Nonstop flight route between Universal City, Texas, United States and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND), Universal City, Texas, United States and Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL), Muscle Shoals, Alabama, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 720 miles (or 1,159 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 Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio and Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND):

• In June 1941, the Air Corps became the Army Air Forces.
• The Military Affairs Committee of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce quickly took the forefront in the search for an airfield location, which had to be suited to the airfield design, rather than the other way around as commonly done.
• The Army Air Forces also planned to return basic pilot training to Randolph on 1 February 1946.
• The furthest airport from Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,103 miles (17,869 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Opened in 1931, Randolph has been a flying training facility for the United States Army Air Corps, the United States Army Air Forces, and the Air Force during its entire existence.
• To preserve the lineage and histories of combat units, the Air Force directed ATC to replace its four-digit flying and pilot training wings with two-digit designations.
• The closest airport to Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND) is San Antonio International Airport (SAT), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) W of RND.
• In addition to being known as "Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio", another name for RND is "Randolph AFB".
• Once the site for the field was selected, a committee decided to name the base after Captain William Millican Randolph, a native of Austin and graduate of Texas A&M, who was killed on 17 February 1928, in the crash of a Curtiss AT-4 Hawk, 27–220, on takeoff from Gorman Field, Texas.

Facts about Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL):

• Currently, Muscle Shoals is served by Silver Airways with two daily flights to Atlanta.
• Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL) has 2 runways.
• As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 5,061 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 6,897 in 2009, and 8,680 in 2010.
• Because of Northwest Alabama Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 551 feet, planes can take off or land at Northwest Alabama Regional 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 furthest airport from Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,143 miles (17,932 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL) is Pryor Field Regional Airport (DCU), which is located 38 miles (62 kilometers) E of MSL.