Nonstop flight route between Great Falls, Montana, United States and Belo Horizonte, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA), Great Falls, Montana, United States and Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU), Belo Horizonte, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,236 miles (or 10,036 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 Malmstrom Air Force Base and Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade 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 Malmstrom Air Force Base and Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade 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 Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA):

• The closest airport to Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA) is Great Falls International Airport (GTF), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) W of GFA.
• At Great Falls, P-39 Airacobras, C-47 Skytrains, B-25 Mitchells, and A-20 Havocs aircraft.
• With the phaseout of the B-36 from the inventory in the late 1950s, the need for fighter escorts of SAC bombers was eliminated.
• The furthest airport from Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,495 miles (16,891 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In 1957, under the control of the 801st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, the Malmstrom AFB radar station became operational with AN/FPS-20 search and AN/FPS-6 height-finder radars.
• Z-147 was completely replaced by a new ARSR-4 JSS site on Bootlegger Ridge, about 14 miles northeast of Great Falls AFB.
• In addition to being known as "Malmstrom Air Force Base", another name for GFA is "Malmstrom AFB".
• Following World War II, Great Falls Army Air Base played an important role in US defense during the Cold War era.

Facts about Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU):

• The closest airport to Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU) is Tancredo Neves/Confins International Airport (CNF), which is located only 16 miles (25 kilometers) N of PLU.
• Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport handled 989,599 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU) is Central Field (Iwo Jima)Motoyama No. 2Airfield No. 2 (IWO), which is located 11,958 miles (19,244 kilometers) away in Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan.
• Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport (PLU) currently has only 1 runway.
• On 31 August 2009, Infraero unveiled a BRL8.4 million investiment plan to upgrade Pampulha 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.
• In addition to being known as "Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport", another name for PLU is "Aeroporto de Belo Horizonte/Pampulha–Carlos Drummond de Andrade".
• In 1943 the runway was extended to 1,500m x 45m, in 1953 to 1,700m, and finally in 1961 to 2,505m.