Nonstop flight route between Wanganui, New Zealand and Pituffik, Greenland:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from WAG to THU:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- WAG Airport Information
- THU Airport Information
- Facts about WAG
- Facts about THU
- Map of Nearest Airports to WAG
- List of Nearest Airports to WAG
- Map of Furthest Airports from WAG
- List of Furthest Airports from WAG
- Map of Nearest Airports to THU
- List of Nearest Airports to THU
- Map of Furthest Airports from THU
- List of Furthest Airports from THU
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Wanganui Airport (WAG), Wanganui, New Zealand and Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,308 miles (or 14,980 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 Wanganui Airport and Thule Air 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 Wanganui Airport and Thule Air Base. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | WAG / NZWU |
| Airport Name: | Wanganui Airport |
| Location: | Wanganui, New Zealand |
| GPS Coordinates: | 39°57'43"S by 175°1'31"E |
| Elevation: | 27 feet (8 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 5 |
| View all routes: | Routes from WAG |
| More Information: | WAG Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | THU / BGTL |
| Airport Names: |
|
| Location: | Pituffik, Greenland |
| GPS Coordinates: | 76°31'51"N by 68°42'11"W |
| View all routes: | Routes from THU |
| More Information: | THU Maps & Info |
Facts about Wanganui Airport (WAG):
- The closest airport to Wanganui Airport (WAG) is Palmerston North Airport (PMR), which is located 40 miles (64 kilometers) SE of WAG.
- Wanganui Airport (WAG) has 5 runways.
- Because of Wanganui Airport's relatively low elevation of 27 feet, planes can take off or land at Wanganui 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.
- The furthest airport from Wanganui Airport (WAG) is Salamanca-Matacán Airport (SLM), which is nearly antipodal to Wanganui Airport (meaning Wanganui Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Salamanca-Matacán Airport), and is located 12,363 miles (19,896 kilometers) away in Salamanca, Spain.
Facts about Thule Air Base (THU):
- Thule AB was constructed in secret under the code name Operation Blue Jay, but the project was made public in September 1952.
- In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".
- Late 1950s the DEW 1 to 4 where build as "weather stations", Thule Air Base would act as an supply station for the DYE bases.
- The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
- Thule Air Base or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport, is the United States Air Force's northernmost base, located 1,207 km north of the Arctic Circle and 1,524 km from the North Pole on the northwest side of the island of Greenland.
- On 21 January 1968, a B-52G Stratofortress from the 380th Strategic Aerospace Wing, Plattsburgh Air Force Base, New York on a secret airborne nuclear alert crashed and burned on the ice near Thule Air Base.
- The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
- A cluster of huts known as Pituffik stood on the wide plain where the base was built in 1951.
