Nonstop flight route between Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada and Shemya, Alaska, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from YSM to SYA:
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- About this route
- YSM Airport Information
- SYA Airport Information
- Facts about YSM
- Facts about SYA
- Map of Nearest Airports to YSM
- List of Nearest Airports to YSM
- Map of Furthest Airports from YSM
- List of Furthest Airports from YSM
- Map of Nearest Airports to SYA
- List of Nearest Airports to SYA
- Map of Furthest Airports from SYA
- List of Furthest Airports from SYA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Fort Smith Airport (YSM), Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada and Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,721 miles (or 4,379 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 Fort Smith 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 Fort Smith 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:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | YSM / CYSM |
Airport Name: | Fort Smith Airport |
Location: | Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada |
GPS Coordinates: | 60°1'13"N by 111°57'42"W |
Operator/Owner: | Government of the Northwest Territories |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 673 feet (205 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from YSM |
More Information: | YSM Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SYA / PASY |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Shemya, Alaska, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 52°42'43"N by 174°6'48"E |
Operator/Owner: | U.S. Air Force |
Airport Type: | Military |
Elevation: | 97 feet (30 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from SYA |
More Information: | SYA Maps & Info |
Facts about Fort Smith Airport (YSM):
- The closest airport to Fort Smith Airport (YSM) is Fort Chipewyan Airport (YPY), which is located 92 miles (147 kilometers) SSE of YSM.
- Fort Smith Airport (YSM) has 2 runways.
- Because of Fort Smith Airport's relatively low elevation of 673 feet, planes can take off or land at Fort Smith 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 furthest airport from Fort Smith Airport (YSM) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 9,839 miles (15,834 kilometers) away in Port Alfred, South Africa.
Facts about Eareckson Air Station (SYA):
- Jurisdiction of Shemya AFB was transferred from the Aerospace Defense Command to the Strategic Air Command when the former was inactivated on 1 October 1979.
- 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.
- Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
- By the end of 1944, several hundred American airmen had been interned by the Russians after their crippled aircraft landed on Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
- Shemya also continued to support the Great Circle Route for MATS and later Military Airlift Command transports between Japan and Elmendorf AFB.
- 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.
- In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and " ".
- 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.
- 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.