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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD), Tonopah, Nevada, United States and Lae Nadzab Airport (LAE), Lae, Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,850 miles (or 11,024 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 Lae Nadzab 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 Lae Nadzab 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):

• None of the Soviet-designed aircraft at Tonopah flew in bad weather or at night.
• 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.
• 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.
• In 1997, the United States purchased 21 Moldovan aircraft for evaluation and analysis, under the Cooperative Threat Reduction accord.
• The closest airport to Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Tonopah Airport (TPH), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) NW of XSD.
• Near the end of the Cold War the program was abandoned and the squadron was disbanded.
• 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.

Facts about Lae Nadzab Airport (LAE):

• The airfield in Lae was operating at the same time as Nadzab but business was significantly lost to the new airport complex became fully operational in 1977.
• Because of Lae Nadzab Airport's relatively low elevation of 239 feet, planes can take off or land at Lae Nadzab 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.
• Lae Nadzab Airport (LAE) currently has only 1 runway.
• In 1962, the main strip at Nadzab was resealed by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Works and lengthened to make it suitable for Mirage fighters, even though they never materialised.
• The furthest airport from Lae Nadzab Airport (LAE) is Governador Carlos Wilson Airport (FEN), which is located 11,714 miles (18,852 kilometers) away in Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco, Brazil.
• In March 1942, the Japanese occupied Lae and Salamaua.
• The closest airport to Lae Nadzab Airport (LAE) is Bulolo Airport (BUL), which is located 45 miles (72 kilometers) S of LAE.