Nonstop flight route between Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland and Tacoma, Washington, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Kerry Airport (KIR), Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland and Gray Army Airfield (GRF), Tacoma, Washington, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,525 miles (or 7,282 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 Kerry Airport and Gray Army 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 Kerry Airport and Gray Army 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 Kerry Airport (KIR):

• Kerry Airport was incorporated as a public limited company in July 1968 with its main objective of building and managing an airport at Farranfore.
• Kerry Airport handled 272,799 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Kerry Airport (KIR) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is nearly antipodal to Kerry Airport (meaning Kerry Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ryan's Creek Aerodrome), and is located 12,057 miles (19,403 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Encouraged by the apparent success of other regional airports in Ireland, the board of directors drew up a development plan to lengthen and widen the runway to 1,200m x 30m and to extend and upgrade the Terminal Buildings and to install an Instrument Landing System and appropriate lighting.
• In addition to being known as "Kerry Airport", another name for KIR is "Aerfort Chiarraí".
• Car hire and taxi services are available at the airport.
• The Government of Ireland subvents regional services under a public service obligation programme.
• Kerry Airport (KIR) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Kerry Airport's relatively low elevation of 112 feet, planes can take off or land at Kerry 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.
• Kerry Airport, often called Farranfore Airport, is an airport in Farranfore, Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland.
• The runway was completed on schedule and the first scheduled flight into Kerry was on 22 May 1989 from Dublin by Aer Lingus followed the next day by Ryanair from London-Luton.
• The closest airport to Kerry Airport (KIR) is Bantry Aerodrome (BYT), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) S of KIR.

Facts about Gray Army Airfield (GRF):

• 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 furthest airport from Gray Army Airfield (GRF) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,809 miles (17,395 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• 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)".
• With World War II, Gray Army Airfield received 1.7 million dollars for new hangars and improved facilities.
• 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.
• Reactivated following service in Vietnam, the 9th Infantry Division aviation units occupied GAAF in 1972.
• Gray Army Airfield (GRF) currently has only 1 runway.
• GAAF units have served in Iraq with Company A, 5th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, returning from a 15 month deployment on April 17, 2004.
• The Fort Lewis airfield housed observation planes.
• Camp Lewis advocates pushed for it to be a major dirigible and fixed-wing field.