Nonstop flight route between Diebougou, Burkina Faso and Shemya, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Diébougou Airport (XDE), Diebougou, Burkina Faso and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,036 miles (or 12,932 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 Diébougou Airport and Eareckson Air Station, 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 Diébougou Airport and Eareckson Air Station. 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 Diébougou Airport (XDE):

• In addition to being known as "Diébougou Airport", another name for XDE is "Diébougou Airport (Diébougou)".
• The furthest airport from Diébougou Airport (XDE) is Funafuti International Airport (FUN), which is nearly antipodal to Diébougou Airport (meaning Diébougou Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Funafuti International Airport), and is located 12,201 miles (19,635 kilometers) away in Funafuti, Tuvalu.
• The closest airport to Diébougou Airport (XDE) is Gaoua Airport (XGA), which is located 39 miles (64 kilometers) S of XDE.
• Because of Diébougou Airport's relatively low elevation of 984 feet, planes can take off or land at Diébougou 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.
• Diébougou Airport (XDE) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• With the successful completion of the Aleutian Campaign in August 1943, Eleventh Air Force came within striking distance of the Japanese Kurile Islands, the northernmost being 750 miles to the south-southwest of Shemya.
• The furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Shemya also continued to support the Great Circle Route for MATS and later Military Airlift Command transports between Japan and Elmendorf AFB.
• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• In August, after the Soviet Union declared war against the Japanese Empire, B-24s were dispatched on reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions to observe the Russian activity in the Kuriles.
• The aerial photos taken on the raid showed the Japanese were building up forces in the area, transferring aircraft presumably from air bases on Hokkaido.
• Additional aircraft and personnel reductions occurred in 1945 and almost all air bases other than Alexi Point, Shemya and Davis in the Aleutians were reduced to caretaker status.
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The station was also used by SAC Cobra Ball and other related projects which monitored missile-associated signals and tracks missiles during boost and re-entry phases to provide reconnaissance for treaty verification and theater ballistic missile proliferation.
• The news of the surrender of the Japanese was met with enthusiasm, the biggest topic was "When do we go home?".
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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.
• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".