Nonstop flight route between Sofia, Bulgaria and Great Falls, Montana, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from SOF to GFA:
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- About this route
- SOF Airport Information
- GFA Airport Information
- Facts about SOF
- Facts about GFA
- Map of Nearest Airports to SOF
- List of Nearest Airports to SOF
- Map of Furthest Airports from SOF
- List of Furthest Airports from SOF
- Map of Nearest Airports to GFA
- List of Nearest Airports to GFA
- Map of Furthest Airports from GFA
- List of Furthest Airports from GFA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF), Sofia, Bulgaria and Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA), Great Falls, Montana, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,617 miles (or 9,039 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 Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna and Malmstrom Air Force Base, 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 Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna and Malmstrom Air Force Base. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | SOF / LBSF |
| Airport Names: |
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| Location: | Sofia, Bulgaria |
| GPS Coordinates: | 42°41'42"N by 23°24'29"E |
| Area Served: | Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Operator/Owner: | Sofia Airport EAD |
| Airport Type: | Public |
| Elevation: | 1742 feet (531 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from SOF |
| More Information: | SOF Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | GFA / KGFA |
| Airport Names: |
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| Location: | Great Falls, Montana, United States |
| GPS Coordinates: | 47°30'16"N by 111°11'13"W |
| View all routes: | Routes from GFA |
| More Information: | GFA Maps & Info |
Facts about Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF):
- The closest airport to Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) is Plovdiv Airport (PDV), which is located 86 miles (138 kilometers) ESE of SOF.
- On 31 August 2006, Sofia Airport put its new runway system into operation, replacing the old and out-of-date facilities.
- The furthest airport from Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,437 miles (18,405 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
- In addition to being known as "Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna", other names for SOF include "Vrazhdebna Airport" and "Летище София".
- Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna handled 350,432 passengers last year.
- Two de-icing platforms are constructed to allow centralised de-icing procedures in winter.
- Terminal 2 was officially opened on 27 December 2006 with the symbolic arrival of Bulgaria Air flight FB 408 from Brussels.
- A lot of consideration has been given to the design of the layout, the functional definition of the working positions, the operations room surface area for ANS provision and meteorological observation, as well as to the requirements for visibility to the runway and the approaches and access to an open observation platform.
- Options for different airport developments began to be examined in the mid-1960s.
- Sofia Airport Vrazhdebna (SOF) currently has only 1 runway.
Facts about Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA):
- At Great Falls, P-39 Airacobras, C-47 Skytrains, B-25 Mitchells, and A-20 Havocs aircraft.
- On 1 July 1968, the F-101B equipped 29th FIS was inactivated and replaced by the F-106 Delta Dart equipped 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was reassigned from Richards Gebaur AFB when its ADC mission was eliminated.
- Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union increased dramatically when the Soviet Union closed all land travel between the western occupation sectors of Germany and the American, French and British sectors of Berlin.
- Later, the 517th Air Transport Wing was redesginated the 1701st Air Transport Wing on 1 June 1948 when Air Transport Command was redesignated the Military Air Transport Service.
- In addition to being known as "Malmstrom Air Force Base", another name for GFA is "Malmstrom AFB".
- The furthest airport from Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,495 miles (16,891 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
- Following World War II, Great Falls Army Air Base played an important role in US defense during the Cold War era.
- In 1957, under the control of the 801st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, the Malmstrom AFB radar station became operational with AN/FPS-20 search and AN/FPS-6 height-finder radars.
- The closest airport to Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA) is Great Falls International Airport (GTF), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) W of GFA.
