Nonstop flight route between Manchester, United Kingdom and Tacoma, Washington, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Manchester Airport (MAN), Manchester, United Kingdom and Gray Army Airfield (GRF), Tacoma, Washington, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,665 miles (or 7,507 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 Manchester 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 Manchester 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 Manchester Airport (MAN):

• Manchester Airport handled 20,751,581 passengers last year.
• Manchester Airport (MAN) has 2 runways.
• The airport has over 50 airline customers operating a global network of scheduled, charter and freight services.
• The closest airport to Manchester Airport (MAN) is Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LPL), which is located 24 miles (38 kilometers) W of MAN.
• Because of Manchester Airport's relatively low elevation of 257 feet, planes can take off or land at Manchester 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 furthest airport from Manchester Airport (MAN) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,824 miles (19,029 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• Terminal 3 was known in succession as "Terminal 1 – British Airways", "Terminal 1A" and "Terminal 3 – British Airways and Domestic” before becoming simply known as Terminal 3This Terminal now handles the majority of domestic routes from Manchester as well as some scheduled European flights and a few intercontinental flights.The terminal was opened in 1989 by Diana, Princess of Wales as 'Terminal 1 Domestic' before re-designating as Terminal 3 in May 1998.
• Manchester also offers more destinations than some of the biggest airports in the U.S.A., including New York-JFK, although it is still slightly behind the three biggest 'hubs' in the global aviation network – Atlanta, Frankfurt am Main and Amsterdam – which each offer more than 250 destinations.
• The airport regularly handled the supersonic transport Concorde and currently houses the British Airways G-BOAC flagship Concorde at the Manchester Runway Visitor Park.
• In June 2010, Manchester Airport issued a document "The Need for Land" about how it wants to expand over the next 20 years.

Facts about Gray Army Airfield (GRF):

• Gray Army Airfield (GRF) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• Company A, 5th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, conducts high-altitude search-and-rescue operations.
• 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 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 91st Observation Squadron and aircraft of the 3rd Balloon Squadron operated out of the Fort Lewis airfield.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Gray Army Airfield", another name for GRF is "(Joint Base Lewis-McChord)".
• After the Korean War, the 2d Aviation Company, of the 2d Infantry Division, which had been the first helicopter unit in Korea, returned to Fort Lewis with observation/spotter aircraft L-19 Bird Dogs, and L-20 Beavers, as well as H-23 Raven helicopters.