Nonstop flight route between Patuxent River, Maryland, United States and Fort Sumner, New Mexico, United States:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from NHK to FSU:
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- About this route
- NHK Airport Information
- FSU Airport Information
- Facts about NHK
- Facts about FSU
- Map of Nearest Airports to NHK
- List of Nearest Airports to NHK
- Map of Furthest Airports from NHK
- List of Furthest Airports from NHK
- Map of Nearest Airports to FSU
- List of Nearest Airports to FSU
- Map of Furthest Airports from FSU
- List of Furthest Airports from FSU
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NHK), Patuxent River, Maryland, United States and Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU), Fort Sumner, New Mexico, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,563 miles (or 2,515 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 relatively short distance between Naval Air Station Patuxent River and Fort Sumner Municipal Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | NHK / KNHK |
Airport Names: |
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Location: | Patuxent River, Maryland, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 38°17'9"N by 76°24'42"W |
Operator/Owner: | United States Navy |
Airport Type: | Naval Air Station |
Elevation: | 39 feet (12 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from NHK |
More Information: | NHK Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | FSU / KFSU |
Airport Names: |
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Location: | Fort Sumner, New Mexico, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 34°29'16"N by 104°13'0"W |
Area Served: | Fort Sumner, New Mexico |
Operator/Owner: | Village of Fort Sumner |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 4165 feet (1,269 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from FSU |
More Information: | FSU Maps & Info |
Facts about Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NHK):
- Commissioned on April 1, 1943 on land largely acquired through eminent domain, the air station grew rapidly in response to World War II and continued to evolve through the Cold War to the present.
- In addition to being known as "Naval Air Station Patuxent River", other names for NHK include "Trapnell Field" and "KNHK - FAA: NHK".
- A highway extension to the new air station was required by the project—250,000 tons of material were transported by either truck or water routes during a year of construction.
- On 20 October 1942, U.S.
- By 1965, reconnaissance Squadron VQ-4, based at NAS Patuxent River, began using Lockheed C-130s equipped with special communications equipment to perform their around-the-clock Take Charge and Move Out mission.
- Situated on a peninsula between the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Patuxent River, NAS Patuxent River is located on 6,400 acres of what was once prime farmland, consisting of several large plantations, Mattapony, Susquehanna, and Cedar Point, as well as numerous tenant and sharecropper properties and a few clusters of vacation homes.
- The closest airport to Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NHK) is St. Mary's County Regional Airport (LTW), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) WNW of NHK.
- Because of Naval Air Station Patuxent River's relatively low elevation of 39 feet, planes can take off or land at Naval Air Station Patuxent River 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.
- Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NHK) has 3 runways.
- The furthest airport from Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NHK) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,728 miles (18,874 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
Facts about Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU):
- Because of Fort Sumner Municipal Airport's high elevation of 4,165 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at FSU. Combined with a high temperature, this could make FSU a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
- On August 6, 1944, the airfield was transferred to Second Air Force, where it became a replacement facility for B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator crew training.
- Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU) has 2 runways.
- The airport retains the large parking ramp from its training use.
- The closest airport to Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU) is Cannon Air Force Base Clovis Air Force Base/AAF (CVS), which is located 51 miles (83 kilometers) E of FSU.
- In the 1980s, the airport was chosen as a launch site for NASA's high altitude balloon program.
- The airfield's origins date to the 1920s when the Transcontinental Air Transport airline built an airfield in Fort Sumner as part of its coast-to-coast air passenger network, but the site was abandoned when the airline's ambitious plans collapsed in the Great Depression.
- In addition to being known as "Fort Sumner Municipal Airport", another name for FSU is "Fort Sumner Army Airfield".
- The furthest airport from Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,167 miles (17,971 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
- The airfield was reopened in February 1941, and was rebuilt in 1942 by the United States Army Air Forces as a World War II training airfield.