Nonstop flight route between Mahé, Seychelles and Tonopah, Nevada, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Seychelles International Airport (SEZ), Mahé, Seychelles and Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD), Tonopah, Nevada, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,097 miles (or 16,250 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 Seychelles International Airport and Tonopah Test Range 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 Seychelles International Airport and Tonopah Test Range 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 Seychelles International Airport (SEZ):

• Seychelles International Airport (SEZ) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Seychelles International Airport", another name for SEZ is "Aéroport International de Seychelles – Pointe Larue".
• In 1972 John Faulkner Taylor founded the first local aircraft company called Air Mahé, which operated a Piper PA-34 Seneca between Praslin, Fregate and Mahé Islands.
• The furthest airport from Seychelles International Airport (SEZ) is Atuona Airport (AUQ), which is located 11,024 miles (17,741 kilometers) away in Atuona, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.
• Because of Seychelles International Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Seychelles International 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 closest airport to Seychelles International Airport (SEZ) is Praslin Island Airport (PRI), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) NNE of SEZ.

Facts about Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD):

• The advent of Operation Rolling Thunder during the Vietnam War in March of 1965 led to the introduction of the obsolete and subsonic MiG-17 and the supersonic MiG-21 by the North Vietnamese Air Force being pitted against U.S.
• The closest airport to Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Tonopah Airport (TPH), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) NW of XSD.
• The primary access to the facility is off of U.S.
• None of the Soviet-designed aircraft at Tonopah flew in bad weather or at night.
• Near the end of the Cold War the program was abandoned and the squadron was disbanded.
• The furthest airport from Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,207 miles (18,036 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• After the 4477th TES was inactivated, the remaining assets were reconstituted as a detachment of the 57th Fighter Wing at Nellis AFB.
• Tonopah Test Range Airport, at the Tonopah Test Range is 27 NM southeast of Tonopah, Nevada and 140 mi northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Tonopah is owned by the USAF Air Combat Command.
• Foreign military sales of United States fighter aircraft to Indonesia and Egypt in the mid-1970s to replace the Soviet fighter aircraft allowed these nations to clandestinely transfer un-needed MiG-21 ultra modern MiG-23s aircraft to the United States for evaluation.