Nonstop flight route between Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada and Alotau, Papua New Guinea:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between CFB Cold Lake (YOD), Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada and Gurney Airport (GUR), Alotau, Papua New Guinea would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,174 miles (or 11,545 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 CFB Cold Lake and Gurney 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 CFB Cold Lake and Gurney 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 CFB Cold Lake (YOD):

• In addition to being known as "CFB Cold Lake", another name for YOD is "Cold Lake/Group Captain R.W. McNair Airport".
• The closest airport to CFB Cold Lake (YOD) is Bonnyville Airport (YBY), which is located only 20 miles (32 kilometers) WSW of YOD.
• CFB Cold Lake (YOD) has 3 runways.
• The furthest airport from CFB Cold Lake (YOD) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,097 miles (16,250 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Civilian passenger service was available through the Medley passenger terminal on the periphery of the air base.
• Operations in the 1950s and early 1960s centered around training crews destined for the CF100 Canuck all weather interceptor which was in operational use in both Canada and Europe.
• In addition to its value as a training base, CFB Cold Lake's fighter/interceptor aircraft defend the western half of Canadian air space and together with aircraft from CFB Bagotville cover Canada's Arctic territory.
• Cold Lake also hosts NATO flight training operating from 15 Wing Moose Jaw, as well as 5 Wing Goose Bay.
• The facility is named Cold Lake/Group Captain R.W.

Facts about Gurney Airport (GUR):

• Because of Gurney Airport's relatively low elevation of 89 feet, planes can take off or land at Gurney 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 airport is a single runway general aviation facility, however in December, 2008, the PNG Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, Don Polye announced that aviation company Skyworld had been granted permission to operate direct flights from Cairns, Australia to Gurney.
• The furthest airport from Gurney Airport (GUR) is São Filipe Airport (SFL), which is located 11,966 miles (19,257 kilometers) away in Fogo, Cape Verde.
• Gurney Airport (GUR) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airfield was reopened in early 1966, as a part of the Australian colonial policy of having each of the provincial capitals served by daily flights.
• The closest airport to Gurney Airport (GUR) is Vivigani Airport (VIV), which is located 69 miles (112 kilometers) N of GUR.