Nonstop flight route between Sumter, South Carolina, United States and Sandakan, Malaysia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shaw Air Force Base (SSC), Sumter, South Carolina, United States and Sandakan Airport (SDK), Sandakan, Malaysia would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,427 miles (or 15,172 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 Shaw Air Force Base and Sandakan 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 Shaw Air Force Base and Sandakan 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 Shaw Air Force Base (SSC):

• Jurisdiction of Shaw was again transferred to Tactical Air Command on 23 March 1946.
• By 1980, the advent of reconnaissance satellites made the need for tactical aircraft reconnaissance less and less necessary.
• The furthest airport from Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,545 miles (18,580 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• On March 23, 1953, the 432d Tactical Reconnaissance Group was activated at Shaw.
• The 432nd's mission at Shaw AFB was to assume the reconnaissance training mission that was handled previously by the 363d TRW.
• The 20th FG was reassigned to Langley AFB, Virginia on 1 December 1951 in preparation for a permanent overseas deployment to RAF Wethersfield, England to support NATO.
• In October 1942, the flight training was changed to Advanced flying training and AT-6 Texan single-engine and Beech AT-10 twin-engine trainers were used.
• The closest airport to Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Sumter Airport (SUM), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) ENE of SSC.

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 (SDK) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Sandakan Airport (SDK) is Lahad Datu Airport (LDU), which is located 63 miles (101 kilometers) SSE of SDK.
• Sandakan Airport handled 911,855 passengers last year.
• 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.