Nonstop flight route between Tonopah, Nevada, United States and Ballina, New South Wales, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD), Tonopah, Nevada, United States and Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (BNK), Ballina, New South Wales, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,389 miles (or 11,892 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 Ballina Byron Gateway 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 Ballina Byron Gateway 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):

• 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 closest airport to Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Tonopah Airport (TPH), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) NW of XSD.
• In addition, unconfirmed Soviet aircraft flown were MiG-25 Foxbat.
• Several locations were considered, Michael Army Airfield at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, and the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field on the Goldwater Range in Arizona.
• In 2006, the Constant Peg program was declassified and the USAF held a series of press conferences about the former top secret US MiGs.
• 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.
• The F-117 project was highly classified and Tonopah Test Range became a black project facility.
• The earliest known depiction of the airfield was on the July 1970 Air Force Tactical Pilotage Chart.

Facts about Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (BNK):

• The closest airport to Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (BNK) is Lismore Airport (LSY), which is located only 18 miles (29 kilometers) W of BNK.
• The upgrade will in the future involve a taxiway being built for the runway and many more facilities for the airport.
• The furthest airport from Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (BNK) is La Palma Airport (SPC), which is located 11,911 miles (19,168 kilometers) away in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain.
• Ballina Byron Gateway Airport handled 291,322 passengers last year.
• Ballina Byron Gateway Airport (BNK) currently has only 1 runway.
• It is 5 km from the Ballina CBD, in Southern Cross Drive.
• Because of Ballina Byron Gateway Airport's relatively low elevation of 7 feet, planes can take off or land at Ballina Byron Gateway 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.