction of nearby Heathrow Airport.

Facts about Yichang Sanxia Airport (YIH):

• Yichang Sanxia Airport (YIH) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Yichang Sanxia Airport (YIH) is Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Airport (UAQ), which is nearly antipodal to Yichang Sanxia Airport (meaning Yichang Sanxia Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Airport), and is located 12,363 miles (19,896 kilometers) away in San Juan Province, Argentina.
• In addition to being known as "Yichang Sanxia Airport", other names for YIH include "宜昌三峡机场" and "Yíchāng Sānxiá Jīchǎng".
• The closest airport to Yichang Sanxia Airport (YIH) is Shashi Airport (SHS), which is located 50 miles (81 kilometers) ESE of YIH.