Nonstop flight route between Cocoa Beach, Florida, United States and Milano, Italy:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Patrick Air Force Base (COF), Cocoa Beach, Florida, United States and Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), Milano, Italy would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,822 miles (or 7,761 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 Milan Malpensa 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 Milan Malpensa 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.
• On May 3, 1951, the Long Range Proving Ground Division was assigned to the newly created Air Research and Development Command.
• Additional tenant activities at Patrick AFB include the 920th Rescue Wing, the Air Force Technical Applications Center and the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute.
• 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.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Patrick Air Force Base", another name for COF is "Patrick AFB".
• Authorized by the Naval Expansion Act of 1938, Naval Air Station Banana River was commissioned on October 1, 1940 as a subordinate base of the Naval Air Operational Training Command NAS Jacksonville, Florida.
• NAS Banana River was transferred to the United States Air Force on September 1, 1948 and renamed the Joint Long Range Proving Ground on June 10, 1949.
• At 19:50, the tanker SS Gaines Mills reported seeing a mid-air explosion, then flames leaping 100 feet high and burning on the sea for 10 minutes.
• Adjacent to the 920 RQW's facilities is the NASA Flight Operations Facility, which provides support for NASA's permanently based UH-1H helicopters supporting KSC and transient NASA fixed-wing aircraft such as the T-38 Talon.

Facts about Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP):

• Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) has 2 runways.
• Malpensa Airport official opening to commercial traffic took place on 21 November 1948 as "Aeroporto Città di Busto Arsizio", although Belgian national flag carrier Sabena had started flying to Brussels from here a year earlier.
• Milan Malpensa Airport handled 18,537,301 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Milan Malpensa Airport (meaning Milan Malpensa Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,153 miles (19,559 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) is Lugano Airport (LUG), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) NNE of MXP.
• Malpensa Airport is connected by a four-lane highway to the A8 motorway and by a five-lane highway to the A4 motorway linking Milan to Turin and to the Strada Statale 11.
• During the night of 24/25 October 1998 Alitalia moved the majority of its fleet from Rome-Fiumicino – where it had flown from for over 50 years – to Malpensa Airport, which then started a new lease of life as the Italian flag carrier's main hub.
• In addition to being known as "Milan Malpensa Airport", another name for MXP is "Aeroporto di Milano-Malpensa "Città di Milano"".