Nonstop flight route between Oamaru, North Otago, New Zealand and Santa Ana, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Oamaru Airport (OAM), Oamaru, North Otago, New Zealand and MCAS El Toro (NZJ), Santa Ana, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,024 miles (or 11,304 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 Oamaru Airport and MCAS El Toro, 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 Oamaru Airport and MCAS El Toro. 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 Oamaru Airport (OAM):

• The town has been through a lot of hurdles to gain then lose its air service forcing residents to either travel south to Dunedin or north to Timaru to catch a flight.
• Because of Oamaru Airport's relatively low elevation of 99 feet, planes can take off or land at Oamaru 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.
• Oamaru Airport (OAM) has 3 runways.
• The closest airport to Oamaru Airport (OAM) is Richard Pearse Airport (Timaru Airport) (TIU), which is located 47 miles (75 kilometers) N of OAM.
• A new sealed runway at the Oamaru Airport was passed as fully operational in March 1975.
• The furthest airport from Oamaru Airport (OAM) is A Coruña Airport (LCG), which is nearly antipodal to Oamaru Airport (meaning Oamaru Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from A Coruña Airport), and is located 12,318 miles (19,825 kilometers) away in A Coruña, Spain.
• When scheduled services resumed in 2006 and the first BAe Jetstream 32EP arrived from Christchurch a crowd of approximately 500 people were present to view its landing.

Facts about MCAS El Toro (NZJ):

• Those against the airport proposal were largely residents of the cities in the immediate vicinity of El Toro, such as Irvine, Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Dana Point, and Mission Viejo, where residents were alarmed at the idea of the aircraft noise.
• In 1950, El Toro was selected as a permanent Master Jet Station for the Fleet Marine Forces, Pacific.
• The furthest airport from MCAS El Toro (NZJ) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,486 miles (18,486 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• The closing of MCAS El Toro ignited a political firestorm over the eventual fate of the facility.
• Before the site could be developed for civilian use, the Department of the Navy was required to perform environmental remediation to clean up contaminated soil on the site.
• The closest airport to MCAS El Toro (NZJ) is John Wayne Airport (SNA), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) W of NZJ.
• MCAS El Toro (NZJ) has 5 runways.
• The battle between pro-airport and anti-airport groups dominated Orange County politics for much of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
• In May 1942, Lieutenant Colonel William Fox was directed to select the sites for all of the Marine Corps' West Coast air stations.
• Because of MCAS El Toro's relatively low elevation of 383 feet, planes can take off or land at MCAS El Toro 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.