Nonstop flight route between Stanley, Falkland Islands, United Kingdom and Tacoma, Washington, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Port Stanley Airport (PSY), Stanley, Falkland Islands, United Kingdom and Gray Army Airfield (GRF), Tacoma, Washington, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,825 miles (or 12,593 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 Port Stanley 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 Port Stanley 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 Port Stanley Airport (PSY):

• Prior to 1972, there was no airport in the Falkland Islands with a paved runway, and all trips to the islands had to be undertaken by boat.
• Because of Port Stanley Airport's relatively low elevation of 75 feet, planes can take off or land at Port Stanley 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.
• Port Stanley Airport (PSY) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Port Stanley Airport (PSY) is Mohe Gulian Airport (OHE), which is nearly antipodal to Port Stanley Airport (meaning Port Stanley Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mohe Gulian Airport), and is located 12,351 miles (19,877 kilometers) away in Mohe, Heilongjiang, China.
• The closest airport to Port Stanley Airport (PSY) is RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN), which is located 30 miles (49 kilometers) WSW of PSY.
• On May 1, 1982, the Royal Air Force bombed the airport in Operation Black Buck and several other raids were carried out by embarked Harriers.

Facts about Gray Army Airfield (GRF):

• During the Korean War, GAAF continued in the role as a training and division support field.
• Gray Army Airfield (GRF) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Gray Army Airfield", another name for GRF is "(Joint Base Lewis-McChord)".
• Camp Lewis advocates pushed for it to be a major dirigible and fixed-wing field.
• 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.
• Reactivated following service in Vietnam, the 9th Infantry Division aviation units occupied GAAF in 1972.
• 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.
• 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.
• Since 2005 the field has been experiencing another major expansion.
• 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.