Nonstop flight route between Tau, American Samoa and Mountain View, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tau Airport (TAV), Tau, American Samoa and Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ), Mountain View, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,713 miles (or 7,585 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 Tau 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 Tau 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:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Tau Airport (TAV):

• Tau Airport (TAV) currently has only 1 runway.
• Tau Airport is a privately owned, private-use airport located one mile southeast of the village of Ta‘ū on the island of Ta‘ū in American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States.
• Because of Tau Airport's relatively low elevation of 185 feet, planes can take off or land at Tau 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 Tau Airport (TAV) is Fitiuta Airport (FTI), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) E of TAV.
• In addition to being known as "Tau Airport", other names for TAV include "none" and "HI36".
• The furthest airport from Tau Airport (TAV) is Zinder Airport (ZND), which is nearly antipodal to Tau Airport (meaning Tau Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Zinder Airport), and is located 12,331 miles (19,845 kilometers) away in Zinder, Niger.

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 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.
• Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) has 2 runways.
• The airship hangar's interior is so large that fog sometimes forms near the ceiling.
• The Hangars One, Two, and Three, and the adjacent Shenandoah Plaza are collectively designated as a National Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• In August 2008, the Navy proposed simply stripping the toxic coating from the hangar and leaving the skeleton after spraying it with a preservative.
• 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.
• The naval air station was authorized by an Act of Congress, signed by President Herbert Hoover on 12 February 1931.
• 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.
• Narrow gauge tracks run through the length of the hangar.
• 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.
• 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.
• Moffett Field's "Hangar One" and the row of World War II blimp hangars are still some of the largest unsupported structures in the country.