Nonstop flight route between Tacoma, Washington, United States and Natori, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gray Army Airfield (GRF), Tacoma, Washington, United States and Sendai Airport (SDJ), Natori, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,626 miles (or 7,444 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 Sendai 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 Sendai 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):

• In addition to being known as "Gray Army Airfield", another name for GRF is "(Joint Base Lewis-McChord)".
• The Army Air Force closed its facilities in 1947.
• 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.
• Another innovative aircraft came to GAAF in the fall of 2000.
• Gray Army Airfield (GRF) currently has only 1 runway.
• Company A, 5th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, conducts high-altitude search-and-rescue operations.
• 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.
• During the Korean War, GAAF continued in the role as a training and division support field.
• 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.
• The 91st Observation Squadron and aircraft of the 3rd Balloon Squadron operated out of the Fort Lewis airfield.
• 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.
• During the Vietnam War, GAAF not only trained helicopter units, but fixed-wing aircraft units as well.

Facts about Sendai Airport (SDJ):

• The furthest airport from Sendai Airport (SDJ) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is located 11,588 miles (18,650 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.
• Sendai Airport (SDJ) has 2 runways.
• To reopen the airport, on 16 March 2011 a team from the United States Air Force's 320th Special Tactics Squadron from Kadena Air Base parachuted into Matsushima, Miyagi, then moved overland to the airport.
• In addition to being known as "Sendai Airport", other names for SDJ include "仙台空港" and "Sendai Kūkō".
• To the south side of the airport are the facilities for small private aircraft, helipads and aircraft hangars.
• In 1992, Runway B was extended further to 2,500 metres and 5 years later, in 1997, a new terminal was opened.
• The closest airport to Sendai Airport (SDJ) is Yamagata Airport (GAJ), which is located 35 miles (56 kilometers) WNW of SDJ.
• The airport has 8 Jet bridges to handle aircraft coming and leaving the airport.
• In 1940, the Imperial Japanese Army built Sendai Airport in order to use it for the Kumakaya Army Flight School, Masda Branch School Trainee Training Center.
• Because of Sendai Airport's relatively low elevation of 6 feet, planes can take off or land at Sendai 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.
• Although most international services from Sendai came back online following the 2011 disaster, most services between Sendai and China were suspended or cancelled between 2012 and 2013 due to worsened Sino-Japanese relations.