Nonstop flight route between Stewart Island, New Zealand and Panama City, Florida, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), Stewart Island, New Zealand and Tyndall Air Force Base (PAM), Panama City, Florida, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,440 miles (or 13,582 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 Ryan's Creek Aerodrome and Tyndall Air Force Base, 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 Ryan's Creek Aerodrome and Tyndall Air Force Base. 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 Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS):

• In the mid-1980s Stewart Island Air Services changed its name to Southern Air Limited with Keith Smith, Joe Cave, Bill Haslett and Sam Nicol as shareholders.
• The closest airport to Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS) is Invercargill Airport (IVC), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) NNE of SZS.
• The furthest airport from Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS) is A Coruña Airport (LCG), which is nearly antipodal to Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (meaning Ryan's Creek Aerodrome is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from A Coruña Airport), and is located 12,135 miles (19,529 kilometers) away in A Coruña, Spain.
• Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Ryan's Creek Aerodrome's relatively low elevation of 288 feet, planes can take off or land at Ryan's Creek Aerodrome 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.
• In 2000 Southern Air 1997 Ltd was bought by Stewart Island Flights, which uses Islanders FXE and FWZ, Cessna A185E Skywagon JEM and Piper PA32 Cherokee Sixs RTS and DIV aircraft in its service.
• Ryan's Creek Aerodrome is a small airstrip on Stewart Island in southern New Zealand.
• In 1990 a hill at one end of the strip was leveled.

Facts about Tyndall Air Force Base (PAM):

• Tyndall Field was opened on 13 January 1941 as a gunnery range.
• The 325th Fighter Wing’s primary mission is to provide a combat ready air dominance force, train F-22A Raptor pilots and maintenance personnel, and train air battle managers to support the combat Air Force.
• The closest airport to Tyndall Air Force Base (PAM) is Panama City–Bay County International Airport (PFN), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) NW of PAM.
• On 1 July 1956 Tyndall AFB became the station operating for the third phase of the ADC mobile radar program, being designated as TM-198.
• The 325th Fighter Wing is host to more than 30 tenant organizations located at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.
• The furthest airport from Tyndall Air Force Base (PAM) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,235 miles (18,080 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• In September 1957, Tyndall became an Air Defense Command, later Aerospace Defense Command, base until October 1979 when ADC was inactivated and all its bases and units transferred to Tactical Air Command.