Nonstop flight route between Findlay (near Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, United States and Falkland Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), Findlay (near Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, United States and RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), Falkland Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,511 miles (or 10,479 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 Pittsburgh International Airport and RAF Mount Pleasant, 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 Pittsburgh International Airport and RAF Mount Pleasant. 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 Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT):

• PIT is the second busiest passenger airport in Pennsylvania and 47th-busiest in the United States, serving 8,041,357 passengers in 2012.
• Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) has 4 runways.
• In October 2007, US Airways announced that it had selected Pittsburgh as the site of its new 60,000 sq ft flight operations center, which serves as the nerve center of the airline's 1,400 daily mainline flights.
• The furthest airport from Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,481 miles (18,477 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The first five airlines of the Greater Pittsburgh Airport were TWA, Capital Airlines, Northwest, All American, and Eastern Airlines.
• By the late 1990s growth had leveled off, with USAir concentrating on expanding at Philadelphia and Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.
• During the planning phases there were provisions for a future second airside terminal that would be placed beyond the current "X" shaped airside terminal with a "Y" shape.
• The closest airport to Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is Forbes Field (FOE), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) ESE of PIT.

Facts about RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN):

• After the surrender of the Argentine ground forces on the islands, the British still faced the problem of potential Argentine air attacks from Argentina, so an aircraft carrier had to remain on station to guard the islands with its squadron of Sea Harriers until the local airfield was prepared for jet aircraft.
• 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.
• RAF Mount Pleasant is the newest permanent airfield in the Royal Air Force.
• Flights of Phantoms were rotated through the airfield until 1992 when they were replaced with Tornado F3s.
• Flights are planned to Saint Helena when a new airport there opens in 2016.
• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) ENE of MPN.
• On 2 April 2012, an Uruguayan air company, Air Class Líneas Aéreas, gained permission from the Uruguayan Ministry of Defence to start a commercial flight to the Falkland Islands.
• 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.