Nonstop flight route between Wichita Falls, Texas, United States and Luanda, Angola:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS), Wichita Falls, Texas, United States and Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport (LAD), Luanda, Angola would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,801 miles (or 12,555 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 Sheppard Air Force Base and Quatro de Fevereiro International 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 Sheppard Air Force Base and Quatro de Fevereiro International 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 Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS):

• Sheppard Field reached its peak strength of 46,340 people while serving as a separation center for troops being discharged following World War II from September through November 1945.
• The furthest airport from Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,952 miles (17,626 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In addition to being known as "Sheppard Air Force Base", another name for SPS is "Sheppard AFB".
• The closest airport to Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS) is Kickapoo Downtown Airport (KIP), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) S of SPS.
• Sheppard AFB began providing top-notch instruction in a diverse array of Air Force specialties during World War II.
• The 80th FTW mission is to provide combat airpower by producing top quality fighter pilots for the NATO alliance.
• The 3630th Flying Training Wing also provided undergraduate pilot training for pilots of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force from 1971 to 1975.
• Over the next three decades three training schools were stationed at the base training students in aircraft maintenance, transportation, communication, civil engineering, Aircrew Life Support and field training.

Facts about Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport (LAD):

• On 27 June 2009, a British Airways Boeing 777-200ER G-RAES was damaged, while it was parked, by a collision with a Hainan Airlines Airbus A340-600 B-6510.
• In 2009, about 1.8 million passengers were counted.
• Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport handled 2,430,794 passengers last year.
• Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport, is the main international airport of Angola.
• Because of Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport's relatively low elevation of 243 feet, planes can take off or land at Quatro de Fevereiro 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.
• On 31 January 2010, Guicango Yakovlev Yak-40 D2-FES suffered the collapse of all landing gears on landing after a flight from Cabinda.
• The closest airport to Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport (LAD) is Ambriz Airport (AZZ), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) N of LAD.
• In addition to being known as "Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport", other names for LAD include "Aeroporto 4 de Fevereiro (Belas) (Luanda)" and "Aeroporto Internacional 4 de Fevereiro".
• On 25 May 2003, a Boeing 727–223 with the registration number N844AA, which had been parked at the airport for over a year, was stolen in mysterious circumstances.
• The furthest airport from Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport (LAD) is Johnston Atoll Airport (JON), which is located 11,862 miles (19,090 kilometers) away in Johnston Atoll, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands.
• Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport (LAD) has 2 runways.