Nonstop flight route between Bedford, Indiana, United States and Funchal, Madeira, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport (BFR), Bedford, Indiana, United States and Madeira Airport (FNC), Funchal, Madeira, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,834 miles (or 6,170 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 Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport and Madeira Airport, 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 Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport and Madeira Airport. 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 Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport (BFR):

• The furthest airport from Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport (BFR) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,195 miles (18,016 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport (BFR) is Monroe County Airport (BMG), which is located 23 miles (37 kilometers) NNW of BFR.
• Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport (BFR) has 2 runways.
• Because of Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport's relatively low elevation of 728 feet, planes can take off or land at Virgil I. Grissom Municipal 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.

Facts about Madeira Airport (FNC):

• In addition to being known as "Madeira Airport", another name for FNC is "Aeroporto da Madeira".
• The closest airport to Madeira Airport (FNC) is Porto Santo Airport (PXO), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) NE of FNC.
• Madeira Airport (FNC) currently has only 1 runway.
• The History Channel program Most Extreme Airports ranked it as the 9th most dangerous airport in the world, and the second most dangerous in Europe after Gibraltar International Airport.
• The furthest airport from Madeira Airport (FNC) is Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH), which is nearly antipodal to Madeira Airport (meaning Madeira Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Lord Howe Island Airport), and is located 12,181 miles (19,604 kilometers) away in Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia.
• Funchal Airport is 13.2 km east-northeast of the regional capital Funchal.
• The new runway and terminal were inaugurated on 6 October 2002, and to mark the occasion an Air-Atlantic Iceland Boeing 747-267B, registration TF-ABA, landed at the airport.
• Madeira Airport handled 2,311,380 passengers last year.
• Because of Madeira Airport's relatively low elevation of 190 feet, planes can take off or land at Madeira 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.
• Madeira Airport, formerly known as Santa Catarina Airport and informally known as Funchal Airport, is an international airport in the civil parish of Santa Catarina, municipality of Santa Cruz, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Madeira.