Nonstop flight route between Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia and Tacoma, Washington, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Bathurst Airport (BHS), Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia and McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM), Tacoma, Washington, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,772 miles (or 12,508 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 Bathurst Airport and McChord Field/McChord AFB, 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 Bathurst Airport and McChord Field/McChord AFB. 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 Bathurst Airport (BHS):

• The furthest airport from Bathurst Airport (BHS) is Horta International Airport (HOR), which is nearly antipodal to Bathurst Airport (meaning Bathurst Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Horta International Airport), and is located 12,072 miles (19,428 kilometers) away in Horta, Azores, Portugal.
• The closest airport to Bathurst Airport (BHS) is Mudgee Airport (DGE), which is located 59 miles (94 kilometers) N of BHS.
• Bathurst Airport (BHS) has 2 runways.
• The local PJ Moodie Bathurst Aero Club and the PJ Moodie Memorial Drive into the airport facilities are memorials to Alderman PJ Moodie who campaigned constantly for an airfield to be built at Bathurst.
• Bathurst Airport handled 26,815 passengers last year.
• On 2 December 1920 one of the earliest flights to land in Bathurst arrived with mail from Sydney.

Facts about McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM):

• McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM) has 2 runways.
• Because of McChord Field/McChord AFB's relatively low elevation of 322 feet, planes can take off or land at McChord Field/McChord AFB 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 closest airport to McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM) is Gray Army Airfield (GRF), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) SW of TCM.
• The furthest airport from McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,803 miles (17,386 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• In 1940 McChord Field became the headquarters of the GHQ Air Force Northwest Air District, with a mission for the defense of the Pacific Northwest and Upper Great Plains regions of the United States.
• Today, the successor organization to the 25th AD, the Western Air Defense Sector, is a major tenant organization at McChord, being one of two air defense sectors responsible for the security and integrity of continental United States air space.
• In 1917, the citizens of Pierce County, Washington approved a bond measure for $2,000,000 to buy 70,000 acres of land to be donated to the Federal Government for use as a military reservation.
• The base was the location of the first of twenty-eight stations built by ADC as part of the permanent air defense radar network, and was the top-priority site for ADC radars.
• Starting in mid-1943 the training of B-17 and B-24 replacement crews began to be phased out, as the Second Air Force began ramping up training of B-29 Superfortress Very Heavy bomb groups, destined for Twentieth Air Force.
• In addition to being known as "McChord Field/McChord AFB", another name for TCM is "Part of Air Mobility Command (AMC)".