Nonstop flight route between Tacoma, Washington, United States and Babo, Western New Guinea, Indonesia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gray Army Airfield (GRF), Tacoma, Washington, United States and Babo Airport (BXB), Babo, Western New Guinea, Indonesia would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,004 miles (or 11,272 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 Gray Army Airfield and Babo 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 Gray Army Airfield and Babo 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 Gray Army Airfield (GRF):

• The Army Air Force closed its facilities in 1947.
• The 1938 construction included two paved runways, a boiler plant, headquarters building, metal balloon hangar, six-plane hangar, corrugated-iron hangar, storehouse, flight-surgeon office, and film-storage building.
• In addition to being known as "Gray Army Airfield", another name for GRF is "(Joint Base Lewis-McChord)".
• Because of Gray Army Airfield's relatively low elevation of 300 feet, planes can take off or land at Gray Army 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.
• The Fort Lewis airfield housed observation planes.
• The furthest airport from Gray Army Airfield (GRF) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,809 miles (17,395 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• The closest airport to Gray Army Airfield (GRF) is McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) NE of GRF.
• After the Korean War, the 2d Aviation Company, of the 2d Infantry Division, which had been the first helicopter unit in Korea, returned to Fort Lewis with observation/spotter aircraft L-19 Bird Dogs, and L-20 Beavers, as well as H-23 Raven helicopters.
• Gray Army Airfield (GRF) currently has only 1 runway.
• It should not confused with Robert Gray Army Airfield at Fort Hood in Texas.
• August 1984 saw GAAF become one of few test centers for the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.

Facts about Babo Airport (BXB):

• Babo Airport (BXB) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Babo Airport (BXB) is Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport (BEL), which is nearly antipodal to Babo Airport (meaning Babo Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport), and is located 12,135 miles (19,529 kilometers) away in Belém, Pará, Brazil.
• In addition to being known as "Babo Airport", another name for BXB is "Bandar Udara Babo".
• Because of Babo Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Babo 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 Babo Airport (BXB) is Kaimana Airport (KNG), which is located 78 miles (126 kilometers) SSE of BXB.