Nonstop flight route between Shearwater, Nova Scotia, Canada and McKinleyville, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shearwater Heliport (YAW), Shearwater, Nova Scotia, Canada and Arcata/Eureka Airport (ACV), McKinleyville, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,011 miles (or 4,846 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 Shearwater Heliport and Arcata/Eureka 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 Shearwater Heliport and Arcata/Eureka 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 Shearwater Heliport (YAW):

• By 2002 only runway 10/28 remained open.
• Because of Shearwater Heliport's relatively low elevation of 144 feet, planes can take off or land at Shearwater Heliport 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.
• Base rationalization and defence budget cutbacks for the Canadian Forces during the mid-1990s saw a largely administrative move when the formation CFB Shearwater stood down and the facilities transferred to the formation CFB Halifax and aircraft operations becoming the responsibility of newly formed 12 Wing.
• Shearwater Heliport's primary mission remains as a heliport in support of the Royal Canadian Navy's Maritime Forces Atlantic warships with shipborne helicopters operated by 12 Wing, a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
• Following a base rationalization program in the mid-1990s, the Canadian Forces closed CFB Shearwater as a separate formation and realigned the property's various facilities into CFB Halifax.
• The furthest airport from Shearwater Heliport (YAW) is Albany Airport (ALH), which is located 11,763 miles (18,931 kilometers) away in Albany, Western Australia, Australia.
• As part of the heliport conversion project, the old runway 16/34 was permanently closed and placed outside of a new fence for the Shearwater Heliport, as shown in the Canada Flight Supplement effective 31 July 2008.
• Beginning in the 1970s, CFB Shearwater began hosting an Armed Forces Day every fall, typically on the weekend following Labour Day, and included an air show where the long and wide runways at Shearwater hosted some of the largest aircraft in the world, including the U.S.
• The closest airport to Shearwater Heliport (YAW) is Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ), which is located only 17 miles (27 kilometers) N of YAW.
• In addition to being known as "Shearwater Heliport", other names for YAW include "Halifax/Shearwater Heliport", "12 Wing Shearwater" and "CFB Shearwater".

Facts about Arcata/Eureka Airport (ACV):

• Because of Arcata/Eureka Airport's relatively low elevation of 222 feet, planes can take off or land at Arcata/Eureka 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.
• The furthest airport from Arcata/Eureka Airport (ACV) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,222 miles (18,059 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• The closest airport to Arcata/Eureka Airport (ACV) is Murray Field (EKA), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) S of ACV.
• The airport was built by the United States Navy during World War II to test defogging systems.
• In December 1947 a Southwest Airways Douglas DC-3 flying into the airport made the world's first blind landing by a scheduled commercial airliner using Ground-Controlled Approach radar, Instrument Landing System and Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation oil-burning units adjacent to the runway.
• Arcata/Eureka Airport (ACV) has 2 runways.
• In 2008, the airport had 106,637 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 102,440 in 2009 and 93,402 in 2010.
• In addition to being known as "Arcata/Eureka Airport", another name for ACV is "Arcata Airport".
• Scheduled flights in 2013 are through United Express operated by SkyWest Airlines.