Nonstop flight route between Shearwater, Nova Scotia, Canada and Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shearwater Heliport (YAW), Shearwater, Nova Scotia, Canada and Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport (URC), Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,064 miles (or 9,759 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 Ürümqi Diwopu International 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 Ürümqi Diwopu International 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 combined land and sea-based aerodromes were used to station carrier-based maritime patrol and fighter aircraft.
• In addition to being known as "Shearwater Heliport", other names for YAW include "Halifax/Shearwater Heliport", "12 Wing Shearwater" and "CFB Shearwater".
• 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.
• 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.
• Organizers of the "Nova Scotia International Air Show" continued to make use the Shearwater airfield for both ground displays and the air show component until 2002.
• The closest airport to Shearwater Heliport (YAW) is Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ), which is located only 17 miles (27 kilometers) N of YAW.

Facts about Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport (URC):

• Ürümqi Airport was opened to foreign passengers in 1973, and has been the emergency landing ground for airlines to Europe and west Asia.
• Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport (URC) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport (URC) is Turpan Jiaohe Airport (TLQ), which is located 102 miles (163 kilometers) SE of URC.
• Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport handled 11,078,597 passengers last year.
• Summer 2005 saw Diwopu get a boost when the airport started receiving major foreign airlines.
• Construction of Terminal 3 to the west of the older terminal building began in April 2007 at a cost of 2.8 billion yuan.
• Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport is an airport serving Ürümqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China.
• The furthest airport from Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport (URC) is Gamboa Airport (WCA), which is located 11,489 miles (18,490 kilometers) away in Castro, Chile.
• In addition to being known as "Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport", other names for URC include "ئۈرۈمچى دىئوپا خەلقئارا ئايروپورتى乌鲁木齐地窝堡国际机场" and "Wūlǔmùqí Dìwōpù Guójì Jīcháng".