Nonstop flight route between Massawa, Eritrea and Edwards, California, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from MSW to EDW:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- MSW Airport Information
- EDW Airport Information
- Facts about MSW
- Facts about EDW
- Map of Nearest Airports to MSW
- List of Nearest Airports to MSW
- Map of Furthest Airports from MSW
- List of Furthest Airports from MSW
- Map of Nearest Airports to EDW
- List of Nearest Airports to EDW
- Map of Furthest Airports from EDW
- List of Furthest Airports from EDW
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Massawa International Airport (MSW), Massawa, Eritrea and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,636 miles (or 13,898 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 Massawa International Airport and Edwards Air Force Base, 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 Massawa International Airport and Edwards Air Force Base. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | MSW / HHMS |
Airport Name: | Massawa International Airport |
Location: | Massawa, Eritrea |
GPS Coordinates: | 15°40'59"N by 39°22'5"E |
Area Served: | Massawa |
Airport Type: | Military/Public |
Elevation: | 206 feet (63 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from MSW |
More Information: | MSW Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | EDW / KEDW |
Airport Name: | Edwards Air Force Base |
Location: | Edwards, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 34°54'20"N by 117°53'0"W |
Operator/Owner: | United States Air Force |
View all routes: | Routes from EDW |
More Information: | EDW Maps & Info |
Facts about Massawa International Airport (MSW):
- In the colonial period, a 1970 km line was established between Massawa-Djibouti-Berbera-Galadi-Mogadishu.
- The closest airport to Massawa International Airport (MSW) is Asmara International Airport (ASM), which is located 41 miles (66 kilometers) SW of MSW.
- The furthest airport from Massawa International Airport (MSW) is Fangatau Airport (FGU), which is nearly antipodal to Massawa International Airport (meaning Massawa International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Fangatau Airport), and is located 12,417 miles (19,984 kilometers) away in Fangatau, French Polynesia.
- Massawa International Airport (MSW) currently has only 1 runway.
- The Eritrea Investment Centre has proposed a new $60 million development project at the airport.
- Because of Massawa International Airport's relatively low elevation of 206 feet, planes can take off or land at Massawa International 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 Massawa International Airport is a large establishment.
Facts about Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):
- The furthest airport from Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,414 miles (18,369 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
- In July 1942, Muroc Army Airfield became a separate airfield from March Field and was placed under the jurisdiction of Fourth Air Force.
- Notable occurrences at Edwards include Chuck Yeager's flight that broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, test flights of the North American X-15, the first landings of the Space Shuttle, and the 1986 around-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager.
- The closest airport to Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Mojave Air and Space Port (MHV), which is located only 19 miles (30 kilometers) NW of EDW.
- The P-59s were tested at Muroc from October 1942 through February 1944 without a single accident and, though the aircraft did not prove to be combat worthy, the successful conduct of its test program, combined with the success of the Lockheed XP-80 program which followed it in early 1944, sealed the future destiny of the remote high desert installation.
- Its curriculum focused on the traditional field of performance testing and the relatively new field of stability and control, which had suddenly assumed critical importance with the dramatic increases in speed offered by the new turbojets.
- The North Base is located at the north-west corner of Rogers Lake and is the site of the Air Force's most secret test programs at Edwards.
- With the arrival of the Bell Aircraft P-59 Airacomet jet fighter, the Mojave Desert station was chosen as a secluded site for testing this super-secret airplane.