Nonstop flight route between Gambela, Ethiopia and Mountain View, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gambela Airport (GMB), Gambela, Ethiopia and Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ), Mountain View, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,946 miles (or 14,397 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 Gambela Airport and Moffett Federal Airfield, 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 Gambela Airport and Moffett Federal Airfield. 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 Gambela Airport (GMB):

• The closest airport to Gambela Airport (GMB) is Dembidolo Airport (DEM), which is located 35 miles (56 kilometers) NE of GMB.
• Gambela Airport (GMB) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Gambela Airport (GMB) is Manihi Airport (XMH), which is located 11,999 miles (19,310 kilometers) away in Manihi, French Polynesia.

Facts about Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ):

• After the crashing of the Macon on 12 February 1935, the Navy wanted to close Moffett Field due to its high cost of operations.
• Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) has 2 runways.
• In 1931, the city of Sunnyvale acquired a 1,000 acres parcel of farmland bordering San Francisco Bay, paid for with nearly $480,000 raised by the citizens of Santa Clara County, then "sold" the parcel for $1 to the US government as a home base for the Navy airship USS Macon.
• Hangars #2 and #3 are some of the world's largest freestanding wood structures.
• The closest airport to Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) is Palo Alto Airport of Santa Clara County (PAO), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NW of NUQ.
• The naval air station was authorized by an Act of Congress, signed by President Herbert Hoover on 12 February 1931.
• Because of Moffett Federal Airfield's relatively low elevation of 32 feet, planes can take off or land at Moffett Federal Airfield 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.
• On 1 July 1994, NAS Moffett Field was closed as a naval air station and turned over to the NASA Ames Research Center.
• In August 2008, the Navy proposed simply stripping the toxic coating from the hangar and leaving the skeleton after spraying it with a preservative.
• The furthest airport from Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,365 miles (18,290 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• In 2008, the Ames Research Center leased 42 acres around the field to Google.
• As an aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy wanted to use the airship hangars at Moffett for blimp operations along with Pacific Coast.
• Moffett Federal Airfield has occasional air traffic, with an average of 5-10 flights landing per day.
• On April 16, 1942, control of the facility was returned to the Navy and it was re-commissioned as NAS Sunnyvale.