Nonstop flight route between Riverside, California, United States and Funchal, Madeira, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between March Air Reserve Base (RIV), Riverside, California, United States and Madeira Airport (FNC), Funchal, Madeira, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,526 miles (or 8,893 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 March Air Reserve Base and Madeira 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 March Air Reserve Base and Madeira 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 March Air Reserve Base (RIV):

• The March Field Airfest, also known as Thunder Over the Empire, is a biennial air show held at March.
• However, by 1921, the decision had been made to phase down all activities at the base in accordance with sharply reduced military budgets.
• Few members of the 1st Fighter Group foresaw subsequent difficulties in the summer of 1946 as they trained with their new jet fighters.
• The furthest airport from March Air Reserve Base (RIV) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,461 miles (18,445 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• The closest airport to March Air Reserve Base (RIV) is Flabob Airport (RIR), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) NW of RIV.
• March is one of the oldest airfields operated by the United States military, being established as Alessandro Flying Training Field in February 1918.
• In December 1948, Twelfth Air Force and March AFB were assigned from Tactical Air Command to Continental Air Command, established on 1 December 1948.

Facts about Madeira Airport (FNC):

• Madeira Airport (FNC) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Madeira Airport (FNC) is Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH), which is nearly antipodal to Madeira Airport (meaning Madeira Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Lord Howe Island Airport), and is located 12,181 miles (19,604 kilometers) away in Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia.
• Madeira Airport handled 2,311,380 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Madeira Airport", another name for FNC is "Aeroporto da Madeira".
• The History Channel program Most Extreme Airports ranked it as the 9th most dangerous airport in the world, and the second most dangerous in Europe after Gibraltar International Airport.
• In 1972, the popularity of visiting the island of Madeira increased, so the runway had to be extended to allow modern and larger aircraft to land.
• In 2000, the runway was again extended this time to 2,781 m almost doubling the size of the original runway.
• Because of Madeira Airport's relatively low elevation of 190 feet, planes can take off or land at Madeira 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 Madeira Airport (FNC) is Porto Santo Airport (PXO), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) NE of FNC.