Nonstop flight route between Tacoma, Washington, United States and Beijing, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gray Army Airfield (GRF), Tacoma, Washington, United States and Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY), Beijing, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,426 miles (or 8,732 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 Beijing Nanyuan 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 Beijing Nanyuan 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):

• Used to support Fort Lewis, Army helicopters assisted with medical evacuations at Mount Rainier National Park on numerous occasions in the 1970s.
• In addition to being known as "Gray Army Airfield", another name for GRF is "(Joint Base Lewis-McChord)".
• 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.
• 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 closest airport to Gray Army Airfield (GRF) is McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) NE of GRF.
• The 91st Observation Squadron and aircraft of the 3rd Balloon Squadron operated out of the Fort Lewis airfield.
• Camp Lewis advocates pushed for it to be a major dirigible and fixed-wing field.
• Gray Army Airfield (GRF) currently has only 1 runway.
• Reactivated following service in Vietnam, the 9th Infantry Division aviation units occupied GAAF in 1972.

Facts about Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY):

• Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY) is Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), which is located 23 miles (37 kilometers) NNE of NAY.
• In addition to being known as "Beijing Nanyuan Airport", other names for NAY include "北京南苑机场" and "Běijīng Nányuàn Jīchǎng".
• Nanyuan Airport opened a new terminal in September 2013 with a designed passenger handling capacity of 6 million people.
• Beijing Nanyuan Airport is a military air base that also serves as the secondary airport of Beijing.
• In 2008, Nanyuan Airport witnessed a high growth rate.
• The furthest airport from Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY) is Gobernador Edgardo Castello Airport (VDM), which is nearly antipodal to Beijing Nanyuan Airport (meaning Beijing Nanyuan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Gobernador Edgardo Castello Airport), and is located 12,355 miles (19,884 kilometers) away in Viedma, Argentina.