Nonstop flight route between Maripasoula, French Guiana and Mountain View, California, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from MPY to NUQ:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- MPY Airport Information
- NUQ Airport Information
- Facts about MPY
- Facts about NUQ
- Map of Nearest Airports to MPY
- List of Nearest Airports to MPY
- Map of Furthest Airports from MPY
- List of Furthest Airports from MPY
- Map of Nearest Airports to NUQ
- List of Nearest Airports to NUQ
- Map of Furthest Airports from NUQ
- List of Furthest Airports from NUQ
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Maripasoula Airport (MPY), Maripasoula, French Guiana and Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ), Mountain View, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,864 miles (or 7,827 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 Maripasoula Airport and Moffett Federal 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 Maripasoula Airport and Moffett Federal Airfield. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | MPY / SOOA |
Airport Name: | Maripasoula Airport |
Location: | Maripasoula, French Guiana |
GPS Coordinates: | 3°39'27"N by 54°2'13"W |
Area Served: | Maripasoula, French Guiana |
Operator/Owner: | Conseil Général de la Guyane |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 377 feet (115 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from MPY |
More Information: | MPY Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | NUQ / KNUQ |
Airport Name: | Moffett Federal Airfield |
Location: | Mountain View, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 37°24'53"N by 122°2'53"W |
Operator/Owner: | NASA Ames Research Center |
Airport Type: | Private |
Elevation: | 32 feet (10 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from NUQ |
More Information: | NUQ Maps & Info |
Facts about Maripasoula Airport (MPY):
- Maripasoula Airport (MPY) currently has only 1 runway.
- Because of Maripasoula Airport's relatively low elevation of 377 feet, planes can take off or land at Maripasoula 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 Maripasoula Airport (MPY) is Drietabbetje Airstrip (DRJ), which is located 54 miles (87 kilometers) NW of MPY.
- The furthest airport from Maripasoula Airport (MPY) is Namrole Airport (NRE), which is nearly antipodal to Maripasoula Airport (meaning Maripasoula Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Namrole Airport), and is located 12,384 miles (19,930 kilometers) away in Buru, Indonesia.
Facts about Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ):
- The furthest airport from Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,365 miles (18,290 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
- The airport is near the south end of San Francisco Bay, northwest of San Jose.
- In 1931, the city of Sunnyvale acquired a 1,000 acres parcel of farmland bordering San Francisco Bay, paid for with nearly $480,000 raised by the citizens of Santa Clara County, then "sold" the parcel for $1 to the US government as a home base for the Navy airship USS Macon.
- Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) has 2 runways.
- The closest airport to Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) is Palo Alto Airport of Santa Clara County (PAO), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NW of NUQ.
- The airship hangar's interior is so large that fog sometimes forms near the ceiling.
- In 2006, an offer to clean the hangar and coat its outsides with solar panels to recoup the costs of cleaning was floated by a private company, but the plan never saw fruition because it was too costly.
- As an aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy wanted to use the airship hangars at Moffett for blimp operations along with Pacific Coast.
- In August 1986 during the NAS Moffett Field Airshow, the Italian demonstration team, Frecce Tricolori, and the German Navy's F-104 flight demonstration team, the Vikings, performed in front of the crowd.
- Because of Moffett Federal Airfield's relatively low elevation of 32 feet, planes can take off or land at Moffett Federal 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.