Nonstop flight route between Glendale, Arizona, United States and Funafuti, Tuvalu:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field (LUF), Glendale, Arizona, United States and Funafuti International Airport (FUN), Funafuti, Tuvalu would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,335 miles (or 8,586 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 Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field and Funafuti International 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 Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field and Funafuti International 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 Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field (LUF):

• The host unit, the 56th Fighter Wing, is tasked to train F-16 fighter pilots and maintainers, while deploying mission ready warfighters.
• It is a designated Superfund site due to a number of soil and groundwater contaminants.
• Luke Field, Oahu, Hawaii Territory was previously named in his honor.
• Luke AFB is a major training base of the Air Education and Training Command, training pilots in the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
• Ground school, or classroom training for the advanced flying course, varied from about 100 to 130 hours and was intermingled with flight time in the aircraft.
• F-84F's replaced the straight-winged earlier models in the original four squadrons by the end of 1956, giving the wing seven squadrons of twenty-one aircraft each, or about 150 aircraft.
• Born in Phoenix in 1897, the "Arizona Balloon Buster" scored 18 aerial victories during World War I in the skies over France.
• The closest airport to Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field (LUF) is Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR), which is located only 7 miles (12 kilometers) S of LUF.
• The furthest airport from Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field (LUF) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,450 miles (18,426 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In addition to being known as "Luke Air Force BaseLuke Field", another name for LUF is "Luke AFB".

Facts about Funafuti International Airport (FUN):

• Funafuti International Airport (FUN) currently has only 1 runway.
• By the middle of 1944, as the fighting moved further north toward Japan, the Americans began to withdraw.
• Because of Funafuti International Airport's relatively low elevation of 9 feet, planes can take off or land at Funafuti International 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 Funafuti International Airport (FUN) is Arorae Island Airport (AIS), which is located 440 miles (708 kilometers) NNW of FUN.
• The runway was originally constructed using coral aggregate and has a sub-base layer of 8 cm thick coral gravel, surfaced with a 1–2 cm asphalt chip seal.
• The furthest airport from Funafuti International Airport (FUN) is Tamale Airport (TML), which is nearly antipodal to Funafuti International Airport (meaning Funafuti International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Tamale Airport), and is located 12,365 miles (19,900 kilometers) away in Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana.