Nonstop flight route between Comayagua, Honduras and Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from XPL to AWK:
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- About this route
- XPL Airport Information
- AWK Airport Information
- Facts about XPL
- Facts about AWK
- Map of Nearest Airports to XPL
- List of Nearest Airports to XPL
- Map of Furthest Airports from XPL
- List of Furthest Airports from XPL
- Map of Nearest Airports to AWK
- List of Nearest Airports to AWK
- Map of Furthest Airports from AWK
- List of Furthest Airports from AWK
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Soto Cano Air Base (XPL), Comayagua, Honduras and Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,879 miles (or 11,070 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 Soto Cano Air Base and Wake Island Airfield, 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 Soto Cano Air Base and Wake Island Airfield. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | XPL / MHSC |
| Airport Name: | Soto Cano Air Base |
| Location: | Comayagua, Honduras |
| GPS Coordinates: | 14°22'57"N by 87°37'15"W |
| Airport Type: | Military |
| Elevation: | 2060 feet (628 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from XPL |
| More Information: | XPL Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | AWK / PWAK |
| Airport Name: | Wake Island Airfield |
| Location: | Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands |
| GPS Coordinates: | 19°16'56"N by 166°38'12"E |
| Operator/Owner: | U.S. Air Force |
| Airport Type: | Military |
| Elevation: | 23 feet (7 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from AWK |
| More Information: | AWK Maps & Info |
Facts about Soto Cano Air Base (XPL):
- Soto Cano Air Base (XPL) currently has only 1 runway.
- The hooches and metal barracks have no running water.
- In 1990 Honduran President Rafael Leonardo Callejas decreed that commercial cargo flights were authorized to operate from Soto Cano.
- The closest airport to Soto Cano Air Base (XPL) is Marcala Airport (MRJ), which is located 32 miles (51 kilometers) WSW of XPL.
- As of January 2008, all 44 of the apartment buildings were finished and already occupied.
- The US government once used Palmerola as a base of operations to support their foreign policy objectives in the 1980s.
- José Enrique Soto Cano Air Base is a Honduras military installation and home of the Honduras Air Force and Honduras Air Force Academy.
- The furthest airport from Soto Cano Air Base (XPL) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is nearly antipodal to Soto Cano Air Base (meaning Soto Cano Air Base is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport), and is located 12,101 miles (19,475 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
Facts about Wake Island Airfield (AWK):
- The closest airport to Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is Quoin Hill Airfield (UIQ), which is located 169 miles (272 kilometers) SE of AWK.
- The furthest airport from Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is RAF Ascension (ASI), which is located 11,652 miles (18,752 kilometers) away in Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena.
- British Overseas Airways Corporation also used Wake Island as a refueling stop.
- Japan Airlines used both Wake Island and Honolulu as stops on its initial Tokyo-San Francisco service using Douglas DC-6s in the mid-1950s.
- From 1935 until 1940, when two typhoons swept Wake with resultant extensive damage to the now elaborately developed Pan American facilities, development and use of the base were steady but uneventful.
- Because of Wake Island Airfield's relatively low elevation of 23 feet, planes can take off or land at Wake Island Airfield 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.
- On 31 August 2006, the super typhoon Ioke struck Wake Island.
- Wake Island Airfield (AWK) currently has only 1 runway.
