Nonstop flight route between Tonopah, Nevada, United States and Kunming, Yunnan, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD), Tonopah, Nevada, United States and Kunming Changshui International Airport (KMG), Kunming, Yunnan, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,385 miles (or 11,886 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 Tonopah Test Range Airport and Kunming Changshui 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 Tonopah Test Range Airport and Kunming Changshui 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 Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD):

• The furthest airport from Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,207 miles (18,036 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• The closest airport to Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Tonopah Airport (TPH), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) NW of XSD.
• The advent of Operation Rolling Thunder during the Vietnam War in March of 1965 led to the introduction of the obsolete and subsonic MiG-17 and the supersonic MiG-21 by the North Vietnamese Air Force being pitted against U.S.
• What was learned during these projects prompted the US Navy to commence Top Gun exercises first at NAS Miramar, California and then NAS Fallon, Nevada.
• Foreign military sales of United States fighter aircraft to Indonesia and Egypt in the mid-1970s to replace the Soviet fighter aircraft allowed these nations to clandestinely transfer un-needed MiG-21 ultra modern MiG-23s aircraft to the United States for evaluation.
• After the 4477th TES was inactivated, the remaining assets were reconstituted as a detachment of the 57th Fighter Wing at Nellis AFB.

Facts about Kunming Changshui International Airport (KMG):

• The furthest airport from Kunming Changshui International Airport (KMG) is Chañaral Airport (CNR), which is nearly antipodal to Kunming Changshui International Airport (meaning Kunming Changshui International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chañaral Airport), and is located 12,026 miles (19,353 kilometers) away in Chañaral, Atacama Region, Chile.
• Kunming Changshui International Airport (KMG) has 2 runways.
• The main terminal was designed by architectural firm SOM with engineering firm Arup.
• In addition to being known as "Kunming Changshui International Airport", other names for KMG include "昆明长水国际机场" and "Kūnmíng Chángshuǐ Guójì Jīchǎng".
• Construction began in 2009 and at the time was reported to be named the Zheng He International Airport.
• The new airport has two runways, and is expected to handle 38 million passengers per year by 2020.
• The closest airport to Kunming Changshui International Airport (KMG) is Wenshan Puzhehei Airport (WNH), which is located 138 miles (222 kilometers) SE of KMG.
• Because of Kunming Changshui International Airport's high elevation of 6,900 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at KMG. Combined with a high temperature, this could make KMG a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.