Nonstop flight route between Tonopah, Nevada, United States and Aiyura, Papua New Guinea:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD), Tonopah, Nevada, United States and Aiyura Airport (AYU), Aiyura, Papua New Guinea would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,885 miles (or 11,081 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 Tonopah Test Range Airport and Aiyura 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 Tonopah Test Range Airport and Aiyura 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 Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD):

• Foreign military sales of United States fighter aircraft to Indonesia and Egypt in the mid-1970s to replace the Soviet fighter aircraft allowed these nations to clandestinely transfer un-needed MiG-21 ultra modern MiG-23s aircraft to the United States for evaluation.
• It is known that the USAF continues a Foreign Materiel Acquisition/Exploitation program, although the extent of acquisitions and operations of that program is not available.
• The MiG-21 posed a major threat to Israeli Air Defenses as well as to American pilots over the skies of North Vietnam.
• 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.
• 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.
• In addition, unconfirmed Soviet aircraft flown were MiG-25 Foxbat.
• Over the course of its history U.S.

Facts about Aiyura Airport (AYU):

• Aiyura Airport (AYU) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Aiyura Airport (AYU) is Governador Carlos Wilson Airport (FEN), which is located 11,723 miles (18,867 kilometers) away in Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco, Brazil.
• Because of Aiyura Airport's high elevation of 5,100 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at AYU. Combined with a high temperature, this could make AYU a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Aiyura Airport (AYU) is Gusap Airport (GAP), which is located 20 miles (32 kilometers) N of AYU.