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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Sandakan Airport (SDK), Sandakan, Malaysia and Norton Air Force Base (SBD), San Bernardino, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,897 miles (or 12,709 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 Sandakan Airport and Norton Air Force Base, 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 Sandakan Airport and Norton Air Force Base. 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 Sandakan Airport (SDK):

• In addition to being known as "Sandakan Airport", other names for SDK include "Lapangan Terbang Sandakan" and "山打根机场".
• Sandakan Airport handled 911,855 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Sandakan Airport (SDK) is Lahad Datu Airport (LDU), which is located 63 miles (101 kilometers) SSE of SDK.
• The furthest airport from Sandakan Airport (SDK) is Coari Airport (CIZ), which is nearly antipodal to Sandakan Airport (meaning Sandakan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Coari Airport), and is located 12,290 miles (19,779 kilometers) away in Coari, Amazonas, Brazil.
• Sandakan Airport (SDK) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Sandakan Airport's relatively low elevation of 46 feet, planes can take off or land at Sandakan 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.

Facts about Norton Air Force Base (SBD):

• In 1955, the 27th AD established a Manual Air-Defense Control Center at Norton to monitor and track aircraft in Southern California.
• On 1 March 1942, the airport was renamed San Bernardino Army Air Field and the San Bernardino Air Depot was established there.
• 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.
• A change of mission in 1966 from Air Force Logistics Command to Military Airlift Command meant that Norton became one of six Military Airlift Command strategic-airlift bases, supporting US Army and Marine Corps' airlift requirements among other functions.
• 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 SAGE Direction Center closed in 1966 along with the other ADC facilities at Norton.
• A base railroad system interchanged with the Pacific Electric/Southern Pacific branch line on the south side of the installation.
• In addition to being known as "Norton Air Force Base", another name for SBD is "Norton AFB".
• 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.