Nonstop flight route between Patuxent River, Maryland, United States and Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NHK), Patuxent River, Maryland, United States and Kerry Airport (KIR), Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,267 miles (or 5,258 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 Naval Air Station Patuxent River and Kerry 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 Naval Air Station Patuxent River and Kerry 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 Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NHK):

• The original civilian residents had about a month, until March 1, 1942, to relocate as the federal government purchased all the land at a cost of $712,287 for 6,412 acres, which in 2013 dollars would be the equivalent of being paid $1,261 per acre.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Naval Air Station Patuxent River", other names for NHK include "Trapnell Field" and "KNHK - FAA: NHK".
• A lack of transportation in Saint Mary's County led the Navy to acquire and revitalize a branchline called theWashington, Brandywine and Point Lookout Railroad from Brandywine to Mechanicsville, Maryland in June 1942 and build an extension south from Mechanicsville to the air station.
• Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NHK) has 3 runways.
• 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.
• A duel of sorts between two of Maryland's top Democrats, U.S.
• 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.
• 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 Kerry Airport (KIR):

• Car hire and taxi services are available at the airport.
• Iarnród Éireann's Farranfore railway station is located 0.8 miles to the south with services to Killarney, Tralee, Cork, Limerick Junction and Dublin Heuston.
• Kerry Airport (KIR) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Kerry Airport (KIR) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is nearly antipodal to Kerry Airport (meaning Kerry Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ryan's Creek Aerodrome), and is located 12,057 miles (19,403 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• On 25 August 1969 the first aircraft to land at Kerry Airport was piloted by Captain Milo Carr of the Department of Transport & Power.
• Because of Kerry Airport's relatively low elevation of 112 feet, planes can take off or land at Kerry 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 Kerry Airport (KIR) is Bantry Aerodrome (BYT), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) S of KIR.
• Kerry Airport handled 272,799 passengers last year.
• It was announced in February 2012, due to the codeshare agreement with Aer Lingus that the currently operated Dublin service with Aer Arann will be operated from 30 October 2012 under the brand Aer Lingus Regional.
• In addition to being known as "Kerry Airport", another name for KIR is "Aerfort Chiarraí".