Nonstop flight route between Upington, South Africa and Shemya, Alaska, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from UTN to SYA:
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- About this route
- UTN Airport Information
- SYA Airport Information
- Facts about UTN
- Facts about SYA
- Map of Nearest Airports to UTN
- List of Nearest Airports to UTN
- Map of Furthest Airports from UTN
- List of Furthest Airports from UTN
- Map of Nearest Airports to SYA
- List of Nearest Airports to SYA
- Map of Furthest Airports from SYA
- List of Furthest Airports from SYA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Upington Airport (UTN), Upington, South Africa and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,260 miles (or 16,512 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 Upington Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Upington Airport and Eareckson Air Station. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | UTN / FAUP |
Airport Name: | Upington Airport |
Location: | Upington, South Africa |
GPS Coordinates: | 28°24'3"S by 21°15'34"E |
Area Served: | Upington, Northern Cape |
Airport Type: | Public (International for Cargo only) |
Elevation: | 2791 feet (851 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from UTN |
More Information: | UTN Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SYA / PASY |
Airport Names: |
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Location: | Shemya, Alaska, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 52°42'43"N by 174°6'48"E |
Operator/Owner: | U.S. Air Force |
Airport Type: | Military |
Elevation: | 97 feet (30 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from SYA |
More Information: | SYA Maps & Info |
Facts about Upington Airport (UTN):
- The closest airport to Upington Airport (UTN) is Johan Pienaar Airport (KMH), which is located 147 miles (236 kilometers) ENE of UTN.
- The furthest airport from Upington Airport (UTN) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is nearly antipodal to Upington Airport (meaning Upington Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Princeville Airport), and is located 12,007 miles (19,323 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.
- The Concorde did flight testing at Upington Airport in June 1976.
- Upington Airport's uncommonly long runway and its strategically advantageous location, close to South Africa's northern borders, makes it ideally placed to serve the African continent.
- Upington Airport (UTN) has 3 runways.
- From August 1976 to December 1996, South African Airways made use of Upington as a refuelling station for two weekly scheduled Boeing 747 flights to London and Zurich.
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 August, after the Soviet Union declared war against the Japanese Empire, B-24s were dispatched on reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions to observe the Russian activity in the Kuriles.
- 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.
- Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
- 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.
- 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.
- The spring of 1944 brought improving weather and the B-24s and PV-1s to fly more missions over the Kuriles.
- The news of the surrender of the Japanese was met with enthusiasm, the biggest topic was "When do we go home?".
- On 6 April 1993, Shemya Air Force Base was renamed Eareckson Air Station.
- Eareckson Air Station is a United States Air Force military airport located on the island of Shemya, in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands.
- It also became a Strategic Air Command refueling site for B-52 Stratofortress bombers and KC-135 tankers as part of Operation Chrome Dome.