Nonstop flight route between Falalop Island, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia and Wichita Falls, Texas, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Falalop Airfield (ULI), Falalop Island, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia and Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS), Wichita Falls, Texas, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,558 miles (or 12,164 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 Falalop Airfield and Sheppard 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 Falalop Airfield and Sheppard 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 Falalop Airfield (ULI):

• The closest airport to Falalop Airfield (ULI) is Yap International Airport (YAP), which is located 122 miles (196 kilometers) WSW of ULI.
• The furthest airport from Falalop Airfield (ULI) is Petrolina–Senador Nilo Coelho Airport (PNZ), which is nearly antipodal to Falalop Airfield (meaning Falalop Airfield is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Petrolina–Senador Nilo Coelho Airport), and is located 12,385 miles (19,931 kilometers) away in Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil.
• Fleet Air Wing One was based at Falalop from 15 October until 30 December 1944 when it was relocated to Saipan.
• Marine Air Group 45 deployed to Falalop in late September to establish base operations.
• Units stationed at Falalop included VMD-354 operating photo-reconnaissance F4Us and VMF-542 operating F6F-3N night-fighters.

Facts about Sheppard Air Force Base (SPS):

• 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.
• Sheppard Air Force Base is named in honor of Senator John Morris Sheppard of Texas, chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee from 1933 until his death on 9 April 1941.
• Helicopter pilot training was transferred from Stead AFB, Nevada in October 1965, with H-19, H-43, Bell TH-1F, CH-3C and HH-3E helicopters used for training.
• 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.
• The aircraft mechanics school was transferred to Sheppard from Keesler AFB, Mississippi in April 1949 to make room for expansion of electronic training at that base.
• The 3630th Flying Training Wing also provided undergraduate pilot training for pilots of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force from 1971 to 1975.
• Sheppard AFB shares one runway with Wichita Falls Municipal Airport under a joint civil-military arrangement.
• It was officially opened as an Army Air Corps training center on 17 October 1941, following the arrival of the first military members on 14 June.
• In addition to being known as "Sheppard Air Force Base", another name for SPS is "Sheppard AFB".
• 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.