Nonstop flight route between Confins (near Belo Horizonte), Minas Gerais, Brazil and Atwater, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF), Confins (near Belo Horizonte), Minas Gerais, Brazil and Castle Airport (MER), Atwater, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,339 miles (or 10,201 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 Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport and Castle 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 Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport and Castle 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 Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF):

• The airport was built by Infraero and inaugurated in 1984.
• In order to revert this scenario, in March 2005 the government of the state of Minas Gerais with the support of agencies of the Federal government decided to restrict Pampulha to operations of aircraft with capacity of up to 50 passengers.
• The closest airport to Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF) is Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU), which is located only 16 miles (25 kilometers) S of CNF.
• On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a BRL342.3 million investiment plan to up-grade Tancredo Neves International Airport focusing on the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup which will be held in Brazil, Belo Horizonte being one of the venue cities.
• The problems related to the distance of Confins to downtown Belo Horizonte were lessened by recent projects such as the improvement of the highway that links the city center to the airport, part of a larger project called Linha Verde, which seeks to reduce the time needed to reach the airport.
• The furthest airport from Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF) is Central Field (Iwo Jima)Motoyama No. 2Airfield No. 2 (IWO), which is located 11,945 miles (19,224 kilometers) away in Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan.
• Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF) currently has only 1 runway.
• Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport handled 10,301,288 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport", another name for CNF is "Aeroporto Internacional Tancredo Neves/Confins".

Facts about Castle Airport (MER):

• It serves one school, Sierra Academy of Aeronautics, which specializes in training foreign pilots, from the People's Republic of China.
• In 2004, recommendations were made to relocate the 129th Rescue Wing of the California Air National Guard and its associated HC-130, MC-130 and HH-60 aircraft from Moffett Federal Airfield to the former Castle Air Force Base, now Castle Airport.
• Castle Airport (MER) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport is located at the former Castle Air Force Base which closed in 1995.
• The furthest airport from Castle Airport (MER) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,312 miles (18,204 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Because of Castle Airport's relatively low elevation of 191 feet, planes can take off or land at Castle 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 closest airport to Castle Airport (MER) is Merced Regional Airport (MCE), which is located only 7 miles (12 kilometers) SSE of MER.
• Castle Airport is a public use airport located seven nautical miles northwest of the central business district of Merced, a city in Merced County, California, United States.