Nonstop flight route between Sørkjosen, Norway and Shemya, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Sørkjosen Airport (SOJ), Sørkjosen, Norway and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,866 miles (or 6,222 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 Sørkjosen Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Sørkjosen Airport and Eareckson Air Station. 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 Sørkjosen Airport (SOJ):

• Sørkjosen Airport handled 16,993 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Sørkjosen Airport", another name for SOJ is "Sørkjosen lufthavn".
• The furthest airport from Sørkjosen Airport (SOJ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,541 miles (16,965 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The airport has a 880-by-30-meter asphalt runway aligned 15–33.
• The closest airport to Sørkjosen Airport (SOJ) is Tromsø Airport, Langnes (TOS), which is located 49 miles (80 kilometers) W of SOJ.
• In the mid-1990s, Nordreisa Municipal Council attempted to change the airport's name from Sørkjosen to Nordreisa.
• Because of Sørkjosen Airport's relatively low elevation of 16 feet, planes can take off or land at Sørkjosen 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 Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• On 10 July 1943, eight B-25 Mitchells from the 77th Bombardment Squadron left Adak AAF and refueled at Alexai Point AAF on Attu.
• With the exception of a small station housekeeping unit, Shemya was abandoned after the war.
• By the end of 1944, several hundred American airmen had been interned by the Russians after their crippled aircraft landed on Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
• In August, after the Soviet Union declared war against the Japanese Empire, B-24s were dispatched on reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions to observe the Russian activity in the Kuriles.
• On 28 May 1943, a small detachment of Alaskan Scouts began reconnaissance of Shemya, a small, flat, uninhabited island 35 miles to the east of Attu.
• The Korean War brought extensive use by the Military Air Transport Service for the logistical support of Korea and Japan.
• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• On 27 January 1992 the 5073rd Air Base Group located at Shemya AFB was re-designated as the Pacific Air Forces Eleventh Air Force 673d Air Base Group.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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.