Nonstop flight route between Cocoa Beach, Florida, United States and Beauvais, France:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Patrick Air Force Base (COF), Cocoa Beach, Florida, United States and Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA), Beauvais, France would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,450 miles (or 7,161 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 Patrick Air Force Base and Beauvais–Tillé 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 Patrick Air Force Base and Beauvais–Tillé 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 Patrick Air Force Base (COF):

• The host wing for Patrick AFB is the 45th Space Wing, whose officers and airmen manage all launches of unmanned rockets at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 12 miles to the north.
• During investigation by a board of inquiry regarding the entire Flight 19 incident, attention was given to the loss of the NAS Banana River-based PBM.
• In addition to being known as "Patrick Air Force Base", another name for COF is "Patrick AFB".
• The closest airport to Patrick Air Force Base (COF) is Merritt Island Airport (COI), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) NNW of COF.
• Cost comparison studies done in the early 1950s pointed out the desirability of letting contractors operate the station.
• The furthest airport from Patrick Air Force Base (COF) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,550 miles (18,587 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• Three months after World War II, on December 5, 1945, NAS Banana River had an ancillary role in the disappearance of Flight 19, a formation of five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, which had departed NAS Fort Lauderdale, Florida on a routine over-water training mission.
• Five of the victims of the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 were home stationed at Patrick AFB as part of the 71st Rescue Squadron.

Facts about Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA):

• The furthest airport from Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Beauvais–Tillé Airport (meaning Beauvais–Tillé Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,041 miles (19,378 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The airport is serviced by a shuttle to the city centre and railway station that operates eight times a day.
• The main runway, 12/30, has an Instrument landing system CAT III for runway 12 and CAT I for runway 30 plus a Precision Approach Path Indicator for runway 12.
• In response to the interceptor attacks, Beauvais was attacked by USAAF Ninth Air Force Martin B-26 Marauder medium bombers and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers with 500-pound general-purpose bombs, unguided rockets and.50 caliber machine gun sweeps when Eighth Air Force heavy bombers were within interception range of the Luftwaffe aircraft assigned to the base.
• Beauvais–Tillé Airport handled 386,256 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA) is Amiens - Glisy Aerodrome (QAM), which is located 31 miles (51 kilometers) NNE of BVA.
• In addition to being known as "Beauvais–Tillé Airport", another name for BVA is "Aéroport de Beauvais-TilléAdvanced Landing Ground (ALG) A-61/B-42".
• Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA) has 2 runways.
• Despite its official name Aéroport de Beauvais-Tillé and its location 85 km north of Paris, some low-cost airlines serving the airport refer to it as Paris–Beauvais for marketing purposes.
• Because of Beauvais–Tillé Airport's relatively low elevation of 359 feet, planes can take off or land at Beauvais–Tillé 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.