Nonstop flight route between Kiruna, Sweden and Tacoma, Washington, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Kiruna Airport (KRN), Kiruna, Sweden and Gray Army Airfield (GRF), Tacoma, Washington, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,268 miles (or 6,868 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 Kiruna 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 Kiruna 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 Kiruna Airport (KRN):

• The furthest airport from Kiruna Airport (KRN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,169 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Kiruna Airport (KRN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Kiruna Airport (KRN) is Gällivare Airport (GEV), which is located 49 miles (79 kilometers) SSE of KRN.
• On March 15, 2012, a Norwegian military transport plane, type Lockheed Hercules, crashed into the Kebnekaise mountain when approaching Kiruna Airport, the Norwegian C-130 Hercules accident.

Facts about Gray Army Airfield (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.
• The 9th Cavalry Brigade in the 1980s developed air-assault strategies with their AH-1 Cobra helicopters based upon experiences learned in Vietnam.
• Camp Lewis advocates pushed for it to be a major dirigible and fixed-wing field.
• In addition to being known as "Gray Army Airfield", another name for GRF is "(Joint Base Lewis-McChord)".
• 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 Washington National Guard 66th Aviation Brigade trains at Grey AAF and provides transportation support for fighting wildfires.
• 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 Fort Lewis airfield housed observation planes.
• Gray Army Airfield (GRF) currently has only 1 runway.
• During the Vietnam War, GAAF not only trained helicopter units, but fixed-wing aircraft units as well.
• 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.