Nonstop flight route between San Diego, California, United States and Butterworth, South Africa:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from SDM to UTE:
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- About this route
- SDM Airport Information
- UTE Airport Information
- Facts about SDM
- Facts about UTE
- Map of Nearest Airports to SDM
- List of Nearest Airports to SDM
- Map of Furthest Airports from SDM
- List of Furthest Airports from SDM
- Map of Nearest Airports to UTE
- List of Nearest Airports to UTE
- Map of Furthest Airports from UTE
- List of Furthest Airports from UTE
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM), San Diego, California, United States and RMAF Butterworth (UTE), Butterworth, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,843 miles (or 14,231 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 Brown Field Municipal Airport and RMAF Butterworth, 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 Brown Field Municipal Airport and RMAF Butterworth. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SDM / KSDM |
Airport Name: | Brown Field Municipal Airport |
Location: | San Diego, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 32°34'19"N by 116°58'49"W |
Area Served: | San Diego, California |
Operator/Owner: | City of San Diego |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 526 feet (160 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from SDM |
More Information: | SDM Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | UTE / FABU |
Airport Names: |
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Location: | Butterworth, South Africa |
GPS Coordinates: | 5°27'57"N by 100°23'27"E |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence (Malaysia) |
Airport Type: | Military |
Elevation: | 8 feet (2 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from UTE |
More Information: | UTE Maps & Info |
Facts about Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM):
- Because of Brown Field Municipal Airport's relatively low elevation of 526 feet, planes can take off or land at Brown Field Municipal 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.
- The furthest airport from Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,551 miles (18,590 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
- Brown Field is 1.5 miles north of the US/Mexico border in the Otay Mesa Community of the City of San Diego.
- Tijuana Airport, an airline airport, is just over 1 nmi to the south across the Mexico-United States border, with a similar length and a slightly different runway orientation.
- Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM) has 2 runways.
- The closest airport to Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM) is Tijuana International Airport (TIJ), which is located only 2 miles (4 kilometers) SSE of SDM.
Facts about RMAF Butterworth (UTE):
- In addition to being known as "RMAF Butterworth", other names for UTE include "TUDM Butterworth", "BWH" and "WMKB".
- Because of RMAF Butterworth's relatively low elevation of 8 feet, planes can take off or land at RMAF Butterworth 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.
- RMAF Butterworth (UTE) currently has only 1 runway.
- The furthest airport from RMAF Butterworth (UTE) is Cap. FAP Guillermo Concha Iberico International Airport (PIU), which is nearly antipodal to RMAF Butterworth (meaning RMAF Butterworth is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cap. FAP Guillermo Concha Iberico International Airport), and is located 12,365 miles (19,900 kilometers) away in Piura, Peru.
- The closest airport to RMAF Butterworth (UTE) is RMAF Butterworth (BWH), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) N of UTE.
- During the Malayan Emergency that was to last from 1948 to 1960, RAF as well as RAAF and RNZAF units stationed at the airfield played an active role from 1950 in helping to curb the communist insurgency in the jungles of Malaya by attacking suspected hideouts and harassing the communist guerrillas.
- Another notable unit was the No.