Nonstop flight route between San Bernardino, California, United States and Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Norton Air Force Base (SBD), San Bernardino, California, United States and Tawau Airport (TWU), Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,966 miles (or 12,820 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 Norton Air Force Base and Tawau 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 Norton Air Force Base and Tawau 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 Norton Air Force Base (SBD):

• Discrete C-130 Hercules modification tests were conducted out of Area II of the base in the late 1960s, with the 1198th Operational Evaluation and Training Squadron operating four highly classified C-130E special operations testbeds modified at Lockheed Air Services, at near-by Ontario Airport under projects Thin Slice and Heavy Chain.
• The furthest airport from Norton Air Force Base (SBD) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,447 miles (18,423 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• The closest airport to Norton Air Force Base (SBD) is San Bernardino International Airport (SBT), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) S of SBD.
• In addition to being known as "Norton Air Force Base", another name for SBD is "Norton AFB".
• In 1955, the 27th AD established a Manual Air-Defense Control Center at Norton to monitor and track aircraft in Southern California.
• Norton Air Force Base began before World War II as Municipal Airport, San Bernardino under Army Air Corps jurisdiction.

Facts about Tawau Airport (TWU):

• Like other airports in the country, Tawau Airport is under the management of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.
• In 2008, 768,967 passengers went through the airport with 10,546 aircraft movements.
• Because of Tawau Airport's relatively low elevation of 57 feet, planes can take off or land at Tawau 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.
• Tawau Airport handled 1,202,344 passengers last year.
• The terminal is a one and a half stories building, which consists of two aerobridges, and its large apron can accommodate eight aircraft at one time.
• Tawau Airport is located at Balung, 3 km further in from the Pan Borneo Highway.
• In addition to being known as "Tawau Airport", another name for TWU is "Lapangan Terbang Tawau".
• The closest airport to Tawau Airport (TWU) is Nunukan Airport (NNX), which is located 34 miles (54 kilometers) WSW of TWU.
• Tawau airport is the nearest airport to the diving islands of Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai.
• The furthest airport from Tawau Airport (TWU) is Coari Airport (CIZ), which is nearly antipodal to Tawau Airport (meaning Tawau Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Coari Airport), and is located 12,350 miles (19,875 kilometers) away in Coari, Amazonas, Brazil.
• Tawau Airport (TWU) currently has only 1 runway.