Nonstop flight route between Shemya, Alaska, United States and Sidney, Montana, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States and Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (SDY), Sidney, Montana, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,431 miles (or 5,521 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 Eareckson Air Station and Sidney-Richland Municipal 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 Eareckson Air Station and Sidney-Richland Municipal 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 Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".
• In July 1973, Raytheon won a contract to build a system called COBRA DANE on Shemya.
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• 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.
• The Korean War brought extensive use by the Military Air Transport Service for the logistical support of Korea and Japan.
• With the successful completion of the Aleutian Campaign in August 1943, Eleventh Air Force came within striking distance of the Japanese Kurile Islands, the northernmost being 750 miles to the south-southwest of Shemya.
• 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.
• 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 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.

Facts about Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (SDY):

• Scheduled air service temporarily ceased on March 8, 2008, when Big Sky Airlines ended operations in bankruptcy.
• Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (SDY) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (SDY) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,383 miles (16,711 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 2,031 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 2,766 in 2009, and 3,659 in 2010.
• The closest airport to Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (SDY) is Sloulin Field International Airport (ISN), which is located 41 miles (67 kilometers) NE of SDY.