The Pacific Ocean Distance calculator computes the distance between a location (lat/lon) and one of the airports in the pull-down list.

INSTRUCTIONS: Enter the following:

• (Lat) Latitude
• (Lon) Longitude
• (X) Pacific Ocean destination from pull-down list

Pacific Ocean Distance (D): The calculator returns the distance from the lat/lon location to the selected destination in kilometers (km), nautical miles (nmi) and statute miles (mi)

The Math / Science

The Pacific Ocean Distance calculator uses the Haversine Formula to compute the distance of a great circle arc between two points, the entered latitude and longitude and the selected destination (See List Below).

The Solar Impulse vehicle flew from Nagoya, Japan on the island of Honshu to Hawaii.  This calculator lets the user enter a latitude and longitude for the current location of the aircraft and a desired landing airport.  With this, and assuming that the flight plan is a great circle arc between points (shortest distance on a globe:sphere), this equation calculates the approximate distance to the selected airport.  The latitude and longitude of the following airports are pre-entered into this equation:

These airports are the main airports listed in Hawaii, the home port of Nagoya in case the craft has to turn back, and the abandoned airfields at Midway Island and Johnston Atoll.

See Also

• Mid Ocean - Time to Arrive