Nonstop flight route between Pinellas County, Florida (near St. Petersburg and Clearwater), United States and Chu Lai, Quang Nam, Vietnam:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE), Pinellas County, Florida (near St. Petersburg and Clearwater), United States and Chu Lai Airport (VCL), Chu Lai, Quang Nam, Vietnam would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,348 miles (or 15,045 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 St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport and Chu Lai 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 St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport and Chu Lai 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 St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE):

• This airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a primary commercial service airport since it has over 10,000 passenger boardings per year.
• The airport includes a 24-hour airport rescue and fire-fighting department, facilities, operations, engineering, security, and administrative personnel.
• The closest airport to St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE) is Clearwater Air Park (CLW), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) NW of PIE.
• The airport is located on the west shoreline of Tampa Bay, six miles north of St.
• The furthest airport from St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,426 miles (18,388 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• Because of St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport's relatively low elevation of 11 feet, planes can take off or land at St. Pete–Clearwater International 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.
• In the 1950s some airlines provided service to both PIE and TPA, such as Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, National Airlines and Northwest Airlines.
• St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE) has 4 runways.

Facts about Chu Lai Airport (VCL):

• In addition to being known as "Chu Lai Airport", other names for VCL include "Sân bay Chu Lai" and "VVCA".
• The closest airport to Chu Lai Airport (VCL) is Đà Nẵng International Airport (DAD), which is located 55 miles (89 kilometers) NW of VCL.
• The furthest airport from Chu Lai Airport (VCL) is Rodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP), which is nearly antipodal to Chu Lai Airport (meaning Chu Lai Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Rodríguez Ballón International Airport), and is located 12,369 miles (19,907 kilometers) away in Arequipa, Peru.
• As of 2008, Chu Lai International Airport is the largest airfield in Vietnam in terms of area, covering 30 km².