Nonstop flight route between Wanganui, New Zealand and Tonopah, Nevada, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wanganui Airport (WAG), Wanganui, New Zealand and Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD), Tonopah, Nevada, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,889 miles (or 11,087 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 Tonopah Test Range 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 Wanganui Airport and Tonopah Test Range 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 Wanganui Airport (WAG):

• Wanganui Airport (WAG) has 5 runways.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Wanganui Airport (WAG) is Palmerston North Airport (PMR), which is located 40 miles (64 kilometers) SE of WAG.
• 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.

Facts about Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD):

• On 12 August 1968, the IDF obtained two Syrian Air Force MiG-17F fighters that had gotten lost during a training flight and landed inadvertently at Besert Landing Field, Israel.
• The closest airport to Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Tonopah Airport (TPH), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) NW of XSD.
• In May 1973, when Project HAVE IDEA was initiated for joint technical and tactical evaluation of Soviet aircraft types, the tactical evaluation flights of foreign aircraft were undertaken by Detachment 1, 57th Fighter Weapons Wing.
• None of the Soviet-designed aircraft at Tonopah flew in bad weather or at night.
• In the 1980s, Tonopah Airport became a major operating location for the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk.
• The furthest airport from Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,207 miles (18,036 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• The assets of the squadron could not go to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB, and the fate of them remains in some cases, still classified.