Nonstop flight route between Wanaka, New Zealand and Edwards, California, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from WKA to EDW:
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- About this route
- WKA Airport Information
- EDW Airport Information
- Facts about WKA
- Facts about EDW
- Map of Nearest Airports to WKA
- List of Nearest Airports to WKA
- Map of Furthest Airports from WKA
- List of Furthest Airports from WKA
- 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 Wanaka Airport (WKA), Wanaka, New Zealand and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,141 miles (or 11,493 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 Wanaka 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 Wanaka 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: | WKA / NZWF |
Airport Name: | Wanaka Airport |
Location: | Wanaka, New Zealand |
GPS Coordinates: | 44°43'20"S by 169°14'44"E |
Operator/Owner: | Wanaka Town Board and Management Committee |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 1142 feet (348 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from WKA |
More Information: | WKA 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 Wanaka Airport (WKA):
- The closest airport to Wanaka Airport (WKA) is Queenstown Airport (ZQN), which is located 32 miles (52 kilometers) SW of WKA.
- The furthest airport from Wanaka Airport (WKA) is A Coruña Airport (LCG), which is nearly antipodal to Wanaka Airport (meaning Wanaka Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from A Coruña Airport), and is located 12,283 miles (19,768 kilometers) away in A Coruña, Spain.
- Wanaka Airport (WKA) currently has only 1 runway.
- Scheduled services were operated by Air New Zealand's 19 seater Beechcraft 1900D to Christchurch, this finished on 30 January 2013.
- The lack of a VHF omnidirectional range beacon at the airport poses an issue for some aircraft.
Facts about Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):
- 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 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.
- The first major aerial activity occurred at Muroc in 1937 when the entire Army Air Corps participated in a large-scale maneuver.
- 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.
- Edwards is also home to several other units from DOD, Air Force, Army, Navy, FAA, USPS and many companies that support the primary mission or the personnel stationed there.
- With the end of the war, Fourth Air Force relinquished command of Muroc Army Airfield on 16 October 1945 and jurisdiction was transferred to Air Technical Service Command, becoming Air Materiel Command in 1946.